Grooms, Are You Ready For Some Football?

The moment many men have been waiting for is about to kick off -- football season is here! If you have a wedding planned between NFL pre-season games (the first four as scheduled for August 8th) through the Super Bowl at Meadowland Stadium in New Jersey (February 2, 2014) you really should make a plan on how to comingle your love for the two. With hopes set on elegant chandeliers, classical music and rose-covered trellises to walk under (not goal posts), most brides are going to give their grooms a thumbs down on a gridiron-inspired wedding ceremony. However, if you sell yourself right (or have a sporty, football-loving bride), you may get to incorporate this-and-that’s from your favorite franchise at the wedding reception. The wedding reception is a good place to let the guy’s personality and interests show through and one of the most “tasteful’ ways to do this is with a groom’s cake. Just surf around the internet or consult with your local bakery to find some amazing, show-stopping groom’s cakes that can be decorated in the team colors or made to look like a replica of a football stadium. You know your bride is a keeper if she agrees to have the wedding theme colors match those of your beloved team. Or, maybe she will even compete with you to have the colors be from HER favorite team – now that’s a dream wife. How about yellow and green a la Green Bay Packers? Can’t you just picture all the flower bouquets, cummerbunds, bridesmaid’s dresses, tablecloths, groomsmen gifts and more done up in these colors of molding cheese? It would be a sight to remember. Speaking of groomsmen gifts, a sure-to-score way to incorporate football into your wedding (especially if you have a very short leash) is to give the buddies standing at your side on the Big Day football groomsmen gifts. An awesome groomsman gift or best man gift would be tickets to see his favorite home team play; however tickets to NFL games can be very expensive. For the 2013 season, the average price for an NFL home game, across the entire league, is $186 on the resale market. At the high end, the Chicago Bears have an average price of $446, while the Browns have the lowest price at $109. If this is out of your budget, you can check into tickets for some spirited college football – or just plan a bachelor party or guy’s night out where you just tailgate in the parking lot and enjoy each other’s company under the glow of the stadium lights. If going the frugal parking lot route, make sure you have all the right tailgate gear on hand for immediate use and to gift as sporty groomsmen gifts. Check out GroomStand.com for a huge inventory of not-so-standard-issue groomsmen gifts that can make the party fun, from Joe six-pack belts to drink cooler lawn chairs. And, if you’re looking for gifts for groomsmen that can be enjoyed at home, send them off with asset of custom glass football tumblers, a personalized canvas football print for their man cave, or a personalized NFL emblem money clip Enough talk about wedding stuff. Who will you root for during the 2013 football season? Give your favorite team a shout out in the comments below.

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Millions of Wedding Guests Who Love Football

Guys, do you think more people attend weddings or professional football games? It’s the trivia question of the day! Let’s look at weddings first. According to various sources including the Bridal Association of America’s Wedding Report and the Wedding Market Database the wedding industry continues to grow at a fast rate. Data obtained from these sources show that there are 2.4 million weddings per year in the United States and the average number of guests per wedding is 173. If you do the math, this is an incredibly large number of annual wedding guests – more than 400 million! And, with only around 316 million US citizens currently alive according to the US Census Bureau’s population clock, it means some of us are going to more than one wedding a year. I feel sort of left out because I didn’t get invited to a single wedding during the last 12 months! So with hundreds of millions of friends, family and co-workers are getting dressed up, buying wedding gifts and watching some couple say their respective “I do’s,” you can see how the “guest” part of the wedding industry is huge; so huge it’s ginormous. To put it into perspective for you sports-loving guys, the annual in-stadium attendance for all 32 NFL football teams is only just a bit above 16 million. There is really no comparison between 400 million wedding guests to 16 million paying NFL football fans, but we do know that many of those wedding guests just have to be football fans. And, no doubt in your own wedding, a nice percentage of the guests is going to be NFL fans themselves. Groomstand.com has some great ways to score big with the gridiron fans in your wedding party. Football Bachelor Parties: If your bachelor party is happening during football season, drop the hint to organizers that you’d love it to involve your favorite sport. Score tickets to the big game and hold a tailgate party out in the parking lot complete with grilling, beer drinking and classic parking lot game playing like bean bags and horse shoe. Hook up the guys with personalized football shaped tumblers for super-cool groomsmen gifts. Football Groomsmen Cakes: While the bride gets her traditional tiered cake, it has become customary for the groom to get his own cake that reflects his personality. Search the internet for “football groomsmen cakes” and you’ll uncover loads of sugary wonders that resemble everything from football stadiums and gridirons to signature jerseys and helmets in the team colors. Football Team Wedding Colors: If your bride is a football fan herself, she may be on board for this ultimate gesture and gift for the groom—to officially name the wedding colors to match a favorite franchise’s colors – or to wear jerseys instead of formal wedding wear! Silver and black, purple and gold, black and orange – so many options for bridesmaid dresses, groomsmen bow ties, flower arrangements, balloons and other decorations. Football Groomsmen Gifts: If your friends love football as much as you, football themed groomsmen gifts are a winning choice. From personalized football stadium signs to kick up the spirit in a media room or office space to our manly NFL fan favorite bracelets that let him show off his affiliation 24/7, GroomStand.com has a wide range of football sports gifts for groomsmen. So, are you planning to incorporate your love of football into the Big Day? Let us in on your sure-to-score-big ideas in the comments below. Thanks!

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ThereÍs a Groomsmen Gift for Every Game

Usually an eclectic bunch, a guy’s posse of groomsmen is a collection of great friends made in a variety of different places. You may go way back to childhood with some of the guys and share memories like learning how to ride bikes and playing on the same Little League team. Some of your other groomsmen may come from a college fraternity, sports league or from your first real job after graduation. Don’t forget about those groomsmen you are closest to; we’re talking about brothers and cousins, if you have them! Sometimes the bride will even have a male relative that she wants to join you entourage. For the sake of the future marriage, embrace the newest addition to your line-up. Who knows, you may end up being life-long buddies. So, with all these guys that you’ve bonded with in different places, it may be hard to decide what to get them for groomsmen gifts. While you know with complete certainty that your rowdy frat brothers will enjoy engraved flasks or personalized beer mugs, you’re not quite sure if this kind of gift is appropriate to give to your 17 year-old cousin who is serving as an usher. One type of gift for groomsmen that you can count on being a winner is any kind of personalized sign that has to do with sports. The main two reasons these personalized signs are such a big hit is that guys just love sports; we challenge you to show us a man who doesn’t appreciate some sort of sporting event. It could be one of the mainstream sports like football, baseball or basketball or be a sport more unique like billiards, bowling or skiing. The second reason that personalized signs are such a well-received choice in groomsmen and best man gifts is that they stroke the recipient’s ego. Again we challenge you; show us a guy who doesn’t like to see his name in print, in lights or in the middle of all the action. Football: NFL fans will go wild for our “In the Game” personalized signs that show a collage of sports scenes from his preferred team anchored by a uniformed player bearing the recipient’s name. Or, our “Locker Room” personalized signs show off a foursome of jerseys from his favorite franchise – three of the uniforms feature some of the top players on the roster, but the number one jersey is personalized with his last name! GroomStand.com also has these locker room football signs available for the popular collegiate teams too! Baseball: Knock it out of the park as far as cool groomsmen gifts go with our personalized collegiate baseball and MLB signs. From the sandlot to the stadium, your friends who have grown up playing, watching and cheering for baseball will appreciate these all-American groomsmen gifts. GroomStand.com also has MLB stadium personalized signs that feature aerial views of Major League Baseball diamonds and stadiums from coast to coast. Hockey: The puck stops here when you’re looking for groomsmen gifts for the hockey fan. Our NHL personalized signs capture that locker room vibe, the calm before the storm on the ice. Pick the recipient’s favorite team and his name with be personalized on the back of a signature team jersey, bearing all the right colors and the highly-coveted number “1”. Basketball: Give your buddies a hand with their hoop dreams; thanks to our collegiate basketball signs, each friend will be transformed into the number “1” player for his favorite school. These fun personalized signs are ready to gear up a game room, dorm room or other spot of sporty celebration. Other Sports: GroomStand.com has other personalized pub signs featuring a huge range of sporty activities. Basically, if a guy has played the sport, we probably have a groomsmen gift to honor the game. From golf hole-in-one personalized signs that actually record the date, distance and venue of the achievement to personalized tavern signs for race car driving, fly fishing, and even poker. Yeah, we’re calling poker a sport because all the table tension makes us break a sweat!

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Get-Fit Groom Plan

With the holidays coming to a close, many men are looking to get fit for the New Year, especially the grooms out there! If youÍve spent the last month overindulging on eggnog, fudge, and tenderloin with all the trimmings, it might be time to make a new healthy game plan so that you look and feel your best on the wedding day. ThatÍs right, itÍs not just the brides who are worried about showing themselves off in the best light to their prospective spouse and wedding guests, the guys are worried too these days. Whether you have one month or six months left before that walk down the aisle, itÍs time to get after it and do some hard work _ the results will be well worth it. ItÍs a gift for the groom that only you can give to yourself. HereÍs a straightforward plan to get you started. Eat less, eat healthier. Take a good look at what youÍre eating and donÍt kid yourself _ is it really healthy. Low-carb, high-protein, low-fat, Paleo, The Zone, plant-based, whatever; there are a million diets out there and weÍre not advocating a specific one. But, just be mindful about what youÍre putting into your body versus how much energy you are expending. Just because you are working out, doesnÍt mean you can reward yourself with tons of extra food, especially if your goal is to lose weight. Also, remember to drink plenty of water; not only is it hydrating but can help turn off your hunger signals between meals. Carry around one of our personalized water bottles; also a great choice in groomsmen gifts. Burn calories with cardio three to five times per week. Whether you are running, cycling, boxing or jumping rope, do some form of cardiovascular exercise every other day for 30 minutes, at a minimum. And no, golf really isnÍt an endurance sport. If this seems like a chore, enlist the help of your buddies to keep you company and pass the time away while you are pounding the pavement. Pick up our sports bag for yourself and to give as groomsmen gifts; itÍs a great way to pack your gear if you are heading to run or bike after work.

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How to Balance Bowl Games and your Bride

Guys who love collegiate football as much as their lovely brides-to-be (errr, almost as much as their brides-to-be), typically find themselves in a conundrum if wedding festivities are scheduled in late December and early January. From the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on December 20th to the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX on January 4th (and 33 other bowl games in the lineup), whatÍs a die-hard fan to do? 1) Steer clear of wedding festivities on the biggest bowl game days, December 31st and January 1st. Or, boldly declare these two days your bachelor party weekend, gather up the guys and go on a football-watching binge! Gear up your viewing party with college football accessories to give as groomsmen gifts such as this NCAA logo steak iron, a sizzling way to show your team affiliation. 2) If at all possible, create a football-themed wedding. Yes, itÍs been done and the two of you lovebirds will look sensationally sporty walking down an aisle of green Astroturf. Of course, a gridiron groomsmen cake, bowties and cummerbunds in the teamÍs colors, and football gifts for groomsmen are all sure to be big-time winners. For the groomsmen gifts, check out our personalized collegiate football signs that will make your wedding attendants feel like MVPs. 3) Or, make a deal with your bride. For every hour of football watching during the lead-up to your December or January wedding, you will double the time to put towards chores on a ñhoney-doî list. Or, tell her that your football time is a way to distress and keep your feet from getting cold; who knows, maybe sheÍll even join you for the football festivities.

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The Beer Run Bride

Peanuts and crackerjack! A Montana manÍs wedding proposal nearly struck out at Wrigley Field in Chicago this summer. On July 30th, Greg and his girlfriend Erica headed out on a much-needed vacation with special plans to attend their first-ever Cubs baseball game. But watching baseball wasnÍt the only thing Greg had planned for the day. In razzle-dazzle style, he had called ahead to make arrangements for the Jumbotron to flash his marriage proposal during the fifth inning. But, when the fateful time came, the scoreboard lit up with ñErica, will you marry me?î while the cameras flashed to the coupleÍs seats. But, the woman of the moment was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. Where, oh where, could she have wandered off too and, the bigger question, why did the prospective groom let her leave her seat knowing what was about to happen?! Apparently the girlfriend left to score some icy cold beers at the concessions window, leaving poor Eric to look like a jilted lover to the rest of the stadium. But we donÍt think he cared. When she finally returned, the fieldÍs camera revisited the lovebirds and did capture Greg slipping the ring on her finger, while on bended knee and all. At first we wondered why he didnÍt make up an excuse to get her to stay. But, then we realized what was driving GregÍs patience and desire to marry this girl; sheÍs the one that makes the beer runs! If you love baseball, beer or both visit GroomStand.com for all your wedding planning needs, from groomsmen gifts, best man gifts, gifts for dad and more! After all, arenÍt (baseball) diamonds a guyÍs best friend?

Read more

ThereÍs a Groomsmen Gift for Every Game

Usually an eclectic bunch, a guy’s posse of groomsmen is a collection of great friends made in a variety of different places. You may go way back to childhood with some of the guys and share memories like learning how to ride bikes and playing on the same Little League team. Some of your other groomsmen may come from a college fraternity, sports league or from your first real job after graduation. Don’t forget about those groomsmen you are closest to; we’re talking about brothers and cousins, if you have them! Sometimes the bride will even have a male relative that she wants to join you entourage. For the sake of the future marriage, embrace the newest addition to your line-up. Who knows, you may end up being life-long buddies. So, with all these guys that you’ve bonded with in different places, it may be hard to decide what to get them for groomsmen gifts. While you know with complete certainty that your rowdy frat brothers will enjoy engraved flasks or personalized beer mugs, you’re not quite sure if this kind of gift is appropriate to give to your 17 year-old cousin who is serving as an usher. One type of gift for groomsmen that you can count on being a winner is any kind of personalized sign that has to do with sports. The main two reasons these personalized signs are such a big hit is that guys just love sports; we challenge you to show us a man who doesn’t appreciate some sort of sporting event. It could be one of the mainstream sports like football, baseball or basketball or be a sport more unique like billiards, bowling or skiing. The second reason that personalized signs are such a well-received choice in groomsmen and best man gifts is that they stroke the recipient’s ego. Again we challenge you; show us a guy who doesn’t like to see his name in print, in lights or in the middle of all the action. Football: NFL fans will go wild for our “In the Game” personalized signs that show a collage of sports scenes from his preferred team anchored by a uniformed player bearing the recipient’s name. Or, our “Locker Room” personalized signs show off a foursome of jerseys from his favorite franchise – three of the uniforms feature some of the top players on the roster, but the number one jersey is personalized with his last name! GroomStand.com also has these locker room football signs available for the popular collegiate teams too! Baseball: Knock it out of the park as far as cool groomsmen gifts go with our personalized collegiate baseball and MLB signs. From the sandlot to the stadium, your friends who have grown up playing, watching and cheering for baseball will appreciate these all-American groomsmen gifts. GroomStand.com also has MLB stadium personalized signs that feature aerial views of Major League Baseball diamonds and stadiums from coast to coast. Hockey: The puck stops here when you’re looking for groomsmen gifts for the hockey fan. Our NHL personalized signs capture that locker room vibe, the calm before the storm on the ice. Pick the recipient’s favorite team and his name with be personalized on the back of a signature team jersey, bearing all the right colors and the highly-coveted number “1”. Basketball: Give your buddies a hand with their hoop dreams; thanks to our collegiate basketball signs, each friend will be transformed into the number “1” player for his favorite school. These fun personalized signs are ready to gear up a game room, dorm room or other spot of sporty celebration. Other Sports: GroomStand.com has other personalized pub signs featuring a huge range of sporty activities. Basically, if a guy has played the sport, we probably have a groomsmen gift to honor the game. From golf hole-in-one personalized signs that actually record the date, distance and venue of the achievement to personalized tavern signs for race car driving, fly fishing, and even poker. Yeah, we’re calling poker a sport because all the table tension makes us break a sweat!

Read more

Get-Fit Groom Plan

With the holidays coming to a close, many men are looking to get fit for the New Year, especially the grooms out there! If youÍve spent the last month overindulging on eggnog, fudge, and tenderloin with all the trimmings, it might be time to make a new healthy game plan so that you look and feel your best on the wedding day. ThatÍs right, itÍs not just the brides who are worried about showing themselves off in the best light to their prospective spouse and wedding guests, the guys are worried too these days. Whether you have one month or six months left before that walk down the aisle, itÍs time to get after it and do some hard work _ the results will be well worth it. ItÍs a gift for the groom that only you can give to yourself. HereÍs a straightforward plan to get you started. Eat less, eat healthier. Take a good look at what youÍre eating and donÍt kid yourself _ is it really healthy. Low-carb, high-protein, low-fat, Paleo, The Zone, plant-based, whatever; there are a million diets out there and weÍre not advocating a specific one. But, just be mindful about what youÍre putting into your body versus how much energy you are expending. Just because you are working out, doesnÍt mean you can reward yourself with tons of extra food, especially if your goal is to lose weight. Also, remember to drink plenty of water; not only is it hydrating but can help turn off your hunger signals between meals. Carry around one of our personalized water bottles; also a great choice in groomsmen gifts. Burn calories with cardio three to five times per week. Whether you are running, cycling, boxing or jumping rope, do some form of cardiovascular exercise every other day for 30 minutes, at a minimum. And no, golf really isnÍt an endurance sport. If this seems like a chore, enlist the help of your buddies to keep you company and pass the time away while you are pounding the pavement. Pick up our sports bag for yourself and to give as groomsmen gifts; itÍs a great way to pack your gear if you are heading to run or bike after work.

Read more

How to Balance Bowl Games and your Bride

Guys who love collegiate football as much as their lovely brides-to-be (errr, almost as much as their brides-to-be), typically find themselves in a conundrum if wedding festivities are scheduled in late December and early January. From the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on December 20th to the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, TX on January 4th (and 33 other bowl games in the lineup), whatÍs a die-hard fan to do?   1) Steer clear of wedding festivities on the biggest bowl game days, December 31st and January 1st. Or, boldly declare these two days your bachelor party weekend, gather up the guys and go on a football-watching binge! Gear up your viewing party with college football accessories to give as groomsmen gifts such as this NCAA logo steak iron, a sizzling way to show your team affiliation.   2) If at all possible, create a football-themed wedding. Yes, itÍs been done and the two of you lovebirds will look sensationally sporty walking down an aisle of green Astroturf. Of course, a gridiron groomsmen cake, bowties and cummerbunds in the teamÍs colors, and football gifts for groomsmen are all sure to be big-time winners. For the groomsmen gifts, check out our personalized collegiate football signs that will make your wedding attendants feel like MVPs.   3) Or, make a deal with your bride. For every hour of football watching during the lead-up to your December or January wedding, you will double the time to put towards chores on a ñhoney-doî list. Or, tell her that your football time is a way to distress and keep your feet from getting cold; who knows, maybe sheÍll even join you for the football festivities.

Read more

The Beer Run Bride

Peanuts and crackerjack! A Montana manÍs wedding proposal nearly struck out at Wrigley Field in Chicago this summer. On July 30th, Greg and his girlfriend Erica headed out on a much-needed vacation with special plans to attend their first-ever Cubs baseball game. But watching baseball wasnÍt the only thing Greg had planned for the day. In razzle-dazzle style, he had called ahead to make arrangements for the Jumbotron to flash his marriage proposal during the fifth inning. But, when the fateful time came, the scoreboard lit up with ñErica, will you marry me?î while the cameras flashed to the coupleÍs seats. But, the woman of the moment was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. Where, oh where, could she have wandered off too and, the bigger question, why did the prospective groom let her leave her seat knowing what was about to happen?! Apparently the girlfriend left to score some icy cold beers at the concessions window, leaving poor Eric to look like a jilted lover to the rest of the stadium. But we donÍt think he cared. When she finally returned, the fieldÍs camera revisited the lovebirds and did capture Greg slipping the ring on her finger, while on bended knee and all. At first we wondered why he didnÍt make up an excuse to get her to stay. But, then we realized what was driving GregÍs patience and desire to marry this girl; sheÍs the one that makes the beer runs! If you love baseball, beer or both visit GroomStand.com for all your wedding planning needs, from groomsmen gifts, best man gifts, gifts for dad and more! After all, arenÍt (baseball) diamonds a guyÍs best friend?

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How To Pack More Football In Your Wedding

Football season is gearing up - how about your wedding plans? If you have a wedding planned between NFL pre-season (August 8th) through the Super Bowl (February 9, 2011) you really should consider how to marry your love for the two! While the bride is not likely to give you're the gridiron-inspired wedding reception that you've been dreaming of (yeah, right), but she may throw you a pass to show off your love of the sport with a football-inspired groom's cake. If she's a real keeper, the bride might even go for picking her "wedding colors" to coordinate with the uniform tones of your favorite team. How about aqua blue and orange a la Miami Dolphins - nice! Probably the best way to incorporate football into your wedding plans is to plan a football activity with your groomsmen. There are many great football-friendly ideas, from organizing a touch-football game for all the guys on the wedding weekend (bride's guys against groom's guys) to planning a pre-wedding event where you treat your buddies to a home game and beer at the sports bar afterward. You might have played Pop Warner together as kids or just hung out in the fan stands during college; football is one thing that you'll still have in common -- even after sign the contract of your life. Don't forget to thank your buds for being on the team and being your "most valuable players" by presenting them each with groomsmen sports gifts such as NFL barware or pub signs emblazoned with their favorite franchise.

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The Tennis Match That Would Never End

If youÍve ever played tennis, you may have finished a match in less than an hour, four hours or, more likely, somewhere in between. It really just depends on how quickly you knock out the match set and how good (or bad) the competition is. My neck is sore just remembering, but a recent Wimbledon match logged an 11 hour and 5 minute match that was played out over three days! American John Isner battled it out over the long haul with Nicolas Mahut, to win in the 5th set _ score, 70-68. Isner was able to backhand the ball just a hair out of the reach of the Frenchman, Mahut. Both dropped to the ground in exhaustion, the crowd roared and, I imagine, also began massaging the cricks out of each others necks! There is no arguing that these two guys were amazingly matched in skill and endurance, both waiting for the other to crack under the prolonged pressure. If you love tennis, this surely was a much-talked about event over coffee or warm-ups for a good portion of the week. The event did break 12 standing records in the Guinness Book of World Records. Celebrate the love of this time-honored sport with a personalized pub sign with a tennis club theme. Hang it in your personal ñlocker roomî, in a home bar or give to those loyal tennis partners who are standing up for you in your wedding. In fact, these pub signs make such great groomsmen gifts that it will cause a big racquet (of happiness) when the guys open their pub signs up.

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