Groom/13″/dt1st/mark2nd
By SARA FISHER
Staff Reporter
A bride-to-be can go to any newsstand and be inundated with magazines as thick as phone books. The same holds true with online companies dedicated to wedding registries, fashion and advice.
But what about grooms-to-be?
As far as the $35 billion wedding industry is concerned, men are mostly left to muddle through the process alone. But the founders of West Los Angeles-based Marrying Man Group Inc. believe that impending grooms need help just as much as their brides.
Founded three years ago by a trio of men in their late 20s one of whom was trying to survive his own wedding-plan process the Marrying Man Group has created an online company committed to the men’s perspective on marriage.
The company runs a hybrid weekly online publication called “ungroomd.com,” with nary a pink rose or ribbon in sight. A small editorial staff covers topics ranging from how to buy diamonds and how a tux should fit, to advice on dealing with cold feet and creative proposal ideas.
There’s also “bachlorparty411.com,” a resource guide and national directory for planning every type of bachelor party imaginable.
“Our goal is to help ease guys into this totally new world, ranging from when they start to think about proposing all the way to buying a house or impending fatherhood,” said Ramin Ramhormozi, the company’s chief executive. “Our content is written by men for men, and has a whole different tone than other wedding resources out there.”
But how much do men really get involved in wedding plans, the traditional domain of brides, mothers and mothers-in-law? More so than you might think.
“It seems that men are so much more involved now, from wedding plans to parenting, than they were 10 years ago,” said Terri Adam, marketing coordinator for Tarzana-based RoyalGem.com., which advertises its engagement rings on the Marrying Man site. “We get a significant number of customers coming to us after having visited ungroomd.com.”
Seema Williams, an Internet content analyst for Forrester Research Inc., remains skeptical. “Men may be more active than before, but they’re still not taking the lead,” she said. “There are also not as many commerce opportunities surrounding the groom, which is typically what has driven the current online wedding site boom.”
Revenues have climbed steadily, if modestly, over the last two years (about 40 percent comes from commerce and 60 percent from advertisers), and like most Internet companies it is still firmly in the red.
But traffic to the site has increased sharply, now averaging 60,000 unique visitors per month, compared to 10,000 per month at this point last year. Plus, more entrepreneurs have taken notice of the under-served groom pool. Several groom-related Web addresses have recently been registered, though no direct competitors have launched their online companies yet.
