Yet another entry in the “groomsmen as bandmembers” photo series I’ve been working on.

I extra love that guy with the hawk in the back.

(Thanks to daleyhake[.com] for the photo!)

This morning I did an interview with The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC about husbands who assume their wives’ last names, as well as those who take on what I call “portmanteau names,” squishing two last names together (Andreas and I could have gone for “Fetzlings,” except for that it sounds ridiculous). I also revealed my hidden childhood bias against kids with hyphenated last names. You can listen to the segment below.

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I finished Offbeat Bride in just two sittings because I just couldn’t put it down. My only disappointment was that there weren’t any suggestions on how to handle being an offbeat bride with a traditional groom. How do you have an offbeat wedding without crossing the line? How to have a traditional ceremony that won’t make me feel like I’m at someone else’s wedding? —Becky

Becky, this is a great question, and absolutely a topic that should have been in the book! I lucked out by having a groom who’s wedding visions were as hallucinogenic as mine, but your situation is infinitely more common — just because two people are engaged doesn’t mean they’re somehow a brain-unit with matching Christmas sweaters and 100% aligned opinions.

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When researching Offbeat Bride, without a doubt the hottest topic among my labs rats was women changing their last names. One increasingly popular method of dealing with this feminist minefield is both the bride and the groom assuming a new last name. Seems to solve all the problems, right?

Well, turns out that in many states it’s significantly harder for husbands to change their last names. As in, hundreds of dollars harder. And now, one brave offbeat groom has teamed up with The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU/SC) to sue the state over a law that makes it easy-peasy for women to assume their husbands’ last names — but a pain in the ass for grooms to change their last names. Check it out:

As Michael Buday saw it, the road to matrimonial bliss was a nontraditional one that included taking on his wife’s last name, reports the Feminist Daily News Wire. Problem is, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, in California men are required to pay upward of $300, file a court petition and advertise their name change for a month in the local newspaper; a woman, in contrast, can change her name through marriage by simply paying a $50 to $80 filing fee. Buday also says he was ridiculed when he tried to legally take his wife’s last name at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Read more.

While trawling through the Offbeat Bride flickr group, I was struck by how some of the hipper “groom and his men” shots look more like band photos. When are these guys taking it on the road?

And then the question becomes, if these groomsmen were in a band, what would they play?

Hilarious: Men Don’t Care About Weddings? Groomzilla Is Hurt

The traditional wisdom remains that a groom (like a child) should be seen and not heard. Real men, the logic goes, don’t care about weddings. And that hurts Groomzilla — that makes him cry. But only on the inside. He doesn’t want to streak his self-tanning lotion.