I'm sure someone will be offended.

So, winning Super Bowl quarterback Eli Manning got married this weekend. That's nice. He married his college sweetheart. That's awesome. So much nicer than him getting famous, dumping the girl who has been with him as he rose to fame and hooking up with whatever supermodel or actress crosses his path on a given week.

But. Apparently, they had a wedding registry. Really, guys? A registry? You honestly thought it was cool to ask people to buy you stuff?

Let's visit the concept of the registry for a sec. The original intent of wedding gifts was to help a young couple setup house. Presumably, they were coming from either their parents' homes or spartan bachelor/bachelorette pads, and the young lovers would need things to set up a real house - dishes, a toaster, towels. The idea was that they were starting with nothing and didn't have the money to buy their own stuff. So, family and friends would help get them started.

Does Eli Manning really not have the resources to get started in his married life? Does he seriously need to hit up family and friends to buy his dishes for him?

I gotta tell ya. I think it's lame when grown-up people with grown-up bank accounts ask wedding guests to buy them presents. And if they're two grownups with their own houses that they'll be merging, presumably meaning they're going to be throwing away redundant stuff, and what they're really doing is asking you to buy them better stuff to replace the stuff they'll be throwing away...well...come on.

In this era when a lot of people are getting married later in life, after they're established and successful, and when people are frequently on second and third marriages, wouldn't it be a lot cooler to not ask for gifts? Buy your own stuff. After a certain age, it shouldn't be about how much loot you can get. It should be about people you love celebrating with you that you've found someone to share your life with - a life that's already filled with plenty of "stuff."

And if you just can't stand the idea that people don't pony up something to attend the celebration of your commitment, then how about you set up a few accounts that people can donate to good causes through? Not just one, mind you, but a few different ones so people can choose what cause they'd like to support. It'd kind of be like paying forward the good fortune you're celebrating. Your significant other has made your life better and in honor/celebration of that, you'd like to make someone else's life a little better - share the wealth.

I'm sure I'm pissing off someone who married later in life and had a registry, but it's just an idea.