Engaged Austin Couple Explains Why They Put 750 Vacuums — And Only Vacuums — On Their Registry

Brandon and Meg met a year ago after they had each lived very different and separate lives. Meg hails from Maryland but moved to San Francisco and lived there for 15 years. She works for a company that helps brands manage customer engagement, and she ended up transferring to her company's Austin offices a few years ago.

Brandon is a single dad to two teen boys, Carter and Evan. A Texas native, he went to Austin for college and never left. Brandon also has a tech background, and after starting and selling a few companies, he decided to work in education.

Brandon and Meg both speak of knowing they were meant to be together from early in their relationship. Meg says that Brandon's sons are her "favorite adventure buddies" and that she believes that she and Brandon really share a special love: "I've never felt so lucky. Our wedding date — 4-3-2-1 (April 3, 2021) — is pretty indicative of how serendipitous our entire relationship has been. It happens once in an eternity, and we treasure it."

Brandon echoes Meg's feelings, saying that he thought he would be a single dad "forever" until he met her: "About a year ago, Meg came into my life. I knew from the second date that I would end up marrying her one day. She is the perfect complement to me, and she makes me a better person every day. I am very excited to be her husband."

Now, to the vacuums.

Brandon shares that he has had an affection for vacuums from an early age, and there's something about cleaning that he just enjoys:

"From a young age, I was responsible for maintaining the house. One of the tasks my little brother and I had to do was to vacuum the floors. While most young boys may cringe at the thought, I actually enjoyed the instant gratification of vacuuming. Now, with two teenage boys (Evan, 14, and Carter, 16) and a floofy mini Australian shepherd (Finn) and mutt/sentient carpet (Charlie), cleaning is very challenging."

He finally caved and bought his first robot vacuum a few years ago, and he has never, ever looked back:

"About three years ago, I invested money in my first robot vacuum.  Now, seven robots later (three robot vacuums, two pool skimmers, one submersible pool vacuum, and one mopping vacuum on the way), I am totally hooked. My bots put in a ton of work for our family, and there is no better sound than the humming of them in the background."

The family owns a total of seven robot vacuums, and Brandon notes that they are each named for one of his favorite rap/hip-hop artists:

Home bots:

• Notorious B.O.T. (Notorious B.I.G.) — Roomba 980
• Lil Uzi Bot (Lil Uzi Vert) — Roomba 980
• Snoop Botty Bot (Snoop Doggy Dogg) — Shark IQ

Mop bot (just arrived!):

• Sir Mops-a-Lot (Sir Mix-a-Lot) — iRobot Braava Jet M6

Pool bots:

• L.L. Pool J (L.L. Cool J) —Solar Breeze
• Poolio (Coolio) — Solar Breeze
• Young Nautty (Young Jeezy) — Nautilus Plus

With an outsized love like this, it's probably not a surprise to learn that Brandon and Meg's family members and friends are totally taking their unusual wedding registry in stride. In fact, Meg says that the couple recently connected Amazon to their original registry on The Knot, which means Brandon could add even more vacuums to the list if he really, really wants to.

(Spoiler: He does!)

Brandon jokingly (I think), noted that he believes vacuums could be what brings the world together. And honestly, given the way 2020 has gone so far, he might not be wrong. Vacuums for world peace? Why not.

"I want to spread the love of vacuums for all of humanity," Brandon says. "Is it too much to think that we could bring about world peace over a shared love of a robot vacuum? I feel like these powerful vacuum peace ambassadors are not the heroes we deserve, but the heroes we need."

While Brandon and Meg aren't actually expecting anyone to buy a vacuum, let alone all 750 of them, Meg said that she thinks Brandon wouldn't be sad if one does show up after all:

"We made it very clear on our registry page that we're not seriously asking for another bot vacuum (how many vacuums does one man need anyway!?). Especially in these scary and unpredictable times, we will feel truly grateful just to have the gift of all our friends and family there to celebrate our marriage with us. That being said … I feel 100% certain that B would not be at all upset if a new robot vacuum showed up at our wedding."

Adding 750 vacuums to a wedding registry is certainly a bold move, but it's possible this isn't even the weirdest thing a couple has put on their registry. Lots of people have requested that their family and friends gift some genuinely surprising items, to often mixed reactions. Here are a few, per Business Insider:

• “A ceramic rooster the size of a garden gnome.”
• “In my first marriage, we registered for Doritos. Plan worked! Got months worth of Doritos.”
• “Running shoes. Their whole wedding registry was nothing but their personal needs and supplementing their hobbies, but asking for expensive running shoes was the most WTF.”
• “A $4 SHOWER CURTAIN LINER. I am still outraged.”
• “Crazy expensive china that looked like Napoleon would have used it. As in $200 for a plate.”

In fact, stories abound across the internet about the weird things that people have added to their wedding registries. While a lot of people are proud of their own choices, one person did note that perhaps a video game really wasn't that important in the end:

"My husband and I put Rock Band on our wedding registry. Looking back now that was really dumb, and I'm kind of embarrassed that we did that. Like did I really think a video game was more important than silverware or new bedding? I don't know… but obviously someone else, did because it was purchased for us."