Antoni Porowski's Wedding Registry Just Launched at Etsy — and It Avoids Anything 'Cookie-Cutter'
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The 'Queer Eye' food and wine expert talks exclusively to PEOPLE about preparing for his upcoming wedding to boyfriend Kevin Harrington and his new Etsy wedding registry
Antoni Porowski is gearing up for his biggest challenge yet: planning a wedding.
Soon after the Queer Eye star, 39, and his boyfriend, Kevin Harrington, got engaged in November 2022, they began collaborating with Etsy to build a registry perfectly suited to their needs as a couple. The registry, which launched Wednesday in tandem with Etsy's new wedding registry feature, includes a variety of personal and customizable gifts that feel "special," Porowski says.
"I love anything that's handmade or a little beat up and broken and has a bit of soul in it," Porowski tells PEOPLE. "I'm not really big into cookie cutter."
The couple's registry consists of a wide-ranging selection of gifts, covering everything from woven baskets to ceramic mugs ("I drink a shocking amount of coffee," Porowski jokes).
Antoni Porowski's Wedding Registry at Etsy
HKAceramics Personalized Ceramic Mug, $47.51–$52.10
ZeynNY Personalized Leather Journal Cover, $22.40–$25.60 (orig. $28)
Nucandles Simple Artistic Candle, $21.88
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Some of Porowski's favorite items from the collection include a set of personalized leather journal covers — perfect for the couple who journal in the mornings together — and an engraved wooden box, which Porowski says brings him and his fiancé back to days from their childhoods spent at their grandparents' houses.
"I'm Polish and Kevin's half-Polish, and in a lot of our grandparents' homes growing up, they had all these etched and carved wooden boxes that were used as catch-alls that you could just kind of throw stuff into," he says. When they saw the "gorgeous" wooden box engraved with ginkgo leaves on Etsy, it felt perfectly reminiscent.
Buy It! HereafterLA Personalized Ginkgo Leaves Wood Box, $148–$173; etsy.com
Porowski also notes that the set of sculptural candles included on the registry, which "kind of looks like kids' toys," he teases, were another must-have.
"I am obsessed with burning candles," he says, joking, "I would have done really well in the 1700s, without electricity."
Buy It! Nucandles Simple Artistic Candle, $21.88; etsy.com
The thread that ties their Etsy registry items together is the thoughtfulness of each one.
"Look, I love going into a store and having that whole experience, but when you walk in and then you see the same item 50 times, it kind of takes away from the special quality of it," Porowski says. "And with Etsy, what's nice is that you feel good about yourself because you're supporting these small businesses and artisans."
He adds that the unique quality of the items is what makes him excited.
"Everything is kind of custom and a little different. I love it when there's a sign that says, 'No two pieces may be alike.' That gets me. It really just feels special and kind of personalized and not cookie-cutter," the food and wine expert shares.
Along with the excitement of building the registry with his fiancé, Porowski adds the process of collaborating on their first joint business project — which was a totally new experience — brought the two of them closer.
"Kevin and I are kind [of bonded] in terms of work and personal life," says Porowski. "So this union is so new to us and to work together in a professional capacity like this has actually been really nice." He continues, "It's nice because it's kind of — amidst all of the chaos, it's something that we can kind of lean into and just put our brains together [for]."
Working together professionally also helped the fiancés learn more about each other's tastes and preferences — and cemented their compatibility when it comes to how they live.
"We're both very mindful about the things that we live with and the things that we have. He's more of a minimalist than I am, but I think I'm somewhere closer to minimalist than maximalist, and so we really wanted to be careful about picking items that we're actually gonna use every day and that aren't just gonna collect dust."
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As for the actual wedding planning, Porowski says they're still a ways away from having anything locked down. It's been "very start-stop because we just tend to get overwhelmed," he shares. There are "so many moving pieces" to the puzzle that Poroswki says he and Harrington have started to narrow things down by establishing what they both don't like.
"Right now it's just really just random brainstorming," he says. "I think we're at the stage of — we're both trying to make sure that we're on the same page about what we don't want."
While wedding planning might still be a work in progress, at least the couple's registry is ready to go. Keep scrolling to shop more top selections from Antoni Porowski's wedding registry at Etsy.
Buy It! KNOTSstudio Woven Baskets, $96; etsy.com
Buy It! HKAceramics Personalized Ceramic Mug, $47.51–$52.10; etsy.com
Buy It! ZeynNY Personalized Leather Journal Cover, $22.40–$25.60 (orig. $28); etsy.com
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