It is hard to believe that the Boy and I are approaching our fourth wedding anniversary. Say what?!? The year that we got married, and the following year we did ALL the weddings. I am talking like six weddings in one summer. We had a lull for a couple years and now the next wave of friends getting married has begun.
Everyone will tell you picking out what you put on your registry is one of the best parts of wedding planning, and they are right! But, it can be hard to decide what are the items that you want to remain in your home for the rest of your life. After using our registry items for almost four years here is a little advice.
1. Get way more flatware than you think you'll need. Why? Because I think forks and knives have a missing sock club and will disappear. Oh and there will be the situation of your flatware will be discontinued and you'll be stuck trying to find something similar.
2. It is worth registering for nice pots and pans. Yes, these items can be expensive, but we found that the most expensive items on our registry were purchased first. Often guests want to go together and make a purchase therefor they purchase those larger ticket items. I was thrown a Pampered Shower shower and we purchased a lot of our kitchen ware through the party with our hostess credits. p.s. The Pampered Chef stuff is amazing and is still in the same condition it was when we received it four years ago.
3. Get a
Kitchen-Aid Mixer. They are bomb and I use mine all the time. Even if you aren't a big baker they are great for dips and shredding meat. We also received a lot of the attachments, but honestly we haven't used them much. I do recommend a second bowl though. Our came with the metal bowl and then we registered for the
glass.
4. It is worth registering for serving ware. Even if at this point in your life you aren't hosting Thanksgiving or big dinners at your house one day you will. It will save you a lot of money not having to run out to buy serving platters, bowls for mash potatoes, serving utensils.
5. However, we didn't register for China. Instead we went with a
neutral white dinner plate from Pottery Barn, and then we also got a setting of bright
turquoise plates. The white is nice because it goes with everything and every holiday, but we have the option of throwing a little color in there.
6. You will always use nice storage containers. We received some glass Pyrex and
Pampered Chef containers and they are fantastic. Of course I use my share number of disposable Gladware pieces, but I love that I can reuse these over and over again.
7. Don't be afraid to register for those off the wall pieces that represent your passions or hobbies. We actually asked for a liquid nitrogen tank that stores bull semen and cow embryos. They are quite expensive, but something we knew we would really need for our farm. A group of our cattle friends went together to buy it for us and it is a great reminder of them.
8. Make sure you put enough stuff on your registry. I have talked to so many of my girlfriends that tell me, well we really don't need that much stuff or we are hoping to just get gift cards. There are going to be a lot of people that want to buy you a tangible gift, and if you run out of things on your registry they are going to by you something they "think" you will want. That is when you end up with stuff. Continue to check back and see how many items are left and if items have been discontinued, and don't be afraid to add more.
Update: Jon and I celebrated our eight year anniversary this spring and I will say everything that I recommended above we STILL have. Only a few of our Pottery Barn soup bowls have had to be replaced and I am really hard on things. After eight years our Pottery Barn sheets hit the dust. Our Shark vacuum only lasted six years but I think that is pretty good considering we have a dog and live on a farm.