Weddingbee Blog

I have a PT job at sur la table (40% off non/electrics for the win!), and my kitchen is pretty well stocked, so it seemed kind of ridiculous for us to register for stuff. We have a honeymoon registry and a Heifer International registry (www.heifer.org). I really just hope someone buys a goat in our name. i love goats!

I highly recommend a 10 or 12 inch saute pan from All Clad. I use that and my 2 quart sauce pan all of the time. I’d also recommend a good enameled cast iron dutch oven (le crueset or staub). Something around 7 quarts is good for soups, stews, stocks, roasting chickens and large quantities of spaghetti sauce. These three things are what I always reach for when I cook.

I always advise customers to pick the items they know they’ll reach for when choosing things for the kitchen. Everything else is a waste of space… (how often are you REALLY going to use that mandoline…)

On the gift return side, I’ve heard that BB&B lets you return registry gifts for cash, then re-buy them with the 20% off coupons they send in the mail. Maybe you were witnessing something similar at C&B. Then again, maybe they just wanted cash and didn’t want to just ask for it…

We got a Cuisinart Food Processor too! It’s a tiny one though, only a couple cups. But i LOVE It. we tried making pesto with our old blender… pain in the butt. took forever. and didn’t chop it up small enough, even with cutting up the basil leaves, garlic Put the basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic cloves in the food processor - done in less than 2 minutes, I can’t say enough how much I LOVE IT.

Our kitchen’s pretty well stocked already as well as we’ve lived together for 2 years now, so we didn’t have a whole lot on our registry to begin with, and didn’t have much left after the shower…Wedding is almost 2 weeks away, hoping for some gifts of money so we can go on our real honeymoon in december! (or take out less grad student loans in the fall…)

I think I’m most excited to receive our digital scale (which someone just bought, I looked!). Now I won’t have to translate all the measurements from the European recipes, or estimate the weight of chocolate, etc.!

I was also thrilled to receive my Mobilite Spinner luggage, with the four wheels so it corners easily! And it’s bright red!

i love that classic century line! but FI wouldn’t let me register for it, we registered for more affordable ones at lnt. i’ve been debating about a standing mixer… i don’t cook or bake much, but when i do, it’d be really convenient to have one of those.

we’ve never lived together, nor had our own kitchen, so we’re registered for a multitude of kitchen items, from the all clad cookware to the mini food processor as well as some china, glassware.. the whole shebang.

We asked for charitable contributions to the American Cancer Society (I’m about as high risk as you can get without actually working in a coal mine) and the American Diabetes Association (the groom is Type 1), but were thrilled when people picked their own charities.

However, we recognized that this breach of tradition would probably kill his mother, so we made wee tiny registries at Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma, because we’re original like that. We explained that…hold on, I’ll cut and paste it…

Back in the day, when the combined age of the average bridal couple was right around 40, the registry was a vital tool to help them set up their new household. Our combined age is hurtling toward 70, and we each had a reasonably settled household even before we combined them in late 2005. A lot of the things that usually appear on registries we already have two of.

Ultimately, about 10% of our gifts have come from the registry, about 10% were handmade, maybe 5% were your average gifty-gift, and the rest were charitable contributions in our honor. I’m digging the predominantly unfulfilled registry, because now we don’t have to come up with things for his parents to give us for Christmas (”here are our Amazon wish lists” has never, ever worked).

we registered for the classic century dishes and love them! we have the whole set. they are so beautiful! we have a 3.5 qt sauce pan and 6 qt saute pan from all clad and they are fantastic. i can’t imagine ever going back to cheap pans. we also got a set of henckles knives which are great. if you’re into salad get the OXO salad spinner. it’s wonderful. we got married in june, so we have had a bit of time to use all of our new stuff. it’s so great! i love my food processor too…

I didn’t bother with fine china either-mostly I went for really good pans and a copper mixing bowl. I also recommend getting a grill pan-it’s the best thing for making pancakes,grilled sandwiches. I have a fairly cheap one,but registered for the on from Le Crueset with a griddle on the other side.

We haven’t registered yet (kind of dreading it, actually … I already have so much stuff to get RID of before moving into his place!), but I couldn’t resist weighing in on the china issue….

The Washington Post recently did a wedding chat with, uh, someone (sorry, forget which book author) where the china question came up: The writer and several participants all agreed that formal china never gets used. At least, not often enough to justify owning and storing it. The author actually closed her chat with a last caution in capital letters, saying “DON’T REGISTER FOR CHINA!”

I figure that kind of advice is hard to ignore! I’m also a big estate sale and thrift store shopper, and have noticed lots of pretty estate china for around $100-150 total. Figure if I ever break down and decide it’s necessary, that’s always an option.

(In fact, right now I’ve got fabulous late-60s Noritake stoneware that was all of $25 for a full service at a thrift store in Tulsa! We’re talking serving pieces, sugar and creamer, the works…. But it probably will have to go because it’s the wrong color for our combined items, sigh.)

I just wanted to say Hi to a local. I live about 30 minutes from KOP and I love that mall.