Mrs. Canary, New York
Age and Occupation: 24, Marketing
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Journalist/Editor
Engagement Date: February 16, 2007
Wedding Date: July, 2008
Blogging Since: October 19, 2007
Venue: Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers
About Me: I'm a born and raised New Yorker who loves all things crafty and artsy, food (cheese and dessert!), magazines, and shoes. I'm a power shopper always on the lookout for good deals or great quality-- sometimes I'm lucky and I find both! I love to dance and "shake what my momma gave me" but can also really enjoy a quiet night in with Mr. Canary and a good episode of Seinfeld or curl up with a good book.
The Hostess With the Mostess
April 24th, 2008 @ 10:28 am by Mrs. Canary
From one of my favorite artists and domestic commentator, Anne Taintor
{Image from here}
Mr. Canary and I took the plunge and registered at Crate and Barrel a few months back. Though we are combining two households and really don’t need more “stuff,” we decided to register for a few items for our new home for the more traditional guests.
We got all the necessaries including fine china (who knew that I’d ever care about bone china), flatware, and bed/bath linens, but the big gap was cookware. Mr. Canary and I really enjoy cooking, but we don’t get much of a chance to do it since we have been living at Mama and Papa Canary’s. We’re spoiled. Mama Canary doesn’t let us near the kitchen. And previously, I lived in a tiny NYC studio apartment (under 300 square feet!) so my cookware was limited to items that were specifically for cooking for one person. My “kitchen” consisted of a very small area that contained a sink, two range tops, a mini-fridge beneath it.
But we love food and entertaining. One of the first furniture pieces we got for our new apartment was an extend-able dining table. We have grand hopes of entertaining and throwing dinner parties. Hence, the need for more things for the kitchen and cookware.
To help with your registry list, all the store guides suggest imagining that you are planning for a dinner party and think of your menu and the number of people attending. This is always distracting, because all I can imagine are the cute little place cards I’d make or the beautiful centerpieces. Plus, all the store guides have ulterior motives to get you to buy stuff that you don’t need, but subconsciously think you’ll need: egg cups, pancake warmers, condiment spoons…
That’s when I found Epicurious’ handy guide to kitchen essentials. It’s a great overview of things you would need to entertain and be a good hostess. Now if they’ll just magically make the food appear as well!
How did you decide on what to register for? What were your guidelines? Did you imagine hosting a dinner party?
4 Responses to “The Hostess With the Mostess”
Morgan is not as cool as Winson.
The joy of being an older bride is that I’ve been hosting dinner parties for years–and I already know what I need/don’t need and what I would use/never use. So it wasn’t difficult at all to fill in the gaps with the registery.
Incidentally, I totally got a pack of napkins with the “Ta da” image at my bridal shower!
We also have most of the things we need (we’re older and have an established home), but I’m a big believer of registering for gifts for a wedding. People like to give gifts and will do so with or without a registry, and I would rather they choose items we will need and use.
We like to throw dinner parties, so we are all over china. I’m soooo excited about the china. We’ve also been keeping a list of kitchen items that we find we need or want to replace. It’s been hard to wait for the wedding to get them, but I wanted to make sure we could register for SOMEthing.
Fortunately, we are having a fairly small wedding, so we won’t need to register for a ton of things. Also, my SIL is planning a bridal shower with a honeymoon theme, to steer guests away from household gifts. (She found out that I was refusing to have a bridal shower because I didn’t want the gifts).
That guide is epiridiculous. Pretty shiny things can’t compensate for food. Pay attention to the plate and everything will be take care of itself. Who really needs a friggin silver gravy bowl and fleur de lys trivets? Yes, yes yes, ms. canary, I know you do, just don’t drag mr. canary sunshine shopping. 
