Weddingbee Blog

Registering for gifts is like a grownup version of a dream Christmas list. When else do you get to single-handedly handpick what you want to be gifted for a party where you are the guest of honor?? So while BM Sweet Cream shrieked with glee after hearing that Mr. Sweets and I were going to register, I wasn’t that thrilled inside.

Why the crazy talk, you ask?

Because Mr. Sweet Cream and I were up against Mission Impossible.

Mr. Sweet Cream and I hopefully didn’t look as crazy as Tom and Keri zapping barcodes…although we might have felt this way. / Image via StarDustTrailers

I’m sure that many of you bees may be cohabitating like Mr. Sweets and me. We originally didn’t plan it that way—but that’s a story for a different day, different post.

So we have tons of things that we would have registered for but we already bought ourselves. Like our Dyson that we found on clearance at Target after the vacuum we originally got from a secondhand shop died after it ate way too many of our Christmas tree needles. And our grill that we had to get to kick off last summer.

But the bigger problem? I am a mid-century-antiquing junkie. So years before the Sweets bought their first home, there were boxes and boxes of dishware, serving pieces, glasses, coffee cups, bakeware, gadgets, and gizmos—all created between World War II and the era of Gloria Steinem—up in Mama and Papa Sweet Cream’s attic. Think of it as a hope chest on steroids.

OK. It wasn’t this bad…but it was really really bad. / Image via Texas United Furniture

So I already have my fair share of Salem North Star plates:

When I pull out one of these plates and serve a homemade piece of pie to Mr. Sweets, my heart smiles. / Image via Pony and Foxy’s Creative Moment

And this is my favorite pattern of all my bowls and casseroles.

Seriously. How can you not be happy when serving something in this pattern?! / Image via Jennie Dee

I have a mixed collection of real silverware from the 20th century that I love and a whole buffet full of serving pieces. So with two things up against us (cohabitating and said addiction to mid-century kitchen items—heck, all mid-century items, to tell you the truth!), Mr. Sweet Cream and I began to think about what we could register for.

We hung a piece of loose leaf on the side of the refrigerator, and as we realized something we could use, we would jot it down. Although it happened slowly—a full set of stainless steel pots and pans here, a 10-cup food processor there—it got easier when we visited the store. With guns in hand we said “YES!” to a folding banquet table that we realized we would need for hosting sit-down dinner holidays with our two families. We gave high fives to each other after finding the patio furniture that we lusted after and immediately took aim at the bar code. We started figuring out things that we could use, in all price ranges for all of our guests.

Throughout our registering at Target, Home Depot, and Kohl’s, we registered for great things, including:

• A smoker
• New sheets
• Tons of brand new bath towels
• A pizza stone
• Grill accessories
• A Brita water filter
• 16 mini-dessert shot glasses
• A heating lamp for outside
• A collapsable grill for tailgating (Go Phillies!)
• Massaging shower head
• Great new doormats for outside
• A new mailbox
• A ceiling fan for our bedroom
• Etc., etc., etc.

I was insistent on not letting that gun own us and not giving in to a desire to zap everything and anything in sight. I wanted us to think of the suggestions for our guests as if we would really buy them.

And while I would love to register somewhere like Amazon, knowing our guest list, I don’t know how many people would use it. I know that a lot of bees register for their honeymoons, which is a great idea, but we aren’t going through a travel agent.

I am going to try not to cheat and look at what is bought in the days that lead up to my shower. I love a surprise, so I think I’ll be good.

Did you have a hard time thinking about what to register for? Did your cohabitating lead you to have needs and wants already crossed off? What is your top registry item that you are hoping you get at your shower? Did you register somewhere out of the ordinary—like a sporting-goods store or favorite charity?

[NOTE to brides near a Kohl’s: Although not a typical store for wedding registries, they had a ton of kitchen appliances we needed---and they are giving our guests 15% off our gifts! So it's like they are giving our guests a gift (of a discount) for buying us gifts! Very nice, Kohl’s! Very nice!]