Weddingbee

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It’s kinda like when I was a kid and I wanted a checkout scanner playset not all that different than this one to the right. I do a minimal amount of cash register work at my retail job, and my dad thought I might love scanning the items since I loved my playset so much as a child, but not so.

Somehow we were pretty frugal about the list and didn’t pick too many insanely expensive things, or, for that matter, too many things in general! We walked away with only 39 items, 10 of which were expensive furniture items that we have no intention of guests buying but that we can get for 10% off after the wedding. We’re currently so deprived of furniture that Mr. Milkshake just wants to slam the money down for a bunch of pieces. Meanwhile I’m almost tempted to make up a separate registry under an alias name with a wedding date that’s a few weeks away so we can get the furniture sooner. Am I alone in my sneakiness? I noticed there were options for other types of registries - celebrations, birthdays, etc - but I’m thinking they don’t get the 10% off deal after the fact.

At the end of it all, I got a free heart shaped candy bowl and I rewarded the mister with part of my chocolate frosty and his very own a frosty milkshake.

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Item 2:

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A Rachel Denny cable knit deer head

Item 3:

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Brake Rotors
(They are pretty essential to making your car stop, mine are warped and rusted. It would be super nice to stop at a traffic light without my car shaking violently for 100 yards first.)

Item 4:

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A Tulip Farm!

Item 5:

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A cooking class with Alton Brown, for Mr. Pineapple

Item 6:

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Season tickets to either the Pittsburgh Pirates, Penguins or Steelers (in that order) for Mr. Pineapple

Item 7:

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A fancy schmancy new camera.
Now technically I could register for this, but unfortunately none of my family members have several grand to throw at me.

What would be on your dream registry?

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Basically I’d be happy owning anything in the La Creuset line because their stuff is so awesome but this kettle was what really caught my eye. On one hand, it’s kind of hard to justify the $90 CDN price tag, but on the other:

1) I drink a ridiculous amount of tea.
2) It’s a well made durable product.
3) It’s blue and shiny! (Yes, I realize this is not the most sturdy line of argument, but look at it! So pretty!)

Anyway, I realize the chances of someone actually purchasing this from the registry are slim, but I figured if there was even a chance that I would get to have it, I might as well throw it on there.

51 days left Bluey*! Will you be mine? I guess we will have to wait and see . . .

I know I can’t be the only one coveting something on their registry, so I’m opening it up to the hive. Is there anything on your registry that you really love? What was your secret little indulgence? Tell me about it.

* Yes, I named my as-yet-unpurchased kettle. I’m weird like that.
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TIP: Register at the largest location of your chosen department store - they’ll have the biggest selection of goods to choose from!

To keep things organized, we decided to start from one corner of the Gifts and Registry floor. I had my trusty humungo wedding binder in tow, but quickly gave it to our registry agent to put away - klutzy me + big heavy binder + expensive china = disaster waiting to happen!

But don’t I look official?

“Check!”

Our first item was this lovely hurricane vase/candle holder thingie.

Has anyone else noticed, how when items are cheap, the temptation to register for a lot of them increases? Luckily Mr. Shortcake is not so easily swayed:

ME: “ooooh…look, they’re ONLY $25! Let’s register for…hmmm… eight!”
MR. SHORTCAKE: (shakes head, scans and enters ’2″)

But lest you think that Mr. Shortcake is all prunes and gravity, I offer the following evidence:

The world’s largest usable pepper grinder!

Did anyone else love picking china as much as I did? Of the 3 hours that it took us to register, about two of those hours were spent drooling over dishes.

Me likey Wedgwood.

It took over half an hour, as well as outside assistance, to choose between these two Vera Wang for Wedgwood patterns:

Mr. Shortcake was attracted to Vera’s “platinum lace” on the left. Me, on the other hand, was completely smitten by her “Love Knots” pattern. I was about to do back flips to show my admiration for the set, but then thought twice because I was surrounded by expensiv-o place settings.

In the end, Mr. Shortcake let me choose the love knots pattern, sighing and declaring that he “would grow to like it.”

GROW TO LIKE IT?? HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS?

I heart ribbons. This pattern and me were meant to BE!

Our uber-helpful agent, Audrey, helped us put together our “feminine and dainty” formal place setting:

Check out the sweet polka dots on our wine goblets:

(Vera Wang “grosgrain”)

Audrey was also instrumental in putting together our more “masculine” everyday place setting:

You can’t really see the rustic hand-made elegance of Sophie Conran’s Portmeirion porcelain dishes in this picture, but you can see more of them here. They come in AMAZING seafoam green and brown polka-dotted boxes which I will completely keep for organizing craft supplies, and are DISH-WASHABLE! Woot! Woot! Shortie does NOT do hand-washing dishes.

(you can see those sweet boxes in this pic, but ignore those random country plates)

We also registered for furniture after discovering that we had up to a year to purchase the remaining items off of our registry - with a substantial discount.

We aren’t expecting anyone to plunk down several grand and bring, say, a hand-wrapped love seat to the reception, but this way we can actually furnish our home when we move back to Vancouver next year. Right now we’re living with basically nothing in Winnipeg, so as to cut down on cross-country moving costs, so I can only dream and drool of eating at this:

How terrific is this table? It’s high, so my feet dangle (love me some danglin’ feet), has super comfy chairs, seats eight, and has a lazy susan for spinning dips and sauces! Sweet! I think square tables are so much friendlier than long rectangles, too.

It took us quite a while to get our collective butts in gear and go register, but boy-o, was it worth it! Even if we don’t receive everything, having our house and interior design “planned out” mentally was worth the trip!

SHORTIE’S TIPS FOR A HEADACHE FREE REGISTRY:

• Go around your house and see what you need and what you already have. This is a good time to replace your college bath towels with some RL goodness
• Multiply your guest list by 3. This way, there’s tons of stuff for your guests to choose from!
• Bring water and wear comfy shoes.
• Bring a camera. That way, if you forget what you registered for, you can look at your pictures (esp. if your store’s website only shows names of items)
• Don’t be afraid to register for big-ticket items. Many stores offer a discount after the wedding for registry items you still wish to purchase.
• Go with an idea of colour schemes/wood colours you eventually want in your house. This way, your gifts will “go”
• Register for items in different price ranges (student friend, parent’s co-worker, wealthy grandparent)
• Don’t hesitate to ask for assistance!
• If you plan on doing a lot of entertaining in the future, it’s a good idea to register for 12 place settings of your formal china. This, however, does not extend to minimal use or uni-tasker items like gravy boats and soup bowls.
• Don’t be afraid to register for unconventional items. If you already have formal china, go ahead and register for camping equipment, if that’s what you really want and need!
• Give your sweetie lots of hugs and kisses for their patience!

Do you have other tips for bees about to register?
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I don’t own a vacuum, so this item kind of make sense… plus, it has the added bonus that Mr. Toucan thinks that the Dyson is so awesome, he might even be the one doing most of the vacuuming (hopefully)!

And then later when I was searching around for other things to add, I couldn’t help but add this:

Francis Francis X6 Trio Red Espresso Maker

Other than the fact that Miss Toucan LOVES her morning lattes, this cute little machine came in such a lovely RED! I just couldn’t help it!

After registering for these two “big ticket items,” I went back and forth on whether or not I should remove them. I ended up leaving them on the registry… and we ended up getting BOTH of these items at our shower (eeeee!)! Two sets of aunts and uncles combined to buy us the Dyson, and a group of friends chipped in to buy us the espresso machine! I guess that’s the point of registering for the “big ticket items” - for group gifts!

What do you think of registering for “big ticket items?” Did you register for any “big ticket items?” What did you register for?
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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?

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We have not purchased our cake cutting knife yet so I am SO excited to receive this! It is such a generous gift and so thoughtful, especially since we will be able to use it on our wedding day. I have a feeling that every gift we receive is going to give me a warm fuzzy inside!

I don’t intend on using any of our gifts until after we are married, but I decided to make a couple of exceptions for items that we can use during the wedding and/or ceremony. Did you use your gifts before you were married, or did you wait until after the big day?
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The other day, I was reading a fellow bridal blog, and I came upon a fantastic suggestion! Honestly, it really never occurred to me to look for our china pattern (formal OR everyday) on eBay. Not only did I find various pieces that we’re missing, (and a Replacements store!) but there are other sellers which feature items that I never even knew about! My personal favorite is the vinegar jug:

[Image courtesy of eBay seller DOGWOODS.]

And how about these? It looks like they simply attached a salad plate and a dinner plate to silver handles, but I think they’re cute!

[Images courtesy of eBay seller myTableware.]

Has anyone else dealt with registry completion pains? How did you work around it? Did you find additional pieces to complement your existing items?
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In addition to drooling at various small appliances and touching many towels and sets of sheets to assess softness, we also wandered into the shoe department. I made the mistake of trying on some really cute boots that had an abnormal amount of excess leather near the inside of the zipper. Of course, I didn’t notice this as I excitedly zipped them up. It was when I tried to take the boot off that I realized that I was in trouble. Fortunately, Miss GB 2.0 likes to model herself after MacGyver and attached her key ring to the zipper and managed to free me. My hero! Isn’t it fitting that I bought her this shirt a couple of Valentine’s Days ago?

www.threadless.com

I’m not thrilled with the Bay, and I am not just saying that because I’m bitter about the boot incident. One problem is that we can’t manage our registry online. We have to have a “registry consultant” do stuff like remove items from our registry, change the misspelling of my name from when they entered incorrectly, etc. Another problem is that when guests access our list online, they can’t see pictures of what they are ordering. Instead they get a descriptive title like OVAL PLATTER 14″ CHARLOTT. But sadly, they seem to be our only option.

Yes, Canada has a Pottery Barn , Williams Sonoma, Pier 1, and Linens n Things, but the registry in the U.S. and Canadian stores aren’t linked. So let’s say we register in Canada. To access the list, people have to go to http://www.potterybarn.ca/, for example. That, in itself, is not a big problem. The problem is that if they want to order online, they have to have a credit card with a Canadian billing address. The other option is to register on the U.S. side. The problem with that is that guests will have to pay tremendous shipping fees or else bring the gift by hand. Who is going to want to travel internationally with cookware, or even worse, dishes or glassware? Even Amazon has this problem (there’s amazon.com and amazon.ca).

Does anyone have any brilliant suggestions on how to subvert the system?
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I fell victim to the ever-popular Kate Spade Gwinnett Lane dishes.
 

My mom snapped these two up the day I added them.

This one is probably a pipe dream.

I promise I’ll act surprised when I open this Aunt Robbin!

We registered a few months back at Macy’s for everyday dishes, towels and bedding, Williams-Sonoma for kitchen stuff, Bed Bath and Beyond for china and some more kitchen stuff, and Lowe’s (Mr. Tiramisu’s wish). With 4 months left until the wedding, there has been a small dent made in the Macy’s registry, but most everything else is still there. My future mother-in-law’s friends are throwing us a big shower this month, and I’m sure I’ll be stalking in the days and weeks ahead to see what fun stuff disappears from the “still need” list.

I’m worried though, will it be tough to act surprised at the shower, since I’ll inevitably already know who is bringing what? There’s been a lot of talk on weddingbee about registry stalking… almost everyone has admitted to it. So what I want to know is, any non-stalkers out there? Please raise your hands and tell us- how do you keep from looking!?
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