Wedding Registry Advice

Normally, I'm in the camp of giving completely unsolicited advice on this here blog, but Allison's roommate and best friend, Kailin, just got engaged and asked for my thoughts on wedding registries.

Keeping in mind that we live in a small apartment and therefore try to keep things simple, here's what I would recommend registering for:

Dishes

12 dinner plates

12 side plates

12 bowls

12 glasses

12 wine glasses

16 settings of silverware

* I would say that's the bare minimum. We do have and regularly use other pieces: 4 juice glasses, 8 coffee mugs, 4 ice cream dishes, 8 mini latte bowls, and a tea set {pot, cream, sugar}. Well, I don't use the tea set very often, but I sure do love it. We also have sets of 12 festive side plates for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and birthdays.

Serving Ware

Cake stand with dome

Glass pitcher

Large platter

Large serving bowl

Corningware set
Gravy boat
Butter dish

* Also in the entertaining category, we have a beverage dispenser, a beverage tub, two fondue sets, a cupcake stand, a cheese board, a cupcake carrier and a cake carrier. Since we have limited space, our large serving bowl actually serves as our fruit bowl most of the time.

Kitchen Linens

8 dish towels

16 dish cloths

4 pot holders

Oven mitts

* My thoughts on dish towels and cloths are that I'd like to have one towel and two cloths per day for a week. We also have 12 white cloth napkins and 8 place mats. We don't have any tablecloths, but we do have some seasonal table runners and napkins that I've made myself. And I love using my apron that matches the pot holders and oven mitts. 

Cooking

2-quart saucepan

4-quart saucepan

5-quart saute pan
6-quart stockpot

8-quart stockpot

8-inch frying pan
10-inch frying pan

2 wooden cutting boards

2 plastic cutting boards
Colander
Vegetable steamer
Cheese grater
Knife set

* We have a square griddle pan that's perfect for making pancakes and grilled cheese. We also have a smaller colander that we use often for rinsing berries and grapes. I'd love to have a Dutch oven and a real roasting pan one day.

Cooking Utensils
Turner
Ladle
Slotted spoon
Serving spoon
Spaghetti spoon
Pizza cutter
Ice cream scoop
Vegetable peeler
Potato masher
Meat tenderizer
Meat thermometer
Microplane zester 
Corkscrew
Tongs

* I'm a big fan of things being dishwasher safe, so I try to use stainless steel utensils whenever possible. When writing this list, I realized that we should really get a can opener, just in case the power's out and we can't use our electric one.

Baking

2 cookie sheets

2 pizza pans 

2 cooling racks

2 muffin tins 

2 cake pans

2 Pyrex sets
Pyrex mixing bowls
Liquid measuring cup
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons

* We also have a bundt pan, spring form pan, and two pie shields. I really like the Pyrex sets that include all three sizes of casserole dishes with lids as well as a loaf pan and pie plate. I love Pyrex products because I love my dishwasher, which is why I also have silicone muffin/cake pans and stainless steel measuring cups/spoons.

Baking Utensils  
Spatula
Whisk
Wooden spoon
Pie server
Icing spreader
Rolling pin
Pastry blender
Pastry brush
Candy thermometer
Cake tester
Biscuit cutter

* Again, I really like using stainless steel utensils whenever it's an option. And every time I bake cookies, I think about how much I'd love a cookies scoop!

Appliances

Toaster
Blender
Crock pot
Stand mixer

* I feel like appliances are really subjective. It's really about what you like and how much space you have. For example, we don't have a coffee maker because we don't like coffee. But we do have an electric can opener, a waffle maker, and an ice cream maker. I'd love to have a food processor and an immersion blender one day. An electric griddle could also be really nice at some point.

Misc. Kitchen
Kettle
Spice rack
Utensil crock
Spoon rest
Paper towel holder
Dish rack
Soap dispenser
Salt and pepper shakers
Napkin holder
Plastic pitchers
Food storage containers for pantry
Food storage containers for leftovers

* I really like the Pyrex storage containers for leftovers. I'm also a big fan of storage containers in the pantry {because we got weevils in the early months of our marriage - eww!} and have a lot of the Martha Stewart ones from Macy's. The flour and sugar canisters come with measuring cups, which is just so handy. If I was moving right into a house, I might skip the spice rack and install racks right on the inside of my pantry door or something instead.

Bathroom
8 bath towels
8 wash cloths
2 hand towels
2 bath mats
Shower curtain
Curtain liner and hooks
Shower caddy
Bath rug
Soap dispenser
Toothbrush holder
Trash can
Hamper

* We've only had one bathroom thus far, so I'm not sure what you'd want if you're moving into a place with more than one. I'm guessing you'd want to multiply everything by the number of bathrooms, except for maybe the bath towels. We only keep a bath rug in front of the sink, because I feel like ones in front of the tub can have mildew/mold problems if you're not careful. So we just put a bath mat down instead. We also don't use wash cloths, so the ones we have are just for guests.

Bedroom
2 sets of sheets
Pillows
Pillow protectors
Mattress cover 
Bedding {comforter, shams, etc}

* I've definitely seen people register for bedding for their room and a guest room. The kind of bedding you'd pick is another really subjective thing. We like to have a comforter with duvet cover, quilt, shams, and only one decorative pillow.

Decor
Vase
Coasters
Candlesticks

* You could really do as little or as much as you wanted in this category. We registered for a personalized shadow box for wedding memorabilia and really, really love it. But you could do frames, wall art, pillows, throws, lamps, and whatever else strikes your fancy.

Other
Tool set
Electric drill
Vacuum

* Again, you could definitely do a lot with this category. Depending on the season, you could register for beach towels or Christmas stockings. If you like camping, you could do a tent and an air mattress. I've seen people register for barbecues, coolers, board games, and all sorts of other home-related items.

Where to register?
I've heard that you should register at three places - one low, one medium, and one high. We registered at Target, Macy's, and Pottery Barn. I feel like you could also do a low, medium, and specialty store. Like registering for tools at Sear's or furniture at Ikea.  A lot of my favorite kitchen items are from Anthropologie. If you also drool over their stuff, Amazon registries let you add stuff from other sources. There's also more specific universal wedding registry sites out there. I think it'd be totally fine just to pick two stores if that's what you feel like, but only one store seems like not enough and more than three seems like overkill to me.

How much to register for?
Definitely keep in mind that wedding registries aren't just a list of everything you'd like in your future home. They're meant to give your guests ideas for wedding presents. I've heard that a good rule of thumb for a specific number of items to include is to have between 1.5 and 2 times the number of families on your guest list. Not the total number of guests, but the number of families/couples invited. I've also heard that it's a good idea to have 50-60% of the registry items in the $30-$60 price range, since that's the average spent on a wedding gift. So then you'd want 20-25% of the items below that price range and 20-25% of the items above that price range.

What not to register for?

Registries used to be exclusively for china, crystal, and silver. China is still a really popular item to see, with crystal maybe a little less so. I don't know anyone fancy enough to register for silver! But, nowadays, it seems like anything home-related is fair game. I have seen people get carried away and register for things like hair straighteners and slippers, since Bed, Bath, and Beyond sells those things. Maybe not such a good idea. Also, I feel like it's totally fine to include a few board games, but registering for a Wii could be a little weird. And I know wedding guests can have mixed feelings about honeymoon registries, so I would consider that option really carefully before going for it.

Wedding Week: One Year Later

We celebrated our first anniversary yesterday! I thought I would kick off the blog celebration with a recap of our wedding weekend.

Friday

The day before the wedding started out with manicures & pedicures with my mom, sister, grandma, aunt and cousin.



Then we all met up with my bridesmaids and Adam's female relatives for a luncheon at a cute little restaurant, Humble City Cafe.



The men had a bachelor's lunch at a favorite barbecue joint, Spring Creek. Of course, there are no pictures from that event, because they are boys.

After lunch, we dropped off all the decorations at the reception location and headed to the church for a rehearsal.



Adam's parents threw the rehearsal dinner at Italiano's, a delicious Italian place with a separate party area. We ate, talked and watched a slideshow of cute baby pictures.



I stayed up way too late that night chatting with my little sister. This was our very last night of sharing a room together after 18 years. I was excited and sad at the same time.

Saturday

We woke up really early on the morning of the wedding. My mom, grandma, sister and I were at the hair salon at seven a.m.

LuAnn, the stylist who had been cutting my hair for as long as I can remember, opened the salon extra early just for us. I showed her the same picture of Reese Witherspoon at the Oscars that she'd used to do my hair for prom.

After we'd done our hair and makeup, we headed home to get dressed. I wore a strapless, cocktail length dress with a lace shrug. The bridesmaids wore green dresses and the groomsmen wore their best suits with coordinating green striped ties.



My sister, Allison, was the maid of honor, of course. The bridesmaids were my good friends Sam and Arli, as well as Adam's sister Katie.



Adam's brother closest to him in age, Alex, was the best man. The groomsmen were his other brothers Jeff and Steve, as well as my little brother Scott.

I asked our immediate family and the bridal party to meet at the church at 9:30. I got there a few minutes before Adam so we wouldn't run into each other.

When we arrived, the florist was there to deliver our altar arrangements, bouquets and boutonnieres - all hot pink roses. Our friends Sam {a bridesmaid} and Ben were there tying on all the pew bows.



The photographer, Amy, was a family friend who my sister babysits for quite frequently. She got a few shots of us separately with our families and the bridal party before the 11:00 ceremony. Then, the bridesmaids and I hid in the brides' room while the groomsmen acted as ushers and handed out programs.



Our ceremony was held at St. Mary's, the church we grew up attending every week. I've had all my sacraments there except for baptism. St. Mary's was a big part of our dating life in high school, because we were on Confirmation Team and taught Sunday School there together.



Our old youth minister, Mike, served as the cantor. He was actually at the Archdiocese Youth Conference that weekend, but he drove back just for us. He almost didn't make it in time! A family friend played the piano to accompany him.

Two good friends, Jake and Christina, served as readers. The ceremony was officiated by Deacon Dave. He got married really young too, so he gave us a lot of invaluable advice during the marriage prep process. Since we had a full Mass, Father Daniel also officiated.



The ceremony was so beautiful. We loved every minute of it. Afterward, the photographer grabbed some more family and bridal party shots at the church.





Our reception was held at Redstone Golf Club, a country club about ten minutes away from St. Mary's. The guests mingled and snacked on cheese & crackers while Adam and I got some pictures alone on the club's grounds.



When we walked back inside to join the party at 1:00, everyone took their seats in the dining room. The best man welcomed everyone and Deacon Dave said the blessing.



A buffet-style lunch was served. We chose our all-time favorite meal, fajitas. Chips & queso, empanadas and an awesome salad with tomatilla ranch dressing rounded out the buffet.

Adam and I chowed down quickly at the sweetheart table because we had a mission - thank all of our 120 guests for being there to celebrate with us.



We didn't have dancing at our reception. We don't like to dance and we knew our guests weren't that into it either. So, we had plenty of time to drop by every table.





As soon as we finished making our rounds, it was time for the maid of honor and father of the bride to give their toasts. They pretty much brought everyone to tears. The rehearsal dinner guests enjoyed the slideshow so much that we decided to show it again at the reception.



Then dessert was served. We love cake as much as the next guy, but we love pie even more. So, we offered guests a choice of lemon meringue, apple or derby pie.



After everyone had enjoyed their dessert, the maid of honor asked the single ladies to meet on the patio for the bouquet toss. The best man asked the rest of the guests to grab a container of bubbles and get ready for our big exit.



My good friend Jessica caught the bouquet. Right around 4:30, Adam and I left the reception surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers.



We spent the night at The Houstonian, a super swanky hotel downtown. We had visited once for a college presentation and always dreamed of coming back as proper guests. We were so glad that we'd had an early wedding because we had plenty of time to enjoy that gorgeous hotel.

Sunday

We couldn't leave for our honeymoon the next day because Adam still had a week left of his summer research program. We knew this when we picked our wedding date, but it was really the only date of the summer that worked for everyone. We weren't about to wait till Christmas or the next summer just so we could leave for our honeymoon right away.

So, we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to our first Sunday Mass as a married couple. We had lunch at Five Guys of all places and headed back to my parents' house to open wedding presents. We were totally blown away by everyone's generosity!

We stayed at Adam's parents' house for a week. Adam went to work everyday while I wrote all our thank you notes and got started packing. The following weekend, our friends Arli {a bridesmaid} and Phil got married. I got to be a bridesmaid in her wedding too.

Honeymoon

Our honeymoon began the day after Arli's wedding. We spent five days at an all-inclusive resort in Mexico. It was paradise!



Every morning, breakfast was brought to our room and we ate on our balcony overlooking the ocean. Most days were spent at the pristine beach or infinity pool with a swim-up bar, where the strawberry margaritas were watered down just how I like them. One day, we took a snorkeling excursion to a nearby island. Another day, we took a sailing lesson at the resort.



Every night, we had dinner at one of the resort's specialty restaurants. We tried the steakhouse, the Brazilian place, the Mexican place and the big buffet. We'd end the evening watching the sunset on our balcony with a glass of champagne.

The End

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in paradise forever. We flew back to Houston, spent a week packing up our belongings, drove a moving truck across the country to Pittsburgh and spent another week unpacking our new apartment before the fall semester started at Pitt. Once we were settled into our first home, we really felt like we were married.

This ended up being a little longer than I anticipated - sorry! I just really wanted to write the story of our wedding before we forget all the details and all the people who made the day so special.

P.S. Wanna see more wedding pics? Check 'em all out on Flickr. Curious where we found something? There's a complete source list right here.

Wedding Wednesday: Displaying Memories

I'm back with the final Wedding Wednesday post, about how we're displaying all our wedding mementos.

Since we've only been married for a few months, we have wedding memorabilia all over our apartment. This certainly won't be the case forever, but we're happy displaying everything for now.



We have our signature frame hung over our living room mantel, along with the "Mr" and "Mrs" letters that previously decorated our sweetheart table at the reception. The focal point of the mantel is a keepsake box {an awesome wedding present!} holding things like our cake toppers, program, wedding announcement, address card favor, and my pink hair flower.



Hanging over the mantel in our bedroom, we have our favorite picture from the wedding surrounded by some framed love bird .... dishtowels. The teal candles are actually leftover from the wedding as well.



In the little laundry corner of the bedroom, we have a canvas print of another favorite wedding photo.



Finally, the wedding album. Adam's mom gifted us a really cute photo album as a shower gift, which I turned into a wedding album with some coordinating card stock and twenty-five 4x6 photos of the big day.









The pictures are just secured with photo corners. I didn't want them stuck in an album permanently, because I might feel like displaying them like this one day.

I attached two envelopes to the back page of the album to hold CD's of photos.



I also made a more extensive photo book with Blurb that starts with the story of Adam's proposal, includes all the pre-wedding festivities, and ends with our honeymoon to Mexico.



















The photo books made great Christmas gifts for our parents and grandparents!

Wedding Wednesday: Source List + A Few Tips

I've gotten a few questions about wedding planning lately, so I decided to put together a little source list.

Venues
Ceremony: Saint Mary Magdalene Church
Reception: Redstone Golf Club
Rehearsal Dinner: Italiano's
Bridesmaid Luncheon: Humble City Cafe

Vendors
Photography: Amy Jo Bland and Tracey Ivy {Engagements}
Invitations: Sweet Penelope {printed at Office Depot}
Flowers: Kroger

Attire
Wedding Dress: Dolly Couture
Lace Shrug: Rohm Bridal
Shoes: Zappo's
Earrings & Flower Hair Clip: Steinmart
Bridesmaid Dresses: Adrianna Papel
Groomsmen Ties: JC Penney's
Bridesmaid Gifts: Earrings from JC Penney's {Allie's from Nest Pretty Things} and Hair Clips from Bando
Groomsmen Gifts: Personalized Water Bottles from Greensender

Decor
Pew Bows: Romance Ribbon
Cake Stand: Home Goods
Cake Toppers: The Pretty Pixie
Pillar Candles: Barn Loft Candles
Bubbles: Oriental Trading
Sweetheart Table Letters: Joyful Etsy Shop
Signature Frame: Michael's
Other Frames: Ikea Ribba Series

Travel
Wedding Night Hotel: The Houstonian
Honeymoon: Rio Palace Las Americas in Cancun {Booked through Cheap Caribbean}

I'd also like to leave you with some advice for planning an-almost-stress-free wedding. Not for planning the cutest, most original wedding in the world, but for keeping stress to a minimum throughout the process.

• Stay organized. I kept a huge to-do list on Google Docs with headings for the ceremony, reception, attire, miscellaenous, and married life {like an apartment and health insurance}. I was constantly crossing off items and adding more. I also used Google Docs for a spreadsheet with the guest list {and an extra column for gifts recevied}, a seating chart, and a list of expenses. Finally, I had a wedding binder to house all the important paperwork.
• Choose a reception venue that does everything for you. It was so nice to have an event planner to coordinate everything, worry about all the details and, most importantly, decorate. Your options aren't necessarily limited to country clubs or fancy banquet facilities. We seriously considered having the reception at Italiano's, the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner ended up at.
• Don't read too many wedding magazines/blogs. If you become too obsessed with reading those great sources of inspiration, you will become consumed with wedding ideas and end up taking on way more than you can handle. The only wedding magazine I purchased was the Real Simple guide {of course} and I avoided looking online unless I needed a specific idea, like for the seating chart or centerpieces.
• Shop online. It saves so much time and usually money. Plus, there's just tons of great options out there, especially on etsy. We took this to an extreme, even buying the wedding and bridesmaid dresses online.
• Don't be too proud to ask for or accept help. I couldn't have survived without the help of Adam, my mom and, especially, Allison. They helped address the invitations, tie all those darn programs, and fluff all the pew bows. My mom saved the day when a flower crisis arose, the one stressful incident. Allison, my style guru, found the bridesmaid dresses, my lace shrug, and the cute "mr. and mrs." letters. She came up with our favor idea and even gave us a gift cerfiticate for engagement pictures.

And a few cost-saving tips for good measure:

• Don't have an evening wedding. The food at our reception was literally half the price because it was at lunch time. And since the wedding was over around four, we got to spend extra time at the Houstonian!
• Don't serve alcohol. Having an open bar could almost double the cost of your reception. Since Adam isn't 21 yet, we had the perfect excuse to avoid alcohol.
• Use a grocery store instead of a florist. They did a fantastic job for a much, much better price. So, that's pretty much a no-brainer.
• Get the boxed invitations from a craft store. I didn't want the cookie-cutter invitations you can find at Michael's or Hobby Lobby, so I ordered an invitation template from an awesome graphic designer for $75. Envelopes and paper brought the total cost to $150. While I love how the wedding stationery turned out, those generic invitations {especially with 40% coupons} would have been about a third of the price.

Those are just some things that worked for us. But every wedding is beautiful and there's definitely no right way to throw one! Although a few Bridezilla episodes come to mind that disprove that statement.

Wedding Wednesday: Professional Pictures! {Part Four}

Courtesy of Amy Jo Photography.