Getting ready to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in March, and my sister currently planning her wedding, I have been taking quite a few trips down memory lane. Joe and I were most excited for the post-wedding days, as that would be the start of us spending the rest of our lives together. (Cue in the "aww"). This is why we were so excited about creating a wedding registry.
Keep reading to find out what you need on your wedding registry and what you could do without. A lot of these products are geared toward a food allergy household, the couple that loves to host, and the couple who typically make a lot of their food from scratch.
We were engaged for almost two years, which is pretty typical these days, especially on the East Coast, with wedding venues, florists, and vendors being booked months to almost a year in advance. When we started building out our registry, Joe and I hadn't even moved in together yet. Rather than focusing on decorative items, we started with the basics of what we would need once we moved into our house.
It was so much fun to go through and plan how our future together was going to look. I am not going to lie, the wedding planning wasn't an ideal task for me; it felt a bit overwhelming at times, and, with our longer engagement period, it allowed for more time to overthink decisions, make changes, become bombarded with outside sources, and so on. Our registry was the one task that was completely ours, stress-free to put together, and something we were in full control of.
We started to think about the new house and our life in New Jersey: the dinners we would have, holidays we would host, weekend breakfasts, outdoor barbeques...all the homeowner things we were looking forward to taking advantage of. We also took advantage of our registry to add kitchen tools and appliances that would help our need for cooking from scratch with my food restrictions.
Looking back on the things we registered for, there have been items that have become staples in our lives, and ones we could have probably done without. One mistake I made was thinking we needed to register for enough dinnerware, cups of multiple sizes, wine glasses (both steamless and with steam), and tablemats to host our entire family for a holiday. This could become problematic, especially if you do not have the proper space to store all this dinnerware along with every appliance under the sun, which, of course, I also registered for.
What to add to your wedding registry:
Below, we curated a list of must-haves for engaged couples building their registry for their newlywed life. Our best advice is to consider what would best fit you and your partner's life. Don't register for items because you are told to; instead, register for stuff you know you will need. For us, 95% of our registry was cooking and kitchen accessories, while the other 5% was decorative and for my hypoallergenic living.
Pro tip: Joe and I registered in more than one store, and it is a move I highly recommend for couples. Not only does it allow you to explore all the different brands each store offers, but it also gives your guests the option to shop at a store they may have rewards or couples for. Additionally, most retail stores offer you a discount as your wedding date gets closer, allowing you can purchase anything remaining on your registry with a percentage off.
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