A Few Favorites Off of Our Wedding Registry
Pulling together your registry doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Remember to keep it light and low pressure – your engagement is a fabulous time in life and it’s fleeting. Enjoy it!
To begin your registry process, I recommend starting with your fine china and crystal, then adding on a few everyday items. Check out this post on picking out these important place settings since that’s a bit more involved! In the meantime, here are some of my favorite things that we registered for a few years ago and still love to this day.
Also, none of this is sponsored. These items were on our registry and are now sitting happily in our kitchen being used, quite literally, every day.
Our everyday white dinnerware. What I love most about white dinnerware is that everything looks great on it, no matter what you’re serving. I’ve talked about our everyday white dinnerware so many times on here, but I really love the collection we put together. I mixed pieces from three of Williams Sonoma’s French porcelain collections and have been so pleased with them. They’re terrific quality, durable, and the perfect white. Sometimes whites can have heavy taupe or gray/blue undertones, but these are a beautiful crisp white.
Our cafe glasses. I love the shape and style of traditional cafe glassware, so when I found Pottery Barn’s collection, I practically barreled over there. Our goblets, sadly, aren’t available anymore, but the juice glasses are – and in multiple sizes. You can see our glasses in this green lettuceware post, this blue, white, and red table, and this one in green and white.
Our china and crystal. We went very classic with our china and crystal. I’ll share more details on what we picked out in a separate post because making these selections is a big deal. We went with gold-rimmed French Limoges, which truly works with so many place settings – both antique and new. More on that soon!
Serving pieces, serving pieces, serving pieces. I can’t stress how important this is. You can literally never have enough. Silver pieces are perfect for formal and informal (in my opinion), but sometimes you just need something that’s easy to clean. That’s where some of these aluminum and metal serving pieces come into play. We chose Beatriz Ball’s beautiful and low-maintenance pieces. The beaded ones also go well with beaded pieces by Mariposa. I also love some of the pieces by Michael Aram.
Upgrading our pots and pans to All-Clad. This was a fantastic decision. It’s a bit of a splurge, but is an investment that’s worth every penny – and it’s still paying out dividends a few years later. We went with this stainless steel collection and have been so pleased with it. I recommend getting the stockpot with steamer as well. It’s fabulous for lowcountry boils, steaming seafood in general, and larger get-together’s. Also, the roasting pan has paid for itself so many times over. If hosting Thanksgiving, Easter brunch, or even making a whole chicken for a dinner party is in your future, this pan should go on your registry today.
Le Creuset. You just can’t go wrong with a few of these pieces. I chose the bright red with the intention of using it during the holidays, too. I absolutely adore their pieces. They are durable, wonderful quality, heavy as all get out, and cook things so evenly. Coq au vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, and anything else that needs a nice slow cook is so happy in this enamelware.
Investing in our knives with Wusthof. If you register for anything in the kitchen, make sure you include Wusthof knives. Having quality knives will completely change the way you cook. It’s like “instant chef” if that was ever a thing (ok, not really, but it’s close). We went with the Wusthof Classic knives, which are a bit heavier and more sturdy than their gourmet line. They’re pricier, but we’ve been very happy with them.
Which knives should you register for? Stick with a bread knife, Santoku knife, chef’s knife, and paring knife for the very basics. Since we’re seriously into tomato and mayo sandwiches in the summer (yes, it’s a thing), a tomato knife was a must-have for us, too. I’m still on the lookout for steak knives that work and are attractive. I’ve tried ones that work (Wusthof’s) and ones that are attractive, but the combination seems to be the unicorn of the kitchen. I’m open to recommendations if you have some (let me know in the comments section)!
Pro tip on sharpening your knives: Most Williams Sonoma stores offer knife sharpening at a minimal cost. It’s a good idea to get this done twice a year: once before Easter and once before Thanksgiving since those are the times when you’re most likely to carve larger proteins and host friends and family.
Red and white wine glasses. A lot of people recommend snagging sets of separate glasses for each type of wine. We are definitely wine people, especially after our last trip to wine country, BUT we are also limited on space in our current home. What we did instead was pick a brand we loved – Riedel – and registered for a red wine glass style and a white wine glass style that were aesthetically pleasing to us. We settled on their Pinot Noir glasses and their Riesling glasses. These glasses are gorgeous, very well-crafted, and are about $10 or so apiece, so if one drops, it isn’t a tragedy. We also went with a pattern that we thought was a classic one that was most likely not going to be discontinued (hello, our now-discontinued Waterford crystal pattern – if y’all come across the diamond gold-rimmed Lismore, message me and I’ll buy it (RIP)).
This post contains affiliate links, but all are tried and true Magnolia Stripes favorites.
