Wedding Registry 101: A Guide to Choosing Your Fine China and Crystal

How to Pick out Your China and Crystal Patterns

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It wasn’t too long ago that we were faced with the daunting task of picking out our fine china and crystal. Are there more important things in life? Of course, but as anyone knows, this is a big decision as you and your future spouse begin your new life together. It is, after all, an investment. And rightfully so. Even if you don’t think you’ll use it now, trust me – there will be a time when you’ll be thankful you have a gorgeous set.

Whether you’re putting together your registry or revisiting what you already have, there’s something in this guide for you.

My best piece of advice when it comes to picking out your place settings is to go to a jeweler or a department store where you feel a connection with your clerk. It’s so important since they’ll be your go-to person along the way – and when it comes to completing your registry at the very end to my brides out there.

The ladies we were lucky enough to work with on ours would frequently email or call me when a special was going on. They can also alert you if a piece from your collection is on the list to be discontinued. This, however, is something you’ll have to monitor on your own once it’s been a year or two after your wedding. It’s not the end of the world if that happens (it happened to us). In fact, I did a separate post on what to do if your china or crystal pattern gets discontinued here.

We changed our set multiple times before finally deciding on “the one.” My mother and I ended up spending hours in stores narrowing it down before I made the final selection with my hubby. Her advice was so fabulous that I’d feel like I was cheating y’all if I didn’t share it.

Keep it classic. As tempting as it was to choose china with fun textured detailing or an exciting and bold color, I went very traditional with a gold rim and I couldn’t be happier. I didn’t want to grow tired of a patterned set, so I needed a good classic. Antiquing is also something I love doing, so selecting a set that would give me the flexibility to mix and match with new and old was important to me.

An antique tureen atop a silver plated tray add beautiful accents to our tabletop.

Physically set your table. Remember how I said it helps to have a sales staff that knows what they’re doing and is super understanding? You’ll need them here so you can clear out a big space on the counter to quite literally set your table.

We played around with dozens of patterns here, mixing and matching until we had the right dinner plate, salad plate, bread and butter, etc. Don’t be afraid to pick pieces from different china patterns.

Also, this method of deciding on your fine set also applies to deciding on your everyday one.

Our set ultimately combines three different collections. I set the dinner plate with the soup plate from our base set and something was just off. If I’m setting a table and serving a soup or pasta, I want it to jump out a bit more. I ended up with a gorgeous fluted soup/pasta plate that I love (links to my selections are at the end of this post). It’s also gold-rimmed, but has different detailing to it. The same went with our dessert plate, which I am quite literally obsessed with. It’s gorgeous, fluted, and is the perfect glamorous end to accompany the final course.

My favorite piece of advice that my mother shared with me during this whole process – aside from setting the table to narrow everything down – is to think of your salad plates as ties. Men have their standard suits, but the way they dress them up and change them out is with pocket squares, ties, etc. If you think of your “base china” as your suit and salad plates as ties, the world is your oyster!

We went through and paired different salad plates with my gold-rimmed china in the store and found a set for hosting a brunch or luncheon, a set for Easter, Christmas, and so on. This way, you can vary your china without having to purchase and – most importantly – store several complete sets of china.

Take care to note the colors of the white. If your china is bone china, try to seek out other bone china patterns when you’re mixing and matching.

Another bit of advice is one all southern women know. Make sure that your china complements your mother’s, your grandmother’s, etc. Consider the crystal and silver as well. There’s nothing more fun than mixing in generational pieces into your tabletops. I’ve driven some of my mother’s silver and china pieces up to our house several times when hosting dinner parties, showers, etc. It makes a table extra special.

I chose my china before the crystal. Once the table was set, I started adding in and taking out different crystal glassware options. Consider the size and scale of the glasses next to your dinnerware. Crystal glassware now is taller and bigger than it used to be. That’s part of why it’s so important to set your place setting in person. Otherwise, it’s impossible to know how it will all look together.

We ended up finding a beautiful crystal pattern with a gold rim that is an absolute dream (also now discontinued) with our china. It ties everything together.

Crystal decanters and barware are a whole other kettle of fish. We registered for a different version of ours since they’re not typically used at the dinner table, so they don’t have to match exactly. We went through several versions of the crystal glassware before we chose a double old fashioned glass for our standard lower bar glass since it has a thick bottom that could withstand muddled drinks as well as a bourbon neat. While we selected these online, it does help to have looked at them in the store so you have an idea of how the crystal looks, reflects the light, etc. in person. I’d argue the same is important with the candlesticks and centerpieces.