First Bridal Registry

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Today we went to Dillard's at the Mall of Georgia to pick up our gift that we had won at the Stone Hedge bridal show and to start our first registry. We had not done a previous registry and I was excited to put some beautiful fine china, crystal and flatware on the list.

Our bridal consultant was Florene and although she didn't have the most pleasant of personalities, she was somewhat helpful and gave us advice of the basic registry items that we should have.

We started out with formal china and decided to pick two patterns that we could easily mix and match.

The odd thing is that most everyone has decided to go modern and choose platinum or silver over gold accents, so we were pretty limited in finding something that was gold. Strangely (maybe not really) we were on the same page about wanting super traditional pieces and to both of us that meant gold. I love what gold represents: tradition, royalty, opulence, luxury....all the good stuff.

Our first choice was the ever popular Vera Wang Lace

in Gold. It's such a beautiful pattern, minimal and sophisticated. There is just enough detail to keep the eye interested, but not so much that it looks too busy.

It's so beautiful matched up with the flatware and stemware that we chose and really is a statement. I promised Al that I would use these as our everyday instead of just breaking them out at Christmas or Thanksgiving. I feel that china is meant to be used and appreciated, even if you're eating pizza. Plus this pattern is so popular, that it will be around for quite some time, just in case anything gets mishandled and broken.

This second pattern is called the Vera Wang Gilded Leaf for Wedgewood.

There's this beautiful and detailed gold "leaf" design around the dinner and salad plate. Then the coffee cup and sacuer have a gold rim detailing with leaf/branch motif in gold on one side of the cup (see picture). On the bottom inside the cup is the same pattern only in silver.

The 9 inch accent plate, which is shown in the picture has the leaf/branch motif on the outer rim of the plate in gold and on the base of the plate in silver.

When the two patterns are mixed it's quite a stunning effect and will be so beautiful for entertaining and holiday dinners.

Then we picked out crystal to compliment the fine china.

There were only two patterns available with a gold rim, so that narrowed down our options, which was good in a way.

So we chose the Lennox Firelight pattern with a gold band. It's so beautiful and the pattern totally catches the light and sparkles. I LOVE IT!

And last but not least, to complete the formal table is the flatware. Dillard's carried only one line of flatware that had gold, so of course, that's what we went with. But, to be honest, I probably would have chosen this pattern even if there were other options available. It's an 18/10 stainless with a gold trim that has almost a rope pattern to it. It's very similar to the pattern on my engagement ring.

I honestly never thought I could get this excited about tableware, but it was so much fun picking things out and planning for dinner parties. I didn't know I had it in me.

Finally Florene suggested to us that we pick out our casual china for everyday use.

We thought, ok, we'll check it out, and Dillard's selection left MUCH to be desired. We couldn't find a single pattern that we both liked. Al found one called Elements, by Nora, but I totally hated it.

Here's Al displaying the practicality of said china that I loathe.

After we finished picking out the "starter" pieces to our registry, it was gift time. I swear, it was almost like Christmas.

The first present was actually the prize that we had won at the Stonehedge bridal show. It was beautifully packaged in this textured (snake skin like) white paper with a gorgeous lush white bow. I didn't even want to open it. I decided that I'm saving the ribbon for my rehearsal bouquet.....Anyway, it turned out to be a set of champagne glasses that were of the firelight pattern that we had just picked out (sans the gold band). Our first crystal....oh my gosh I love it!

The second gift was part of what Dillard's usually gives out when you do a registry with them. It's called the I Thee Wed Planner Book and it's actually a really great, really detailed book full of advice and ideas on topics across the board, not just the registry. It even has a dandy furniture arranging guide to use when you move into (or change furniture in your existing) your new house.

In addition, at the Stonehedge bridal show where Dillard's was featured as a vendor, they were giving out pamphlets and guide books to registries (which is how this whole trip happened in teh first place). Inside the pamplets was a letter saying bring this to the specific Mall of Georgia Dillard's and receive an additional gift, so we got ANOTHER freakin gift.

It was a beautiful glass bud vase that had a Silver raised grape design around the bottom of it.

It's gorgeous and such a pretty piece.

As we were leaving, our arms filled with our stash, Florene gave us a VIP card to be used at Savvi formal which was for a free Father of the Bride tux, in addition to the discount on the groomsmen tux and the free groom's tux. BONUS!!!!!

We were treated so fabulously and had such a great time. I'm pretty impressed with the experience I had at Dillard's. The other good thing is that you have a lot of out of town guests, there are a good number of Dillard's across the country.

Whew! So that's how we survived our first Bridal registry.