landlocked bride™ | midwest + mountain west wedding inspiration

In a few short weeks, the Pilot and I will begin registering for items for the wedding.  We have been putting it off for a number of reasons, mostly because we wanted to wait until after the holidays.  We had a feeling some of our family members would buy us wedding gifts for the holidays, so we opted to hold off.  Plus, we felt it was still a bit early.

At any rate, I have been making a list of things we already have, things we want to replace and things we do not have, which we want.  Now, I’ll tell ya, there are a few items that just seemed unnecessary.  Included on this list was an olive pitter.  You see, I like olives. A lot.  So much so in fact, when I was a little girl I used to put black olives on each of my fingers and then eat them off (you can ask my mother about this).  LOVE black olives.

The other night, the Pilot came up with this recipe on his own (kudos for him for getting kitchen creative, since that’s always my job).  He wanted chicken breast, a mixture of olives and tomato sauce.  Easy enough.  So, we set out to the grocery store to get the items we did not have – olives and tomato sauce.  The idea being we would get some really good olives.  Luckily, one of our local grocery stores, has a great little antipasti/olive bar – which made finding really good olives, really easy.  Never mind the fact that I forgot these olives need to be pitted.

So, in true landlocked couple style, I started cooking dinner while the Pilot found something else to do.  I asked him how he wanted his olives, and he said sliced, so back to the kitchen I went.  I grabbed one of our knives and was about to slice away, when BAM, the knife wouldn’t go through. Damn It!  The olives needed to be pitted.  So, I spent a good ten or so minutes trying to cut as much olive off of the pit without slicing my fingers off.  There were a good 30 olives, mind you, all of which were in some sort of olive oil marinade. Olive oil = Slippery. Slipper + Knife = Not Safe.  Luckily, no cuts.  BUT it made me immediately add olive pitter to our list of items to register for.

Image courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

(Yes, I realize there are cherries in this photo, but it’s a duel purpose tool).

And, that my friends, is why you need an olive pitter.

So, the FI and I are getting close to the one year mark (I can hardly believe it has been 7 months since our engagement…time flies!).  And, in the spirit of something “wedding traditional,” I’m chatting on the basics of wedding registries.

The FI and I have decided to wait until after the first of the year to start our wedding registry for a number of reason, a few of which, I highly recommend that some brides and grooms take into consideration when starting their registries.  Included in this posted are just a few “getting started” tips for wedding registries.

1.  Do your research on where you want to register.  Two to three stores is usually a good number.  More than that, and things just get confusing.  Any less, and you don’t really give your wedding guests and family members depth in the items and type of stuff you want to receive.

2.  Don’t register too early (a rule the FI and I are following closely).  Sometimes if you register too early, by the time your shower(s) and wedding roll around, some or a lot of the items you registered for may no longer be available as they were seasonal items, or they are no longer made.

• As a side-note to this one, because of where our wedding falls, we do not want to register before Christmas.  After some discussion, we decided that we did not want to receive wedding gifts as Christmas gifts.  We were afraid by registering now, family members may pick and choose off the registry for those holiday gifts.  Not to be selfish or picky in any way, but we want our wedding registry to be for the wedding.

3.  Make a list of the things you want and need.  This may vary, as you may have those old pots and pans from college, so you may not NEED new ones, but you probably want a nicer set.  Having a list is also good idea to keep for when you register at other stores.

• By making a list, and even having separate lists for your different registries, you will prevent registering for many of the same items at different stores, which can cause a lot of confusion amongst wedding guests, and create a huge hassle for you by having to return duplicate items after the wedding.

4.  Register for items with a broad price range.  This includes your cooking utensils, which can be fairly low in price, to your china or set of pots and pans.  It is good to give guests a variety of things to choose from.

5.  Be sure to check with the stores regarding their return policies (number of days, if you receive merchandise credit, etc.) and what their registry completion program consists of (will they offer you a discount on the items not purchased after your wedding?).

I’d love to hear your registry woes and tips when you first started (I will ask for other tips as we get into more details down the road).  As the FI and I continue on down this path, I will feature tips and tricks to making sure your registry is a perfect fit!

Happy registering!