Twenty-four crystal champagne flutes: I love entertaining, so these beautiful champagne flutes are a must-have for the elegant sit-down dinner parties I’ll be hosting. I considered asking for thirty-six, but decided to cut down the guest list. Everyone loves being invited to an exclusive event.
Ten years later: In the attic, wrapped tightly in the very bubble wrap they came in.
Salad spinner: My husband and I will cook and enjoy nutritious meals together. A healthy lifestyle leads to a healthy marriage.
Ten years later: This gadget stays front and center in the kitchen cabinet, because the inner basket works as a perfect strainer to drain the kids’ Kraft macaroni and cheese.
His and hers coffee mugs: A cornerstone of marital bliss, these mugs will become a staple of our morning routine. We’ll sit together in our sun-drenched brunch nook and enjoy the quiet early hours together, doing the crossword and watching a family of foxes frolic in our backyard.
Ten years later: They’re among the dozens of other broken-handled coffee mugs that remain in the dishwasher at all times.
Ceramic measuring cups: Would Ina Garten, our one true queen, and Barefoot Contessa, use a plastic measuring cup? Ceramic is so much classier, plus they’re BPA-free. I plan to do a lot of baking so I can send my husband to work with fresh-baked pains au chocolat for his colleagues once a week.
Ten years later: Sometimes I need the cup to add the oil when I’m making brownies from the boxed mix, but that one disappeared seven years ago, so I just eyeball it using the cup. I mostly drink my morning coffee out of them, as all the mugs are in the dishwasher.
Cappuccino machine: So we can drink our favorite gourmet espressos every morning from the comfort of our own kitchen, while saving up to forty dollars a week.
Ten years later: It’s still on our counter. Good as new, actually, albeit a bit dusty. This couple runs on Dunkin’.
Matching luggage: We want to always keep our travel cups full. Travel is so important to us. We plan to visit a new country every year on our anniversary and really soak in the culture—even after we start having children. We’ll track each destination on a map that hangs above our fireplace.
Ten years later: The large suitcase provides excellent storage for the kids’ snow pants and boots during the warmer seasons.
Bright fluffy towels: Who says every shower can’t feel like a spa? Imagine taking a hot bubble bath, drinking champagne from one of your twenty-four crystal champagne flutes, and then stepping out into the warmest, fluffiest towel? Now that is adulting.
Ten years later: Oh, you mean my gray, threadbare towels?
Nonstick cookware: Ideally, we’ll have enough money to honeymoon in the French countryside, where we’ll take a weeklong course at a crêperie. When we return to our marital home, we’ll start a tradition of making crêpes every Saturday morning—and sometimes, when we’re feeling puckish, breakfast for dinner!
Ten years later: Oh, you mean my extreme-stick cookware?
Roomba: We’re a busy, successful power couple, so having a robot vacuum that we can just boop on every day and have it clean while we’re at our very important jobs is a necessity.
Ten years later: Well, I’m a stay-at-home mom now, so technically I could just vacuum myself. Which I don’t. But we have the Roomba, so I could simply boop that on once a day to take a cursory sweep. Which I don’t. But yeah, sometimes when the kids sleep over at their grandparents, we unleash it, take shots of tequila out of the measuring cup, and watch the dog try to fight it.
Veggie spiralizer: One word: zoodles. They’re all the rage!
Ten years later: Wait, I asked for what? What the hell is a veggie spiralizer? What are ZOODLES?
Money: We included a cute poem with the registry, suggesting that wedding guests give a monetary gift. All money will go into the Our Perfect Home Fund, where we are saving up to knock down a wall and build that sun-drenched breakfast nook where we drink from our his and hers mugs and watch the fox family frolic.
Ten years later: The wedding money is here in the house. I mean, not HERE here. But I think of it every time I look at the water heater we replaced after the old one burst and flooded our basement the week after we got married.
Wicker laundry basket: Eh. Just something basic to round off the gift registry.
Ten years later: I use this four times a day, every day of my life. The perfect wedding gift. Thank you again, Auntie Diane!