So, you have a friend getting married. Or maybe it's you? Congratulations!
Now what? All the planning begins.
Go on the blogs, check out the trade shows... or maybe you're fortunate enough to have some help from a wedding planner, but the "wedding planning" bliss is a challenge for anyone.
But now think about what you want to ask of all your kind guests to purchase for you from your registry. That's the fun part!
(Sidebar: you should insist that your family and friends buy from your registries, lest you want to end up with that fabulous artsy decoupage tray that Aunt Mabel thought you'd love because you're artsy. Lord help you.)
Chances are you've been living with your fiance for a while (maybe not, you, the traditionalist!).
You can order flatware, plates or that Kitchenaid mixer in pale yellow that looks so pretty on your counter, but now you need your counter big enough for it... Ahhh... all those things you "need."
Registries are funny that way -- you tend to find things that you think you need but at the end of the day, it's a lot of stuff that needs drawers and shelves on which to be stored.
One of the best registry ideas is to register for original artwork.
Most galleries offer it, and it makes a ton of sense.
No storage needed. Just walls. And we all have those.
By the time you are married and feeling all adult-like, you look around at those prints you bought in university and they just don't feel right anymore (Robert Doisneau has run its course -- even if it is of a couple kissing).
Artwork is that place where you start your adult married life together. You choose artwork as a couple, and thereby visually diarize this time in your life which means so much. Every single day. Why? Because it's on your wall. Not in a drawer.
It's special and has meaning, and your friends and loved ones would want you to be happy and see that happiness everyday. So, set up that artwork registry and let your guests know that you want the gift that lasts forever (sounds cliche, but alas, it's true).
Most galleries will also offer gift certificates that you can put towards your chosen artworks, so it's a breeze for all those wonderful guests to contribute. (Online? Yes, please!)
Even if they don't like the artwork chosen by you, they will respect that everyone has different tastes in art, and that a gift certificate is a perfect idea.
What if you and your new husband-to-be don't agree on the artwork?
Then here are two solutions:
1. Pick your battles. Whoever it means more to gets to choose (next time the other one gets first pick).
2. Each of you choose a favourite. Hopefully you'll get both artworks as gifts, so you can both look lovingly at the walls with fond memories of who gave it to you.
(Sidebar: the former option of "pick your battles" is a great way to start a marriage anyway. Good practice for all of those disagreements that might occur. Cue happy face emoji here.)
At the end of the day, take this advice from one who wishes she'd thought of this idea, and instead put all of her gift money into silver flatware that now sits in a shoebox.
Because she's run out of drawers.
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