Tackling Spatulas, Silverware and Serving Dishes
I have a very detailed wedding checklist. From big things, like booking the honeymoon, to tiny tasks like wrapping the bridesmaids gifts (both are done!) everything has been scheduled and assigned to a certain month. I like to get ahead on my list. Because that’s the sick kind of type A over achiever I am.
On top of the March list: Register. I shared my anxiety about registering in an earlier post. I decided the best way to handle the situation was of course, to get organized.
I printed comprehensive registry lists from three sources. I highlighted the items that applied to us and added items we wanted to include. I compiled the list and you guessed it, I made a spreadsheet. On what was surely the most beautiful Saturday in February EVER, I loaded my crisp, clean spreadsheet on to a clip board, rallied the troops (aka Zac and my point and shoot) and hit the road.
Pretty happy to have the sun shining in our eyes!
I am all business. Note the clipboard.
Zac didn’t dare mock my spreadsheet. Which is why we are getting married : ) The point of all this hyper organization is to assure that we don’t forget to include anything or include versions of the same item in two places and to distribute the items equally over several different price points. I know. Can you believe it’s that dramatic?
So. Target first.
Logging the first items onto the spreadsheet!
He kinda liked these glasses but upon further inspection...no. We found much better ones!
Must. Get. The Pyrex. Pyrex may be the best part of getting married.
Sorry, buddy. This is a recession friendly registry. Must-have, long-lasting items only. Can you folks see the price tag here? That there beer dispenser is $220. That's gonna be a no.
Then, we hit Kohls. Land of the 50 percent off sale. The Buy One Get One Mecca. Home of the Greatest Sale of the Season! If you aren’t an avid shopper, I will just say this. Do not. Under any circumstances. Ever pay full price for anything at Kohls. Ever. If it isn’t 50 percent off today, it will be by noon tomorrow.
At Kohls – we found bee-e-a-u-tiful towels and even more beautiful bedding.
These will be a welcome change to rainbow of towels we currently own.
A pintuck pillow with buttons!! Are you kidding me?! Love.
My folks came down for a visit a few weeks later and agreed to help us finish up our registry. I’d left the majority of the kitchen wares for this day so that mom could assist me in discerning one spatula from another. I knew she would be very helpful.
Stop.
Mom was indeed knowledgeable. And very enthusiastic about helping us. But she didn’t respect the spreadsheet. She was just going to scan a pan and move onto a different one without even writing it down!! And she wasn’t following the order!! She was even trying to sneak in things for her own kitchen!! All was well. After a brief tutorial (shown below) she learned the importance of the spread sheet.
Teaching mom the spreadsheet process. Once you understand how it works, you recognize its value. I swear.
Camping gear!! Yay!
I think by the end of the day, mom was even wishing she had her own spreadsheet. Tee Hee. All kidding aside I had a lot of fun! Probably my mom just got a migraine but I’m very glad she helped us out!
I’m equally glad that my father stood by as security detail or whatever it was he was doing standing at the end of the aisle with his arms crossed looking back and forth. There’s no way he could have been bored, so I can only imagine that he was guarding the spreadsheet.
Fave registry memory? Standing in the muffin pan section of Target, explaining spreadsheet etiquette to my mother when this tiny little old woman, hobbling behind her cart, passes by our aisle explaining VERY loudly to a horrified young sales man: “I need rubber sheets!! Do you have RUBBER SHEEEEETS?” Awesome. We promptly added rubber sheets to our registry. Along with a few other inappropriate but comical items. I figure if you’re going to pick up our registry and traipse around Target trying to find something from it, you deserve a good laugh. I was going to add a variety of condoms but Zac started yelling about how his grandma would look at the registry and suddenly that joke wasn’t so funny after all.
I’m still not sure if the registries are finished. I’m fretting over the price of the spatulas. I did however, make peace with the various spatula breeds and settled on these three:
the regular spatula, the tapered spatula and the spoonula. also registered for but not pictured: the flipper, the turner and the handle-free bowl scraper
I also can’t decide on the silverware. How much silverware does a person need?? And we still have a few categories of things to add – like kitchen textiles and Fiestaware (exciting!). But once they are complete, I will post links and details on the wedding website.
Hopefully, all of this effort has created a user-friendly, thorough, and appropriate registry.
Also…if you’re sitting at your computer, wondering aloud to your significant other if you should suggest that maybe I need some sort of professional help for obsessive compulsive organizing/planning habits…don’t worry. I’ve got the situation under control. I made a spreadsheet in which I log each of my compulsive behaviors…
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