Hello AT,
Recently engaged, my fiance and I are choosing our wedding registry. We are having a hard time finding stores with registries that offer modern design. We discovered these very cool Bodo Sperlein Red-Berry plates (see attached photo) at tartontheweb.com, but other than that the pickings are slim. CB2 doesn't have a registry; DWR only has a "Wish List." We know about Moss, but can't ask our friends to pay $315 for a teacup and saucer. To be honest, we are more interested in acquiring furniture than dishware or linens (though we wouldn't mind getting some of those too). We were wondering: [continued below....]
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1. If you know of any stores with registries that focus on unusual or modern design.
2. If it would be horribly tacky to register at a store that offers furniture, and instead of receiving multiple smaller items use the store credit to buy a few larger pieces. Or is that poor form?
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Dear Hedgy,
For the second part of your question, our answer is "no." Once given, do whatever you want with your gifts. Once the gift is given and recieved the energy that is transferred by giving is over (this does not apply to handmade gifts) and you should do whatever is best for your home. After all, that is what people who came to your wedding would want, isn't it?
The first part of your question was nicely answered by Design*Sponge in a recent post that we link to here and copy here (no links, sorry, you got to go to Grace's):
* fitzsu (ultra modern home goods)
* clio home (yum, yum and yum again)
* not neutral (fun tableware and linens)
* velocity art and design (everything you could want for your modern home)
* chiasso (modern designs for the homeand garden)
* michael c fina (for those whose gifters have deep pockets)
* the magazine (high end euro designs)
* moss (for the uber design couple)
* target (fun, inexpensive!)
* sur la table and cooking.com (for the chefs)
* viva terra (viva eco friendly gifts!)
* unica home (tons of ideas!)
* relish (modern gifts for the modern couple)
* amazon (books to read on the honeymoon?)
* rei (for the outdoorsy couple)
* tiffany (fancy schmancy)
* nambe (unique gifts)
* and finally,the usual suspects: crate and barrel, william sonoma, macys and pottery barn ('cause everyone needs some good basics!)"
Anyone else?
Build your own registry? There's services like http://www.giftboxhome.com/ where you can do just that.
I was married last year and went through this. I'm also originally from the Midwest where people give gifts on the order of $50, not $250 and would look upon a Moss registry with ... amusement? Also, if you don't go with the usual suspects you need to explain where you are registered and prehaps even send a link. I was not comfortable with that.
I had under 75 guests and after too much wasted time, realized that Williams Sonoma and Crate and Barrel were fine. Pot and pans, bundt cake thing, wine glasses, kitchen towels, muffin tins, appliances. You can get a pretty nice registry together here. China is way too expensive. Silver is nice and if you have any interest in traditional silver, try a place like Ross Simmons. I like silver. It doesn't take up room and I use it all the time.
Brides who want to exchange gifts for other things, usually go to Blommies (altho WS now has home goods too). And everyone knows Bed Bath and Beyond gives you cash back, not credit, if that appeals to you.
Congratulations!
Hedgy,
if you google custom wedding registry, you will come across a number of sites that allow you to pick items from different stores but also, in addition to that some sites allow people to pay towards a gift - like flights or in your case Furniture. It automatically keeps updating the remaining $'s needed.
These are really cool - and sound like excatly what you need. some sites might charge a small fee.
Hope this helps and Congratulations.
Re: returning your gifts in exchange for furniture...
Consider who is giving the gifts. Life might get really awkward if you invite friends over and none of the carefully-chosen wedding gifts are in your house/apartment, but instead there's a nifty new sofa.
The etiquette of wedding-gifting is fraught with difficulties. Instead of (sneakily?) planning to return every gift you've been given, it might be better to register for gift certificates -- many stores allow you to do this. However, many people (like my extended family) consider this to be extremely tacky -- the equivalent of asking for money. (They have the same opinion re: "honeymoon registries", "down payment on a mortgage registries" and "donations in lieu of gifts and/or favors", but that's another discussion.) Full disclosure: I got married recently and just went through all this.
If I was in your shoes, I'd register however my family/social circle believes is appropriate, but in discussions with friends hint "oh how we wish we could get some new furniture!" Some people just give money/checks as gifts, so that's where the furniture fund would kick in.
Another option, but this depends a *lot* on your social friends and family... In some circles, if you don't register at all, that will be interpreted as a preference for money, thus allowing you to buy what you want, where you want.
In other circles, not registering means you will receive whatever your guests see as appropriate wedding gifts, which can be wonderful or can be awkward, depending on your guests' tastes and yours. So you have to be realistic about what the real people around you will do.
Check out felicite.com, which allows you to register for gifts from multiple merchants (including donations to charitable organizations) and lets gift-givers contribute toward a gift. A bridal magazine editor friend used this when she got married.
My wife and I used Finnnstyle.com and designstore.com (both through felicite.com), and fitzsu.com
FUTURES Antiques in Norfolk, VA. An awesome selection of 20th century design (vintage pieces are in PERFECT condition), and they ship anywhere. I believe he will take down a list of things you want, and you can have people call or email him to get the list (all products are on the website).
http://www.futuresantiques.com
This is where I got my Paul McCobb credenza (amongst other things) and plus I did the website, so give it a click :)
Thanks everyone, this is wonderful advice.
My wife and I registered at Maxwell Silver in New York. They have a very good selection of modern gifts and you can order them online, have them delivered, or pick them up in New York.
http://www.maxwellsilverny.com/
My vote goes to Fitzsu.
This past summer a friend of mine registered at John Derian (www.johnderian.com) for her wedding registry. They use a personal (read low tech) system to organize everything and they have a great selection in one of the best independent shops in New York.
I will second that Crate and Barrell has a great registry. I actually used it over the holidays, as people are always claiming not to know what to get me for birthday and Christmas. A cool bonus is that after the date passes, you get a coupon in the mail for a one-time savings of 10% on items that remain on your registry, and you have 6 months to use it. With a little strategy, you could save a decent chunk of change on some big ticket items.
Thirding Jeremy's second on Crate and Barrel (the quality of the deal, if not the suitability for your specific request). Some friends of mine registered there for their wedding in November. They put things on the registry they knew none of us would get them--deep leather armchairs and the like--specifically so they could take advantage of that coupon. They combined the 10% off coupon with the after-Christmas sales and ended up getting their big-ticket items at a steal.
I vote for a small Tribeca store called Trunkt. They have amazing gifts from international designers. The decor8 blog just did a nice post on them -- http://decor8.blogspot.com/2006/03/nyc-trunkt-stop.html
i ran into this problem last year when i got married as well. while i would have loved to register at moss, i don't think we would have gotten any gifts!!! it's nice to dream but too pricey for most. but as some people said above - check out the big retailers: bloomies, crate and barrell, and bed bath and beyond really have great selections. also tip: anything bought on your registry that you return, bbb will give you cash back.
i also supplemented the big places with amazon, which has some fun interesting stuff you don't see everywhere.
BARNEY'S! They have a wonderful department of carefully selected home items in a good range of prices. We registered for bar glasses, wine glasses, everyday silverware, fun colorful glass tumblers, colorful glass vases and more. They carry lots of Jonathan Adler. Their registry is on weddingchannel.com, but you have to select the items in-store.
FYI, the guy who owns Table Art in LA (tartontheweb.com) is wonderful. He totally goes the extra mile to make you happy. If you're in LA and go to the store, he'll pull out books to show you more products that he's able to source.
Also try www.retromodern.com
I also registered with Finnstyle.com (a Felicite partner) and found it to have great items and helpful customer service. They have a store in Minneapolis if anyone is in that area.
Hi,
Ronn Ives here. I own FUTURES Antiques. Amber (above) mentioned me. It's true. I even have a "Wedding Registry" where I will help work with the couple and their gifters. Handling antique and vintage CAN'T work like a retail store full of new, reorderable items, but then, I'm not interested in that anyhow. :)
If you have any questions, feel free to email!