Oh, I am the first one to see them! The whole wedding just shouts happiness and good feelings, it is very special and you will remember it forever! You created the setting and it just flowed, I think. Everyone looks so delighted. Keith' Grandpa is having a great time, looks like. That is what a celebration should be, Tisha and Keith: wishing you all the wonderful things this wedding promises!

Based on the info that the OP posted, I don't see any reason why she shouldn't have a gift registry at one or even 2 different stores. Based on the info provided, she is really going to host a wedding reception the day after her wedding, which is an immediate family attendance only. It may have been that originally gift registries where full of hugely expensive items of crystal, silver, and very costly place settings, but that was then not now. Why should there be a restriction on what should and should not be placed on a gift registry for a wedding? Why is it wrong to have a vegetable peeler or shower curtain or anything else? Many couples have set up gift registries at the local home depot or hardware store. Those stores have the type of merchandise that the couple would like to have for gifts. They may or may not be interested in fancy dishes, silverware etc. Isn't the idea of a gift to buy something that the recipient would like, not what you like or believe they recipient should like or want? Something that the OP posted in her second post really seems to have been missed by just about everyone that has posted. We do have basics, but most of all this is hand-me-downs that were give to us directly after Hurricane Katrina put 8 feet of water into our apartment. We have the bare bones, I guess you would say. Key words being basics, hand-me-downs. We have the bare bones, I guess you would say. given after Hurricane Katrina put 8 feet of water into our apartment This couple lost everything during a catastrophic hurricane. They have hand me downs they are using. building a new home instead of a huge fancy wedding. They don't sound like a couple that is looking for the fancy stuff of a traditional wedding registry, but rather the basics that are new and not "hand me downs." Things like new pots and pans, kitchen knives, bath towels, linens, a decent set of dishes, glasses. They sound like very, very practical young people and want to share their joy of getting married and having a new home with their friends and family. A practical couple will not be looking for the lenox crystal, waterford, etc. In today's economy, a registry of practical gifts, at practical prices, located at stores that sell items that won't break the bank for anyone is exactly what this couple should do. People today don't have a lot of free cash to spare, so being able to buy a practical item that is on a gift registry is wonderful for them. If the items are small and not costly, several items can be purchased by 1 person and made to look like quite a bit. I am not young either and I've been married for almost 34 years. I've never had the lenox or the waterford or any of the fancy sterling sliver nor have I ever wanted it, nor do either of my children or friends. I've been to quite a few weddings over the years, including several in the past 7 years. None of the gift registries had the fancy stuff on it, none of the couples, bride or groom wanted any of it. Yes, the cute stuff was on it, the veggie peelers, the knives, the shower curtain etc. and guests where hugely impressed with those items that where listed, the economic thoughts that went into the selections on the gift registries, and no one, young or old, ever thought that gift registries where cheap or shouldn't have had those items on it. In this economy, people don't know if they will have a job from one day to the next, be able to pay the bills or have a home to live in. Setting up gift registries for bridal showers, weddings and putting those old fashioned absurdly priced items on them is not the thing to do. These registries need to have the basics on them that a couple will need and want, not the fancy stuff. Unless one is thinking that they could pawn the gifts off somewhere and obtain cash for them. That's just my opinion and hope this couple does register for gifts and has a list that is practical and useful and forgets the fancy stuff that will probably never be used.

DLM, I think that you will never be sorry to have kept them. To keep them from being seen as "clutter" after you're gone, get them them properly packed and stored and then pick the right person to have custody of them for the next generation. It may be one of your DIL, or if you have nieces or nephews, perhaps one of them. I'd choose someone who appreciates family stories, and who would be a good - and generous with access -custodian of shared family history. In my DH's family when I got engaged there was a small family gathering,(mostly female) and the wedding dresses and some other family wedding memorabilia were sort of the organizing theme for the party. It was a great way to meet my some of my in-laws-to-be and feel included in my new family's story, Since my engagement diamond was re-set from an family piece, everyone wanted to see it in my new ring. It was a lovely tradition and I plan to do it when my nephew finally settles on a bride - even if it seems a bit old fashioned. What else is an elderly aunt for? Many times I hear people express a bit of envy that in my family and in my DH's we have so many "heirlooms" from generations gone by. Some things have by sheer old age have now become valuable, but most still have only modest monetary value. But they all tell the stories of the family - sometimes in modest circustances and sometimes not. Each succeeding generation chose to take care of these items and pass them on,probably always at some cost of in terms of time, trouble, or even perhaps the forgone value of selling them. This speaks volumes about the values cherished and passed down in our families. And that alone is worth the effort preserving these things as totems of the clan. Anyone can start one's own chain of family hierlooms, today. It has to start somewhere. L.

My BIL had a jeans, cowboy hats and boots wedding where the guests primarily wore jeans. I recall the bridesmaids wore cowboy boots with their short dresses-I think the bride was going to wear boots too but didn't for some reason (I didn't go to that wedding). At the time I attributed the attire at that affair to the trashiness of the whole spectacle (that's a whole other story). But a friend got married at her parents back yard and the groom wore a similar set up-he was big into horse activities, and guests were very casual. My eldest DD got married at a lakeside place where guests could tent camp if they chose to. Neither the wedding party or the guests wore jeans, but every one was dressed in what I would describe as urban casual attire. If the wedding is going to be a casual theme, then no big deal IMHO. My younger DD was married in a ballroom at an opera house-had anyone shown up to that affair in jeans I would have croaked. I like the dress you've shown, I think it would be very appropriate.