I am not, I think, a typical bride. Is there such a thing? Probably not, but if there were, I doubt I would be one. For example, I know that lots of women my age have, in their past, planned their dream weddings out in their heads (or in a binder, whatever) to the nth degree, and, whether or not their actual wedding bears any resemblance to their dream wedding or not, they have, at some point, thought about it. They've pictured the dress, they've considered the flowers, they know what their first dance song will be, and by god there had better be raspberry filling under all that perfect fondant!

Me? Not so much.

I can honestly say that, as a young (and not so young) teenager, I never truly believed that I would get married. I had resigned myself -- at the tender age of 16 -- to the fact that I would never meet a man who wanted to marry me, I was OK with that, and would just cultivate my image as all of my friends' children's favorite aunt. So really, I never planned out the details of my dream wedding, because I was too busy planning out how I wouldn't be bitter.

Yeah. Life's funny like that.

In any case, looking back, the ONLY two parts of my wedding that I ever gave even a passing thought were who my bridesmaids would be, and where I would register.

The second part of that dream has now officially come true.

I guess the registry bit all started when I was working at Crate and Barrel. I would occasionally be called on to help young couples (or, more frequently, young women with their friends and/or mothers) register for their wedding. As anyone who's ever worked weeknights in retail knows, you frequently have vast expanses of down time when there's only two people in the store, and neither of them are in your section. So, to pass the time, I used to dream about what I would register for, given the chance.

Wheeeee! I was given the chance! =)

We signed up for one of the special "Registry Events" that Crate hosts each weekend in February. Let me just take a moment to say that if you're getting married, planning to possibly get married, or just want to have a really cool time setting up a gift registry at Crate, wait until February and sign up for one of these events. It is so worth it.

First and foremost, it's free. Secondly, and more importantly, they make you feel like it's not. =) The store opens early on Sunday morning specifically for couples to come and register. Once inside, you are presented with a scanner for adding items to your list (how high tech!) and let loose on the store. Throughout the store, however, they have set up demonstration stations and, anyone who has ever been to a grocery store on a Saturday morning knows what that means -- FOOD!

There was a fondu station, a smoothie station, a pannini station, an omelet station, and, my personal favorite, a mimosa station. (I'm not entirely sure what they were demonstrating with the mimosas, but hey -- champagne for breakfast? I'm all for it.)

We had a really good time going around and scanning stuff. WARNING: to anyone who goes to look at our registry, we went a little hog wild. Which is funny, because we already have a lot of stuff. I'm very much a wannabe gourmand, so I already have a really good set of knives, cookware, and a Kitchen Aid mixer. I can't IMAGINE how long our registry would have been if we were truly starting from scratch!

In any case, we scanned all of our items, including a desk which Brandon put on there "just because he could," and returned and uploaded it all into the computer. Our registry was active and ONLINE the same day. Technology is freaking amazing, people. Amazing.

When we were all done, we were presented with GIFTS for coming to their store and eating their food! The gift bag contained two heart shaped champagne flutes, a Wusthof paring knife, and a set of notecards along with lots of catalogues, checklists, and other good information.

This must be what it feels like to be a star...

=)

P.S. For any interested party, you can access the registry online at www.crateandbarrel.com by clicking on the gift registry link and searching under my name. =)