I use my Farberware cookware every day. I use my Block China plates, serving platters, bowls several times a year, I use my wine glasses all the time even though I have acquired additional everyday wine glasses over the year, stainless flatware, champagne flutes whenever champagne is being served, cutting boards, wooden salad bowl and wooden cheese board, mother’s hand mixer from the 1950’s-works perfectly fine, lots of vases of all sizes, crystal bowls that aren’t really used but are pretty to view on my glass shelves and from my shower I use all the time my pyrex mixing bowls plus large pyrex pieces that came with baskets and handles to carry to table. I have in several sizes and these are great if you are having guests/family and bring a cooked vegetable or lasagna or ziti to the table to serve.
What I don’t use ever or not in years… my copper fondue set along with a large covered pewter piece that looked like Paul Revere had crafted that one of my parent’s friends had given me, naturally no identifying store to return it to. I will be married 40 years next year… so pre gift receipt days.
I use all of our wedding presents to this day: silver, platters, crystal glasses and ornaments, etc. There is one item I have never used, a divided cut glass dish. It’s kind of cheesy, and was given to us by a relative of my H, I can’t remember who. We didn’t get a huge array of wedding presents, because we had only 50 people at our wedding, and the only thing we registered for was silver (I already had quite a lot of china). Friends gave us things other than that, of course, and I think of them whenever I see or use their gifts.
One couple who were close friends at the time, the wife of whom was always a big spender and normally very generous, bizarrely gave us a house plant. Long dead, of course. She went on to buy herself 12 place settings of the silver I chose, sets of Wedgewood that I owned, and so forth. She said, “I don’t have any taste and I like yours, so I just bought the things you have.”
My china and crystal is simple and elegant. We use them for holiday dinners and I love them.
The china is white with just a very narrow band of platinum with tiny rosettes engraved into them. Very very simple. The crystal is Lennox and has just a few cuts in them, nothing ornate at all. Goes with my personality. The simple part, not the elegant part. :">
The gift I remember? - a small gift of cash. My wife and I were poor when we got married. Much more debt than savings. At our wedding, her uncle pressed a small gift of cash into my palm. He was poor too, so I appreciated the gesture. Anyway, on our honeymoon we made our own meals (sandwiches, cheese & crackers, etc) to save money, but we allowed ourselves one dinner at a nice restaurant. I like to think that’s the gift he gave us.
On a related note…H just walked into the house and I noted that he is wearing the tie he wore at our wedding in 1985. (We bought matching ties for him and his brothers, and they all wore tan suits. He is also wearing a tan suit, but not the same one!)
Similar to another post a few pages back, my twin crocheted a beautiful cream-colored throw–still on our couch 28 years and 10 addresses (and multiple couches) later. It has cable pattern and the stitches are so tight that it has held up through many washings.
We had a small wedding and no showers. H and I had been working overseas and started from scratch, so most of our gifts were practical household items–pots/pans, sheets/towels, etc. I still have a couple towels (they were from JCP)–they became camp towels, then rag towels, but we still use them. Set of 12 drinking glasses–all broken within 5 years. Ditto nice glass salad bowel. Pots/pans replaced years ago. Several kitchen utensils–pancake turners–are still good and used frequently. So that’s about all there is left: one crocheted throw, 2 ratty towels, and 2 pancake turners.
My s-i-l (then recently married to my bro.) gave us (not really as wedding gifts) her old Corelle and kitchen canisters (50’s style–had been her mom’s) from her college apartment that she was getting rid of. Still using all those.
One memorable “present” was our first car. As a “gift” my parents’ neighbor sold us their 10yo used car for $300. It was a brown '77 Vega wagon with an orange stripe. We had it for 3 years, and then sold it for $300. (Terrible car, btw, but funny memories.) My in-laws were very poor and they could hardly travel/pay for cheap motel for wedding. They gave us an oval brass picture frame–supposed to be for our wedding photo. Unfortunately it was a vertical frame and our wedding photo was horizontal. . .A photo of our oldest kid as a 1yo is still in that frame–glass was broken years ago and never replaced.
A couple late wedding gifts–H’s sister got married about 2 years after we did. H’s cousin remembered that she never gave us a wedding gift, so she gave us the same thing she was giving H’s sister–a silver soup tureen. We tried to donate it for a church fundraiser shortly after that, but the priest wouldn’t take it–seeing we were a young/poor couple, he said we’d want/use it “later.” I’ve used it as a candy bowl at parties a few times. Now it is sitting in a cabinet, all tarnished and filled with kid’s craft supplies. For our third anniversary, my m-i-l gave me an “engagement” ring (her grandmother’s ring) since I didn’t have one. It’s now my most cherished possession.
I REALLY REALLY hate my Kitchen aid mixer. The bowl is too deep, the beater too wide - I can’t scrape the bowl down easily w/o making a mess and the beater doesn’t reach all the way down so there’s always an startling pocket of unbeaten batter at the bottom of the bowl. Give me by big, wide glass mixing bowl and my 25 yr old hand mixer, thank you. I know the kitchen aid is good for dough but I never bake bread so, not a benefit for me.
This thread has convinced me that I should start using my wedding china for everyday . White Hutschenreuter and dishwasher safe. It’s gorgeous and why I’m saving it for holidays is beyond me. I’m dumping my chipped and mixed everyday stuff. Besides the old family china is much nicer and D can look forward to inheriting her grandmothers and great great grandmothers huge china sets in storage.
We are using white Royal Doulton porcelain dinnerware for our everyday stuff now. It wasn’t a wedding present, but it could have been! It’s terrific. So, yes, I vote for using the good stuff daily.
My husband and I were trying to remember wedding gifts…like what we got from our siblings. We can’t remember anything…at all. I’m sure they gave us gifts, but clearly they were not long lasting or memorable.
To,the folks upstream who hate their kitchen aid stand mixers, I know a really nice foodie guy who would be happy to take one off your hands!
Did anyone else save Betty Crocker coupons to “buy” flatware? My mom, grandma, and aunts saved them for years, and used them to get flatware for all the granddaughters/nieces as they got married. As soon as one set was “purchased,” everyone started saving for the next set. I got two sets of flatware–supposed to be for everyday use/holidays. They are all mixed up now in my kitchen drawer (which my oldest D hates because she remembers when we used to get out the “good flatware” for special occasions.)
(Just looked it up–the Betty Crocker coupon program was closed in 2006 after running for 75 years.)
We have the complete set of pots and pans, purchased for our wedding gift 31 years ago, (name escapes me, but good quality), and stainless steel cutlery, wine glasses…
The lady who was my baby sitter when I was young made us a lovely quilt that we have on our bed. My grandparents went in together and bought an oak chest that I keep things in.
Gettingaclue: if the beater on your KitchenAid isn’t reaching all the way to the bottom of the bowl, there is a relaively simple fix for that. IIRC, it involved a slight turning of a screw somewhere on the head of the mixer. Check your owner’s manual for details.
Not a wedding gift, but hubby and I LOVE our KitchenAid! makes baking so easy. With the proper accessories, we’ve used it to make sausage. Also use it to grind our own beef once in a while - I don’t trust the ground beef in stores.
Someone brought us the $65 shower curtain off our registry (1995 - It was a cabbage rose motif with a poofy valance thing on top). It was ridiculous, and I loved with all my heart. Last night my daughter used the rice cooker we got. After 20 years of use, about 1/4 of the rice sticks to the bottom. She thinks we might want to spring for a new one. I told her we can’t spare the money with college coming up.
Our china (Royal Doulton - Princeton) and crystal (also Orrefors! - Prelude) are used on holidays. Like @thumper1 I would not have chosen the Orrefors, but DH liked more contemporary styles, so I let him have this one. I like them well enough, but they are very fragile. Amazingly, we have not broken any china or crystal in 26 years. I think we should try and use the stuff more, since I’m pretty sure neither of my kids will want that or our sterling silver flatware (R&B 18th Century).
But one of the wedding gifts I use a lot is a ceramic serving plate from France - painted in a Provencal style - that was given to us by a college friend of DH’s. It is not much larger than a dinner plate, but it is perfect for serving all kinds of things and it is pretty yet casual. I get compliments on it all the time. I wish I could say that I think of the giver whenever I use it, but I have never met him (I’m not even sure if he was at our wedding or not) and DH hasn’t been in touch with him since we got married, probably!
The ONLY thing my daughter wants is our sterling silver flatware…which was my mom’s.
The reason our Orrefors isn’t broken after 34 years…we never use it.
Really, the only wedding gifts I remember are the depression glass pitcher, a crock pot, and our Lenox plates which do get used. And the Orrefors which does not get used.
We have really nice Reidel wine glasses we bought for ourselves. Those 1980’s wine glasses are the size of cordial glasses.
(We bought matching ties for him and his brothers, and they all wore tan suits. He is also wearing a tan suit, but not the same one!)