Since celebrating our five year wedding anniversary in April, and our friends getting married just a few weeks ago, I have been taking quite a few trips down memory lane. Today we’re excited to partner with Macy’s to spread the word about their Win Your Dream Registry Sweepstakes. If you’re engaged or have friends or family who are getting ready to tie the knot, keep reading to find out what you really need on your wedding registry and what you could do without.

We were engaged for two years which is pretty typical on the east coast, with wedding venues, florists, and planners being booked months and months ahead of time. My family was in Florida and Rob’s was in New York, so there were a lot of FaceTime chats for wedding choices and getting opinions on must-haves for our registry. It was all so fun to go through and plan how our future together was going to look. I’m not going to lie, the wedding planning felt a bit overwhelming at times, and I think the longer engagement period aided to that…there was more time to change things, to add things, and so on. Don’t get me wrong, our wedding was the most magical day and with all the (very typical) stressful moments leading up to the day, there is still nothing I would change.

One part of the planning process that was super stress free was putting together our registry. We started to think about our new apartment and our life in Arizona…dinner parties in our first place with new friends, Sunday morning pancake breakfasts, movie nights…cue the cheesy romantic comedy soundtrack. 😉  Now, five years later I think of all the silly things I registered for and never used, and the items that have really become staples. One mistake I made was thinking I needed enough dinnerware and flatware to host my entire family for a holiday. There’s a few problems with that, beginning with, most of the time as newlyweds you don’t have the space to store table settings for 20+, along with every appliance under the sun…which of course I registered for. Everything doesn’t need to match. Your collection of housewares can grow with you and your family. So, what do you really need?

We curated a collection of must-haves for newly engaged couples below with Macy’s. They have such a great selection of dinnerware and linens to get you and your partner ready for newlywed life.  They have a ton of great brands, so you can really mix it up. I’ve been loving pastels lately, so pairing these pink and teal plates from Vietri have added a little cheer to our current brunch situation.  They are such a beautiful Italian ceramic company, with the most charming dinnerware collections. I think one of our favorite (and most practical) gifts was storage containers for meal prepping and left overs. These copper ones are a lot cuter than our current ones, so I may have to upgrade. 😉

Take a peek below…

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