A guest, who I have never met and know little about, emailed me
"[asking about wedding details] AND – is there anything that the two of you would like to have in setting up your home? I would imagine that you are starting fresh so there is a lot of needs/wants, etc."
How do I respond to this? We have two very extensive registries. I am already off on the wrong foot by accidentally sending the Save the Date to her work email and the paper invitation being late, so I want to err on the side of humility and respect even more so than normal. In this situation, do you not mention the registry at all costs? We have so many odds and ends that we could use, but being general is difficult.
My best idea was to say something like:
"We are starting fresh! [FI] has really gotten into cooking, so we have all sorts of little kitchen things he would love. We also still need a few appliances like a coffee grinder, hand mixer, or a blender. We do have registries at Amazon and Bed Bath & Beyond. You certainly don't need to buy something directly off of them, but they might give you some inspiration for something you'd like! And I hope it goes without saying, but don't worry about gifts. We're just so happy for you to be there!
But maybe I'm putting my foot in my mouth here, by saying "you don't have to..." and actually implying that that's a possibility? She's really more of a past support to my fiance, they haven't kept up in a while, so I feel really weird about this. Especially since it was, "is there anything..." But I don't know if just saying we need a blender, a processor, etc., is good enough. I feel like it's difficult to not assume a price point and cover all possible price points and desires she might have by dictating a few specific things. There's all sorts of things we have on our registry, but they're really all sorts of odds and ends. I imagine being able to say, "We need towels," or "bedding" or whatever would be convenient, but the most general things you think of we are okay on.
ETA: And now my FI says he wants the specific appliance brands that are on the registry. Grr.