My wonderful FH and I got engaged three weeks ago. We're still working out venues and stuff (we want to get married a year from September) and haven't registered yet because the wedding is over a year away.
We've already gotten several gifts. My neighbor bought me a few glasses (it was an inside joke), FH's aunt got us a photo album for our vacation pictures (we got engaged on vacation), and his grandmother got us a blender. Not expecting that, but so sweet of them. Next, my aunt and grandmother went out and got us silverware. Here's my question.
We haven't registered yet but we were going to pick out silverware together. We're just starting out (both still living with our parents right now a year out from graduating college) so we need things like that. The pattern that they picked out to give us was ugly. I can't imagine using it every day. My aunt told me that we could exchange it for another pattern if we wanted, but let me know that the set of 12 came from the Christmas Tree shop and she had a horrible time finding the full set (they come in packs of four so they had to buy three boxes to make the full set).
It seems like I have a few options. I can keep the set which won't go with anything else. Pros is that my grandmother and aunt picked it out (knowing also that it wasn't their first choice but insetad the only one of 12 they could find). Cons is that it's really one of the last things I would have picked. I could exchange it. Pros is that I might be able to find something I like better. Cons is that I might not be able to find it because now I'm limited to a discount store that doesn't carry the same stock from store to store. Last option that I can see is that I return it and shell out money somewhere else for a new set and nobody needs to know. Pros is that I get what my FH and I want (and goes with our style and taste). Cons is that I might have to spend a lot more money getting something I want.
Thoughts?