Thank you, Amanda, I'll be sure to tell Ashley. She just keeps getting it cut shorter and shorter, mostly because it's always a different color and she gets "icky" ends. LOL I told her she's gonna be bald soon, but she likes her hair short because it's easier to take care of. She's kind of busy with work and school, but you know that better than anyone, I'm sure. Elery really likes me as a redhead and is trying to encourage me to get it dyed regularly. I just hate sitting still for that hour and a half, so it's probably not going to happen more than twice a year, but thank you. I love the color, I just haven't decided how much I love it, and whether it's worth the time and money in the beauty shop. :-) Annie

Based on the info that the OP posted, I don't see any reason why she shouldn't have a gift registry at one or even 2 different stores. Based on the info provided, she is really going to host a wedding reception the day after her wedding, which is an immediate family attendance only. It may have been that originally gift registries where full of hugely expensive items of crystal, silver, and very costly place settings, but that was then not now. Why should there be a restriction on what should and should not be placed on a gift registry for a wedding? Why is it wrong to have a vegetable peeler or shower curtain or anything else? Many couples have set up gift registries at the local home depot or hardware store. Those stores have the type of merchandise that the couple would like to have for gifts. They may or may not be interested in fancy dishes, silverware etc. Isn't the idea of a gift to buy something that the recipient would like, not what you like or believe they recipient should like or want? Something that the OP posted in her second post really seems to have been missed by just about everyone that has posted. We do have basics, but most of all this is hand-me-downs that were give to us directly after Hurricane Katrina put 8 feet of water into our apartment. We have the bare bones, I guess you would say. Key words being basics, hand-me-downs. We have the bare bones, I guess you would say. given after Hurricane Katrina put 8 feet of water into our apartment This couple lost everything during a catastrophic hurricane. They have hand me downs they are using. building a new home instead of a huge fancy wedding. They don't sound like a couple that is looking for the fancy stuff of a traditional wedding registry, but rather the basics that are new and not "hand me downs." Things like new pots and pans, kitchen knives, bath towels, linens, a decent set of dishes, glasses. They sound like very, very practical young people and want to share their joy of getting married and having a new home with their friends and family. A practical couple will not be looking for the lenox crystal, waterford, etc. In today's economy, a registry of practical gifts, at practical prices, located at stores that sell items that won't break the bank for anyone is exactly what this couple should do. People today don't have a lot of free cash to spare, so being able to buy a practical item that is on a gift registry is wonderful for them. If the items are small and not costly, several items can be purchased by 1 person and made to look like quite a bit. I am not young either and I've been married for almost 34 years. I've never had the lenox or the waterford or any of the fancy sterling sliver nor have I ever wanted it, nor do either of my children or friends. I've been to quite a few weddings over the years, including several in the past 7 years. None of the gift registries had the fancy stuff on it, none of the couples, bride or groom wanted any of it. Yes, the cute stuff was on it, the veggie peelers, the knives, the shower curtain etc. and guests where hugely impressed with those items that where listed, the economic thoughts that went into the selections on the gift registries, and no one, young or old, ever thought that gift registries where cheap or shouldn't have had those items on it. In this economy, people don't know if they will have a job from one day to the next, be able to pay the bills or have a home to live in. Setting up gift registries for bridal showers, weddings and putting those old fashioned absurdly priced items on them is not the thing to do. These registries need to have the basics on them that a couple will need and want, not the fancy stuff. Unless one is thinking that they could pawn the gifts off somewhere and obtain cash for them. That's just my opinion and hope this couple does register for gifts and has a list that is practical and useful and forgets the fancy stuff that will probably never be used.

Bringing a gift to a wedding reception is tacky....you did the right thing by sending the gift on ahead. A wedding gift is properly either sent to the bride before the wedding or to their home after the wedding. Go to the party and have fun! If everyone invited to a wedding reception brought a gift it would present a major logistical problem! When my daughter was married, we thought that some would bring gifts to the reception but didn't plan on them bringing gifts to the church....so hurriedly someone had to be recruited to get the gifts from the church to our house because the gift people at the reception were already doing their thing by labelling every gift as it was placed on the table. You did the right thing....don't take anything but your good wishes to the recption. Lidna C

I can see how your feelings were hurt. I would feel very insulted if I were you. You have a right to those feelings. But I think you said it best yourself: "we didn't want any bumps in the road." It sounds like you have managed that very well so far. I think that, if you can manage it (I know it's hard), you would be wise to keep employing those skills now and try not to respond to this. Perhaps it really is true that they -- mistakenly -- thought that this was the more sensitive way to handle the situation. Maybe they had once been, or had heard of others being in, a situation where a family with friends and relations of lesser means felt humiliated when the much more lavish gifts of the other side's guests were opened, and were trying to spare your feelings. They ended up doing exactly the opposite, didn't they? But based upon what your son said, that was evidently their intention. Maybe sometime when an opportunity arises naturally to discuss this with your son and his wife, you can let them know that you aren't so sensitive about such things, and that you would feel more comfortable not to be "handled" even with the best of intentions. You actually said that it was your son, not his bride or her family, that you are disappointed in. I get that, too. As another recent (last month) mother of the groom, I can relate! I can only tell you that I noticed my own son bending over backward to try to understand his bride's family, their special sensitivities, and and their preferences. There were moments when we thought he was really kind of overdoing it -- but I am glad we didn't say anything. It was important for him not to be appearing to take sides, or something like that (I'm making it sound like there were conflicts -- there really weren't, it was more like he was afraid for no reason that there might be, or that they would be super-sensitive. In truth, they're not, and we all get along great.) If he doesn't calm down a bit about it, we'll talk, but I bet he will -- and I bet your son will, too. So I end as I began: I can completely understand your disappointment and sense of insult, and you aren't wrong, but I think you will all be happier in the end if you can let this go. Having a great relationship with the machetunim is worth a lot, and it's a wonderful gift to give your son.