How many place settings?

[les12]

I can''t decide whether I should register for 8 or 12 place settings of fine china and of everyday dinnerware. After we get married, we expect to be in an apartment for 6-12 months, so space will be very limited. However, I''d love to be able to entertain our large families in the future and I worry that if I don''t get enough now, the patterns I like will be discontinued before I have the chance to add more.

Since the everyday dinnerware I selected could definitely be dressed up a bit (see pic), should I register for 12 of those and just 8 of my fine china?

I''d like to hear what all of you have done and your reasons for doing so!

 

[shertz1981]

Oooh, is your casual the Queen Anne from W-S?? I love that pattern (fiance didn't)

We're also in an apt, and we did 8 of formal china and 12 of everyday china.

Reasons why: we use a lot of dishes on a daily basis, but don't have room to formally entertain more than eight people at a time

 

[Haven]

We have 12 sets of everyday dishes and 12 sets of fine china.

I chose these amounts because I anticipated that we would be doing a lot of family entertaining, and it''s a good thing--I have 26 people coming over in two weeks for Passover, and I''ll be hosting Thanksgiving every other year, as well as Chanukah.

I can easily mix my everyday china with my fine china, so it works out perfectly.

However, we only received four sets of fine china as wedding gifts. After that happened, I decided to have some fun with it and we bought eight more sets in two different patterns. They all look really nice together, and I like the mix and match better than all one design.

My mother and grandmother also have china that matches my own, so we can put quite a huge set of matching china together for very big parties.

Figure out what you''ll really need, and register for that. You can always find discontinued patterns on eBay and such sites, too.

 

[les12]

Shertz- the casual is actually a Martha Stewart line from Macy''s! I''ve already received 8 settings of each of my fine china and the everyday, and I have to say the everyday dinnerware is absolutely gorgeous in person! Maybe my favorite item on the registry.

Haven- what a great idea about mixing up your patterns! Which have you chosen? I bet they are beautiful! Since I already have 8 of the fine china, I don''t anticipate doing this but it''s such a fun idea! I have also received several of the matching salad plates, which have a solid band of the silver lacy pattern around the full rim of the plate which definitely add to the placesetting, and are basically the reason for me choosing this pattern. I love it!

 

[megumic]

We only registered for everyday dishes b/c we aren''t really china people. We registered for 12 settings, but I anticipate upping it to 16, or getting a different second set of 12 - probably post-wedding though when we move into a house.

 

[LabRatPhD]

We have registered for 8 place settings of fine china and are buying 8 plate settings of everyday dinnerware. FI and I both have very small families so I don''t anticipate entertaining more than 8 people (including ourselves) at one time. I don''t think our china pattern will be discontinued anytime soon, so perhaps we will buy more in a few years when we have moved to our permanent house.

 

[yssie]

we're doing 12 fine china and 12 sterling flatware place settings.


It's hard to anticipate how you'll be living five, ten years down the line, but if there's any chance at all you'll be entertaining I'd say go ahead and register for 12 over 8. Depending on what patterns you choose they can be discontinued (and it's sometimes a real pain to get more!) or change production (newer pieces are ever so slightly different - noone but you would notice, but if you're like me - it drives me nuts).

 

[honey22]

I would go for 12 if you can. I have two sets of dinnerware, both settings for 8 and there is always a time when you are entertaining and run out of plates, especially if you are doing multiple courses. Why not put 12 down I say?

 

[Gypsy]

12 sets. The more the merrier. LOL. You can always decide to return a few if you get them all and pair it back down to 8.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

I did 8 sets of the everyday china. Maybe I will be talked into going up to 12. But I already have some dishes including my mother's fine china and I am worried about cabinet space. The fine china is white, so I figure I can mix it with other sets of dishes if I ever do have a large party.

I did however, notice I use bowls the most. So I registered for 8 soup bowls and 8 cereal bowls (which are deeper). That way I would not have to run the dishwasher before it is full.

 

[les12]

Ok, I think I''ll go with 12 of each. So that means I need 12 each of my crystal and flatware also. That''s good because I just had a bridal shower this past weekend and now my registries are running low!

One more question- if you have registered for crystal, did you choose 4 different sized glasses (flute, water goblet, white and red wine)? I am debating on cutting the smaller of the two wine glasses out to save some space. As far as everyday barware, we''re just getting 4 each of flutes, red and white wine. Should I get more? Where do you guys put all of this stuff?!!

 

[meresal]

We did 12 of Everyday (can't get enough b/c they will break)... and 12 of Fine China (same reason pretty much... these things get dicontinued and it's better to have more. We also have large families.)

ETA: We received all of our place settings (Everyday and Fine) as shower or wedding presents. We also received all of our serving dishes, gravy boat, etc as well.

 

[meresal]

Date: 3/9/2010 7:44:46 PM
Author: les12
Ok, I think I''ll go with 12 of each. So that means I need 12 each of my crystal and flatware also. That''s good because I just had a bridal shower this past weekend and now my registries are running low!

One more question- if you have registered for crystal, did you choose 4 different sized glasses (flute, water goblet, white and red wine)? I am debating on cutting the smaller of the two wine glasses out to save some space. As far as everyday barware, we''re just getting 4 each of flutes, red and white wine. Should I get more? Where do you guys put all of this stuff?!!

We did the Goblet and the Tall wine glass.

You will need a china hutch

 

[PumpkinPie]

we bought it ourselves (no registry for us) and didn''t buy fine china - but for what it''s worth, we have 12 sets of regular cutlery and dishes - just in case.. I love what we bought and wanted to make sure we would have enough if they ever discontinued it

 

[jaylex]

Date: 3/9/2010 8:04:02 PM
Author: meresal

Date: 3/9/2010 7:44:46 PM
Author: les12
Ok, I think I'll go with 12 of each. So that means I need 12 each of my crystal and flatware also. That's good because I just had a bridal shower this past weekend and now my registries are running low!

One more question- if you have registered for crystal, did you choose 4 different sized glasses (flute, water goblet, white and red wine)? I am debating on cutting the smaller of the two wine glasses out to save some space. As far as everyday barware, we're just getting 4 each of flutes, red and white wine. Should I get more? Where do you guys put all of this stuff?!!

We did the Goblet and the Tall wine glass.

You will need a china hutch

I agree with the china hutch idea...
Although I suggest a curio. A hutch requires a credenza/buffet and they take up a lot of space. If you are "tight" on space, I recommend a curio.

I just bought this beautiful baby for my fiance and I... One of my sales reps (i'm an interior designer) emailed me photos of items on sale for the upcoming furniture market and this was one of the items on sale. I knew I had to have it!

We're registering for 12 settings just because we bought this curio! Otherwise we were only going to register for 8, because of the lack of storage space our apartment will have.
Fiance has been teasing me because the curio will most likely be empty for a year since it'll be here in a few weeks and we aren't getting married until next May. "Honey, you are buying a curio and we don't even have china for it yet?!".
Oh well, it'll still look pretty!

As far as the glasses are concerned, we will probably be registering for champagne flutes and red wine glasses because those would get the most use from us. But if we run out of stuff, we may add the water goblets or red wine glasses later.