Two rings to rule them all

Wedding rings. They are the two of the most important physical objects to think about when planning a wedding, and yet Mr. Zombie and I seem to somehow keep forgetting about them. I mean, c’mon… we are not jewelry people. If it’s not pierced on us permanently, we hardly ever wear it. It took me a while to get used to wearing an engagement ring on my finger… not because it was hard to get used to the title, but because I usually never wear rings. What’s worse: I always seem to lose every ring I own!* Mr. Zombie and I are also picky about the jewelry we wear. We’re not the bling type. We usually prefer not to go for the sparkles of diamonds for aesthetic and ethical reasons. We just wanted something simple, practical, but also personal to us.

 We finally got around to contacting Steelwerks, the jewelry artisan we wanted to commission for our rings. Chris hails from Montreal, and he specializes in clean and gorgeous steel jewelry. He was the artist behind my engagement ring. 

We gave him a very general idea of what we wanted. It’s up to him to work his magic. We’re pretty excited.

Out of curiosity, to other married and married-to-be couples out there: how much was your budget on wedding rings? While the quote Mr. Zombie and I were given was pretty reasonable, especially for custom-jewelry, we never really figured out what the average cost of wedding rings were for couples. Everyone we talked to so far seems to be very torn on this topic as well. 

 

* I’ve admittedly almost lost my engagement ring once or twice so far. That is why I’ve invested in ring holders to keep around the house.

Pick up. Barcode. Scan. Registry. Done!

Our first day with the scanner at The Bay was far from a serious shopping experience. How can it be for two incredibly immature schmucks like us? In overwhelming situations such as dealing with registries, we made the two hours worth our while by spouting out non-stop Gordon Ramsay jokes. We watch an unhealthy amount of Food Network, particularly his shows, so we found great amusement in his product endorsement.  

It started out with an expensive line of fine china in the “OMG, I will break everything in this department if I spent another five minutes here” section of the store. 

Mr. Zombie felt it was appropriate to put Mr. Ramsay in his place for selling over-priced china. There was nothing particularly special about his plates. They were all plain white and boring. 

 

I felt bad that Mr. Ramsay had gotten so much flak from my fiance, so I leaned on his shoulder and gave him some lovin’ for a while… 
 

When we were done with the fine china, we went downstairs to the everyday kitchen section to find more of his products. Mr. Ramsay had a cookware set on sale for $800+. The set included this incredibly tiny fisher price toy of a saucepan, an $85 value. The saddest part of this experience? Actually falling in love with the cookware set. Ramsay or not, these were the best damn pots and pans we’ve ever held. They had a good heft to them. Alas, we opted to be a bit mindful of our price points and walked away from the fancy Ramsay cookware. 

When we got tired of the Ramsay jokes, we got right to business (well, as business as it can get) and scanned away at possible gift ideas. Red and black casserole dishes…. A Cuisinart mixer with the food processor and blender attachments… red candy stiped 500 thead count bedsheets… red fluffy towels… nothing too fancy. 

From this experience, I’ve compiled a small list of things you would need during a day of registering at the Bay… a few of which are featured in the photo above: 

– a phone with your mother/FMIL on speed dial: who is better for home advice than a concerned parent? While they weren’t physically present in the experience, both our moms were very much involved in figuring out what to register for. They must have called four times to add more to our list. “Hey, honey, how about a good electric fan? A fancy rice cooker?” 

– an energy drink: Registering, especially in larger department stores, can be extremely exhausting. Luckily, Mr. Zombie and I came prepared with cans of RedBull, which probably helped in making this experience all the more enjoyable.

– a camera: cameras are not just good for documenting the hilarity of your misadventures, but it’s also good for taking photos of products that you might want to refer to later on. When you’re looking at a list at the end of the day, trying to remember what the heck you registered for, the photos would come in handy.  It’s also good when you’re unsure about scanning it the first time and want to mull it over another time. 

We still have to back another time to scan more items. What are some registry ideas you guys think we should register for? 

If we could register for this, we would: The Ex Knife Set

The Ex Knife Set

OK, so I realize that this is more or less a gimmick and the knives are probably not as good as a set of Henckels, but Mr. Zombie and I have been drooling over this knife set since Ramona sent me a link to it over a year ago. As twisted horror snobs, this set is all kinds of awesome. We can’t find them anywhere though! Where are you, creepy and inappropriate knife set?

Sears vs. The Bay

Mr. Zombie and I had our first registry scanning experience at the Bay earlier this week. After a few frustrated sighs about their small (and expensive) bedding selection, as well as their lack of tool department, we realized that it was probably a good idea to have a secondary registry elsewhere. We wanted to choose a store that was most practical, nothing fancy (Ugh. Pottery Barn. Vomit) and most importantly, had things that we actually needed. 

The first choice was Canadian Tire. I used to hate going to this store as a child. I found it boring and too overwhelming. Now, Mr. Zombie and I make Canadian Tire trips a momentous event. They’ve got a wide array of things that we really needed for our home/studio: tools, giant tool chests, pet supplies, storage solutions, etc. etc. Canadian Tire is also home to the Debbie Travis collection, which so happens to produce the everyday plate set that would have been perfect for our style.

Square plates. Red and black. How freakin’ appropriate!

You can only imagine how heartbroken we were when we  found out that Canadian Tire no longer did gift registries. We were shocked. How could Canadian Tire possibly get rid of their gift registry service when their store is full of awesome stuff?! EPIC FAIL, CANADIAN TIRE!

So we had to go with our second registry of choice: Sears. I have to admit that I didn’t even want to think of considering Sears when we first started this registry misadventure. With the exception of their awesome cosmetic counter (Anna Sui FTW!), I’ve had nothing but terrible experiences at Sears. Whether its getting lost in the store, or dealing with terrible customer service, I don’t remember a single moment where I left a Sears store particularly satisfied. However, Sears did have a lot of things that the Bay didn’t, including the epic tool department, so… well… why not, right? 

Well, the registry sign-up experience didn’t really help save their name for me. While Mr. Zombie was at work, Mommy Zombie and I stopped by Sears to sign up for a registry account. Unlike the Bay, which had a very inviting and organized registry centre in their store, Sears had one dinky little desk in the housewares department. They also had what can only described as an ATM machine for registries where you can sign up digitally for a registry account. I still had questions for their registry consultant (there was only one, who at the time was M.I.A for half an hour!!!!) so I waited at her desk. There was already a woman there waiting to set up a registry for her shower as well. We had waited for almost 45 minutes before I could finally inquire about the registry service and sign up for my account. Not impressed, Sears! It’s a good thing that they have an online registry option so we don’t have to deal with this moving forward.

Anyway, from our registry experience so far, I can highlight some pros and cons about each store we’ve registered in. For any other Canadian couples who are considering these places to set up a registry, this could be a guideline for you too!

 

THE BAY 

Pros: 
– Organized, frilly and well-executed registry service. The registry service centre in the store is large, with multiple informative attendants to serve you.   
–  The store you register in doesn’t necessarily have to be the store you pick-up in. This is handy because we registered for products in the downtown Toronto store, where parking usually sucks. We opted to pick up in a suburban store by my parent’s house. 
–  A lot of high-end, fancy housewares.
– A more extensive kitchen selection, which also includes Gordon Ramsay cookware that we are both madly in love with.
– Everything you can possibly register for is more or less located in only one floor (two if you want to register for fine China and silverware… we’re not registering for any of those).
– fluffy towels!
– There is a Bay location all across Canada.  

Cons: 
– Delivery option is more or less non-existent, especially when they insist on charging an arm and a leg PER item.
– They try to ram the HBC credit card down your throat.
– There is no online catalogue, nor can you  register online. Well, poo, the Bay! POO!
– While Gordon Ramsay cookware is all kinds of awesome, it is also $999.99 for a ten-piece set.
– Very little bedding selection. There is nothing under $80 for a sheet set.
– No comforters. Only $120 duvet covers for $500 duvets.
– Though it’s not as yuppy as William Sonoma, it’s sure up there in price points for EVERYTHING. 
– No tool section?! Why?! 

 

SEARS 

Pros:
– The catalogue is available online, and they have an online registry set-up.
– Sears is located all across Canada and in the States
– They have a cool feature in their registry service that tells guests what your colour schemes are for each room in your home so they can pick presents accordingly (ours is red, black and grey).
–  Free swag bag from Anna Sui, apparently. YAY!
– They have a tool section
– They have a more extensive bedding selection, which are actually affordable.
– While the housewares selection is small, they do have a good selection of pots and pans  

Cons:
– terrible customer service
– there is only one registry consultant manning the front lines
– they try to ram the SEARS credit card down your throat
– smaller housewares selection, particularly in the kitchen department
–  you have to wander through more floors because the layout of the store is completely spread out and unorganized. 

 

Coming up next time: A recap of our first registry scanning session at the Bay, complete with photos and Gordon Ramsay!