Am I the Only One with an Incomplete and Unused Set of Wedding China?

I didn't even register for china b/c I knew I would never use it. We've been married 10 years and not once have I wished we had it.

Everyone I knew completed their set because of fear the pattern would be discontinued.

I know of no one who actually unboxed their set until they moved into a house where they knew they would be there for a while. Everyone I know carved out a bit of their parents basement and claimed it in the name of fine china and crystal. When they bought their first house it was moved there.

Our wedding china was in origional boxes for the first 20 or so years of our marriage. But we used it on a regular basis when something special happened. We bought a service for 16. We got it out for Thanksgiving dinner, for Christmas dinner, for Easter Dinner, for promotions, to celebrate anniversaries, graduations, etc.

I would use your china for special occasions when you have something to celebrate. That will make it special for your kids. We knew we wanted a large famiuly and to be able to have everyone eat together. Everyone likes our china and it is still special to us, even after 39 years.

I would advise you to finish out your china set. In a few more years it will be discontinued and your won't be able to finish it. I'd advise you to at least get a 12 piece place setting so that if a dish is broken, you can still seat 8.

Good luck to you and yours.

Our china isn't in the original boxes, but it hasn't been used. It's in a display cabinet, and every time I look at it I sigh and feel badly that someone I care about very much spent good money on it, and it isn't even being used. Such is life with 3 kids. I did resolve that I will start using it for just me and hubby when we do date-nights at home, as well as for our anniversary.

SOME DAY I will use it!

I had my china in the boxes it came in for 6years. When we decided to move, I really did not want to move it so Macy's actually let me return it since they still sold the pattern and it was in the original boxes.

I didn't get china for my first wedding, we were just too casual and didn't really care or see the "need" for it. lol We did have several people give us Mikasa's crystal red rose serving bowls, platters and plates. I put them in my china hutch and never used them in the 10 years we were together. A few months ago I kept the vase and candy dish (one for each of our kids) and gave the rest to Goodwill.

Several months ago my husband and I were in a small town thrift store. They had a FULL set of bridal lace china, service for 12 with serving dishes, for $30. I was so excited! However, the dishes are rimmed in silver and it sparks in the microwave! So I can't use them for every day like I wanted to. No worries, I stuck them all in my china hutch and now use them for dinner parties. =)

Yep. It looks pretty in the china cabinet, and has been actually eaten off of maybe five times in fifteen years of marriage.

Sell it and do something nice for yourself. Never even registered for it myself b/c I knew we would not use it. When I have guests, we are normally eating on paper plates, LOL :)

When we got married, we registered for 2 full settings and bowls. That's it. All we had room for and could justify getting at the time. We used it all the time! Still stored in the original boxes in the kitchen cabinet.
A few years ago, my husbands grandmother left a full (more than full really) set of china that no one else wanted. He said we would take it. Moving it across country broke some pieces. It's not my style (and he did offer to let me sell it, but I thought that was just selfish), but we use it at every holiday and it's in a hutch from my grandma.

I never actually purchased (or received) wedding china. I have, however, inherited some depression glass settings (they are on display in the china cabinet) as well as two full sets of china. We don't use any of them. I'm sure they would just be broken and they can't go in the dishwasher so we just happily use our Corelle.

If I ever host a big fancy shmancy meal, I will bust out the good stuff but until then it lives in my storage room in the basement.

My husbands family is huge, HUGE. I had a set my Mom got at Safeway based on your purchases, piece by piece for me when I was in High School. She did get several place settings, bless her heart, but after moving that stuff around and NEVER EVER using it. I sold it on EBay for much more than I thought I'd get for it. I saved a cup and saucer because the set is quite pretty and I loved the sentiment, even though it turned out to be impractical for my lifestyle. My hope is that someone is USING it and enjoying it as much as I enjoy looking at the cup and saucer. Maybe I should have tea in it every once in awhile now that I think about it......

I was given 3 complete sets of China, 3 different patterns, and I ended up registering for the simplest pattern. Which was nice, as I did receive some matching serving pieces, etc.

The reason I was given 3 complete sets is that those people NEVER used their china sets and they knew I liked to cook and that I would be hosting a lot of dinner parties.

Since then, I gave one complete set away. I probably should have sold it looking back, but that was before Ebay.

I kept 2 sets and we use them just as 8kidsdad describes...for special occasions.

If you like your every day set, just use those. It certainly takes up way less space.

Fine China didn't even get on my list of wedding register things.

Growing up my mother had 2 sets of fine china she never used. When she died last year. I ended up inheriting both sets since no one else wanted them. They are in my attic with other things in storage. I did pull them out for Thanksgiving dinner last year and ended up using both sets since neither set could accomodate all of my holiday house guests.

I like to entertain and my everyday dishes are nice enough to do just that with so often I just use them. They are square and white like restaurant plates so the food does the job making the setting festive. I love them.

If we had it would still be in the box, not complete! I would venture to guess it's pretty normal.

Mine is incomplete simply because we have chosen to use it and over the years, many glasses have been broken :) I just figure when it runs out, it runs out... It's not that I am not sentimental, but while it is china, it's not like it was my great grandmother's or something... In our case, I have other momentos that I would rather pass down to my son..
I say, use and enjoy what pieces you do have.... life is short.. enjoy it all now..

I didn't register for one, because I thought fine china is too fussy for our lifestyle. My mom only used her wedding china a handful of times and she's been married to my dad for 42 years. So I thought I would rather recieve wedding gifts that we actually use.

But now 6 years after being married, I wish I had a set of nice china. I truly enjoy cooking and entertaining, and could see myself using a set. We live in apartements now, but when we move to a house with a formal dining room, I am buying myself a china set. I

No we use ours. Not as often as we did BEFORE children, but we still use it for New Year's Day, our anniversary, Valentine's day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and occasionally, a nice dinner with guests OR a nice date night at home. We used to use it for each others' birthday dinners, but stopped that because the kids eat with us and.....NO. It's really really breakable and my kids are just 5 and 2.
Let me use this opportunity to ask that if anyone has an incomplete or unused set (or random pieces) of Mikasa Antique Lace, PLEASE message me! I need some pieces, replacements, and it's no longer sold in stores (replacements.com is too expensive, generally). So, if there's any unwanted Antique Lace out there, I'm interested!

We never registered for China, Crystal and Sterling. We bought what we wanted when we had the extra funds available.

My pattern Osborne by Wedgewood is discontinued as well as my Sterling Golden Winslow by Kirk Stieff.

I have had excellent service with replacements, ltd to add serving pieces, etc. We have 12 place settings. We do use it, not very often but we do. The china is displayed in my china hutch and the sterling is in a protective box for sterling flatware.

I never even registered for any china. Money was really tight when we got married and I registered for things that we would actually get some use out of. We're pretty casual people and either use our everyday dishes or paper plates whenever we have people over to eat. :)

I sold our fine chine on Ebay to a lady from NY who paid me what it cost locally. She said it was so much cheaper than NY. I then bought the everyday dishes that we still use.

We use our china nearly every year at least twice. I do have friends over occasionally and use the nicer dishes since the stuff matches. We don't entertain as much any more and it's sits there doing nothing but waiting...lol.