The most wanted items on Bridal Registries everywhere in 2011 deviated from previous years since the former top choices of dishes moved to higher end  kitchen pieces and bath panels. For couples who have either co-habitated or lived on their own for a period of time, getting an upgrade to nicer kitchen items is a wonderful way to begin your lives together as a married couple.

The most popular kitchen items include premium cutlery,  gourmet appliances, Le Creuset cookware and top shelf bar items. According to the Wall Street Journal, men are becoming more involved in the registry process which explains the switch from plates and forks to knives and Kitchen Aid Mixers. Which also might explain grill items cracking the top ten registry list for the first time as well.

More top items for the home include bedding, unusual serving pieces and monogrammed towels. The top towel color? Brown – go figure!

And rounding out the top ten is gift cards. No surprise here – gift cards can be used in combination with coupons and other gift cards to buy higher end items you wouldn’t normally purchase for yourself. Like  Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville frozen drink mixer or a set of Egyptian cotton sheets!

If you don’t  like registering for gifts or merely feel like the cash would be of more help you could always bypass traditional gift registries and opt for one of the dozens of cash gift registries. Be careful before telling your loved ones to put stock in anything you haven’t checked out completely since for every reputable company there is a fraudulent one lurking behind fancy websites and phony customer referrals.

Anyway you look at it, the easiest part of wedding planning is registering for gifts. Personally, the  margarita machine sounds like a lot of fun to me!

-Penny Frulla for Bridal Expo Chicago