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When it comes to the wedding registry, most couple select everything from the patterns on their fine china to the thread count of their sheets — if you’re opting for a sexy registry, that is — together. But a new survey shows that more than a few brides and grooms have added or removed items to their wedding registries on the DL, without their partners being any the wiser.
Moen, a designer of bathroom and kitchen accessories, conducted a survey among 2,026 adults ages 18 and older, asking them for the wackiest things that have happened with their registries, including those changes they’ve made without their partner’s prior approval. As it turns out, 27 percent of the pollsters copped to adding or removing an item from their registries without telling their significant others. That number rises to 34 percent when you consider only the youngest respondents, ages 18 to 34, and drops to just 12 percent for those 45 and older.
So what changes are these brides and grooms making on the sly? “Housewares were a popular behind-the-back addition,” Moen reports. In fact, one bride confessed to Moen that she added a china set she adored but that she knew her soon-to-be-spouse despised when he wasn’t looking. Another bride had a real problem that her groom had used their registry to snag a gaming system, so she deleted it and added various household decor. One bride simply told Moen that she got rid of “the tacky stuff he picked out,” while another admitted she didn’t trust her groom’s gut, so she took off “some impractical glasses he chose and added some I thought were better.”
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Grooms were guilty of making changes, too, however. “From the male perspective, sporting goods and electronics were prevalent additions,” Moen reports. One soon-to-be groom sneaked onto his registry without his future wife’s knowledge and added a mini basketball hoop, while another went on and added a gaming console behind his fiancée’s back, according to Moen. And a third groom added “a bunch of Blu-ray movies to our registry without permission from my bride,” he told Moen.
Of course, odd things worked their way into couples’ homes without the couple adding the items to their registries on the DL. According to Moen, 34 percent of couple returned at least six gifts. And when you read about the wacky gifts they received, you’ll soon see why.
Brides told Moen they’d received the following odd items as gifts: A casserole dish shaped like a duck, a chia pet, an IOU, ball and chain underwear, and a machete. Yes, you read that right.
“But luckily, it’s not all bad,” Moen reports. “Couples received plenty of great gifts, too. Many folks stated their spouse was the best present they received, while others raved about generous monetary gifts, fantastic cookware and even a cruise to the Bahamas.”