Wedding gifts + 3 woman - wedding registry + small budget = 1 Massive conundrum

My apologies for not posting last night, but my boyfriend was not feeling well, and since he has always been there for me when I have been sick I felt I could return the lovin' and who doesn't loved to be babied and pampered when being sick.

Yesterday really was nothing to post about anyways, unless if I started rambling, and no one really wants me to ramble. As the title implies something quite funny has happen today and is certainly worth a post. I told my mom in an e-mail the same story I am about to tell you and she said she and my grandmother (who has recently broken her wrist) were laughing so hard. I personally don't think it was THAT funny but maybe that was because for me the time it was just one massive conundrum.

So before I start my real post (which may or may not be funny I wanted to copy and paste some things from the Merriam - Webster online site. I admit my spelling is not tops but I do my best to look up words that I feel like I have not spelt write since my spell check finds everything written wrong.
In the spirt of Love I found a few top words for V-Day. (I only chose these two since I found them more interesting than the other more common words.) To me I love to read random facts so I hope you like it too. (I am a Trivia Fan) So here goes:

Adonis
Definition: A very handsome young man.
About the word:

In Greek mythology, the beautiful young Adonis was beloved by both Persephone and Aphrodite, so Zeus decreed the young man should divide his time and attention between the two goddesses.

He was later killed by a wild boar – an attack that may have been arranged to avenge another of Adonis' romantic intrigues.

Aphrodisiac
Definition:
something that excites; an agent that arouses or is held to arouse sexual desire
About the Word:

Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love (who was infatuated with Adonis) gave the Greeks the words 'aphrodisia' (heterosexual pleasure) and 'aphrodisiakos' (a gem with aphrodisiac powers).

So now to the story.

  

One of my friends in my german class is getting married in a few days and my two other friends and I figured we will pull our money together and buy her a nice wedding gift. For the purpose of the story so it doesn't get confusing I won't use their name but a random letter. At first pulling money together and buy a nicer gift sounds like a great idea. I am a student, no income and my plan was to walk around Ikea and not buy anything for me and stare at different things I may or may not buy as a gift. I figured perfect way to keep it cheap and not have the gift reak of being cheap.

So I figured 15 euros together V and O with me would be enough. I am still trying to have some money leftover for my food. Well, what I did not realize was what started as a really good idea is becoming a really really BAD idea and now I am commited!  We had said that at 3 we all meet at a location to go shopping on Tuesday. At 2:45 I get a text message from O that V can't make it, now I was kindof upset since I was doing nothing but staying around my home so we could go and buy a gift. I have plans that I would like to get accomplished as well and can't move here and there, now before I sound like a brat, may I just mention I had a good idea why V couldn't make it. We are supposed to register for the new semester and registration started Feb. 15 and she just started the process which does not go that fast and there is always something that has to go wrong so she has given herself no time for something to go wrong. So I was upset about having to cancel Monday due to another person's lack of planning. This is when I started to think it was a bad idea because now I have to wait on other people where as if I had said no, I could have gone and done everything and not waited on other people.

But fine, things happen I know. So then I was told that the budget was 20 Euros a person and again I am a student living on my own cutting corners to keep spending on the low, specially since I do want to have vacations and travel a bit, and I need to buy more clothes this year than normal due to me not having a weeks worth of winter clothing and also having to purchase things for my new home. So a girl does what she can to enjoy life but is not living in the lap of luxury by any means. Again, I know at a wedding you tend to not be so Scrooge like but give me some slack here. Also, I would be more lienent on spending the 20 euros if the actual bride made her wedding seem like some what of a big deal. She is doing a simple marriage, at the court no big dress, a few witnesses, no ceremony, and afterwards we are all getting together for dinner. According to the invitation it left room to imply that you pay for your own meal. So not only do I have to buy a gift, I have to buy myself dinner and where I come from the married couple spend some money. I understand not having a big fancy party, she even said this is not a party, just dinner together with friends but I think when you invite people to celebrate or even commemorate your marriage you should at least cover the bill. 

So fine, I bite the bullet, I like my friends, and don't have many here so I hand onto them with a tight grip. Wednesday came I had not been contacted if we were still going to go out shopping same place and same time so I was in no rush to stand in the -3C temp. to be told no one is showing up. This is when the clock strikes 2:50 and I get a phone call being asked where I am, I said in my boyfriend's apartment, then being told we are meeting at 3. So I rush over to get there and be the first person there then see V and we are waiting on O who was the one who called me. 

Now when you are having a wedding and are not having a registry it makes your guests quite chaotic trying to figure out what to buy you since they don't want to be the person giving you your 20 toaster. Even if you are not making any party please please please get registered atleast at one store so your poor guests know what you want and need.

The reason why I say this is it is clear your style and what you need and what you don't. For me today I learned that gift cards are the better option when more than one person is buying a gift. My friend V has similar taste to mine from what I could tell with the things she was tending to stare at in the 4 stores we looked in, but her style leaned a bit too shiny or flashy for me. My friend O liked more of the older style that your grandma might like or very plain but having a modern edge. And for me, I like very symetrical things and will tend to not buy something very flowery but I like that vintage look as well. So we have 3 woman, no registry, 3 different styles and tastes and little money. On the bus ride over to Maria Hilfe Straße O said if it is okay that we spend 25 per person and she was thinking about buying gold for the couple. When she asked us what we thought I said that is going to be expensive and V said that it is too small.

This is when you start to find a small window into other people's cultures when it comes to how to celebrate for a wedding. In many cultures the couple is showered with gold jewlery, some other cultures money, and in every culture you always give a gift. So for some people peering into the story might see this as an interesting insite to cultures. I say at the moment it was more of a pain. 

Then O suggested a whole bedset, but not any bedset but a silk one. V then said it would be a too big of a gift to give  specially in a resturant. I suggested a glass piece either a punsch bowl, fruit bowl, vase, somthing that can't get stain, torn, broken, too easily. I know how much my mom loves using her platters for parties, and they last unless it is dropped or a washing accident. 

We then went into a store and stared at so many different blankets, O liked the animal print ones and then inspected all the other blankets seamline to check for quality and would tell us that it is an expensive (60 Euros) blanket but not of good quality. I was so sick and tired of looking at blankets I just wanted to lay on them and take a nap. V and I liked the really soft blankets that just happened to be the real cheapos, but we weren't thinking of it as the gift but we enjoyed touching them and enjoying the softness. 

May I go on?

We went into an appliance store stared at blenders, hand blenders, coffee makers, I thought a fondue set was a good idea but the girls didn't know what that was and was not interested in it when I tried to expalin what it was. In the end we thought a pan was good. A teflan pan. But we didn't buy it don't ask me why we didn't buy it after staring at blankets, appliances, silverware and glasses I tuned out and prayed that my friend only gets married this once and never again or not too soon.

So hopefully tomorrow we can get it together and finally buy something.