The Pioneer Woman's Daughter Gives Brides Registry Advice - Exclusive

When Ree Drummond's daughter, Alex, was planning her wedding to her college sweetheart, Mauricio Scott, she had one advantage that the rest of us will never have: she's Ree Drummond's daughter. And what that means is that she got to be privy to all manner of homespun advice that only the Pioneer Woman is qualified to dole out regarding the planning of the big event, including setting up the wedding registry. For those who have never encountered it, the wedding registry is a time-honored wedding tradition founded on the dual notion that most newlyweds are setting up their marital household from scratch, and all newlyweds would theoretically prefer to receive wedding gifts that they actually want and feel they will use. And as giddy as it can feel to pick out all your gifts in advance, it can also be a bit of a pressure cooker. Which china pattern? Do you even need china? How about silver flatware? Or is that impractical? And then there's cookware. And countertop appliances. And gadgets. So many gadgets. 

But here's the funny thing. Although Alex did rely on her mom's advice in making plenty of her registry-related decisions, as she told The List during an exclusive interview, the fact is that the younger Drummond was completely up to the task, herself — so much so, in fact, that it turns out she has quite a bit of her own homespun wisdom to impart on brides to be.

Believe it or not, not everyone enjoys shopping — even when it's for gifts that other people will be giving to you. But one way to get your shopping-disinclined significant other to "register" some enthusiasm is by divvying up shopping duties according to interest, as Alex and Mauricio did. Whereas Alex was more into the "cuter things, like the dishes and the tablecloths and the more decorative things," Mauricio was more into the gadgets, tools and appliances. This divvying up of decision-making authority by interest helped Mauricio to stay involved, focused and interested. At the same time, Alex made sure to keep Mauricio's sensibilities in mind when picking out colors and patterns. Although Alex leans towards brighter colors and fun patterns (for example the blue ceramic cookware pictured above, which she registered for), Mauricio has a preference for neutrals. But since this was the one and only thing Mauricio indicated was critical to him, it made it that much easier for Alex to compromise (sometimes!).

And that brings us to the other guideline Alex offered for sharing registering duties: When the going gets tough, get going — to lunch. Or to put it another way, if someone's getting "hangry," as she recalled happened one time when she and Mauricio were checking out The Pioneer Woman collection at Walmart, it's time to put aside the shopping and say, "We'll just do this another day." 

When we asked Alex Drummond to name one traditional registry item that brides definitely should not feel compelled to register for, she pointed out that whereas formal china is a traditional wedding registry item, these days a bride should be able to "totally get away with just registering for casual" dinnerware. In fact, a good number of her friends did just that. And on a related note, Alex recommended that brides go easy when it comes to registering for drinkware and ... cheeseboards. As Alex discovered, these are items that people seem to enjoy picking out for themselves, registry notwithstanding. "We added a ton of wine glasses and cocktail glasses and things like that" before realizing a very popular gift these days is paired sets of glasses in unique patterns and styles, she told The List. 

As for cheeseboards, they registered for a couple, but what they ended up with was eight — because people seem to really enjoy gifting cheeseboards that are customized or personalized in some way. That's right, we said "eight" cheeseboards. But it's not that Alex's friends and family see her as a major cheese connoisseur so much as the fact  that "people love gifting that kind of thing."

You can catch the highlights of Alex and Mauricio's wedding and related festivities on Food Network's "Ranch Wedding," now streaming on Discovery+. And you can check out the full Pioneer Woman bridal and housewares collection at Walmart.