When we married in 1966, it was customary for brides-to-be to register with a local department store for her choice of china, silverware, and glassware for guests to bestow the new couple with as wedding and shower gifts. But I didn’t want anything that needed to be polished or coddled. So I chose Centura, which was strong class ceramic break resistant tableware, which had been launched in 1962.
Centura was made by Corning, the manufacturer of microwave safe casserole dishes. As a wedding gift, Aunt Darlene gave us a set of three Corningware Blue Cornflower casserole dishes, which we still have.
Guy’s Grandma Walker and Aunt Verda gave us a set of stainless steel flatware, which we still use every day. Other gifts were white bedspreads, a toaster, snack trays, juice glasses, table cloths, a deep fat fryer, rugs, sheets, folding chairs, and a percolator.
Shower gifts included several candy dishes, cookbooks, mixing bowls, towels, a picnic basket, several chip and dip sets, kitchen utensils, a pizza pan, cake plates, even a clothes basket along with clothespins.
Grandma Ruby Neal’s traditional shower gift was a wicker basket filled with a homemade apron, dish cloths, and a handy note pad and pencil for grocery lists.
We were married May 29, 1966. The Vietnam War loomed and Guy was in a delayed enlistment program with the US Air Force. His active duty didn’t begin until that August. After he went through Air Traffic Control tech school that winter in Biloxi, Mississippi, he was assigned to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. These wedding dishes were too bulky to take with us–we moved to Idaho in the 1963 Chevy, so we bought a set of Melmac dishes, since they all fit in one box.
When Guy was ordered to Vietnam in 1969, we moved back to Iowa. All of the Corningware dishes were still stored in my folks’ attic until Guy got a job with the FAA in Colorado, 1971.
We still use Aunt Darlene’s Corningware bowls often, and those Centura dishes every day.
Here’s a link to a favorite dessert which was served at one of my bridal showers.
“Just Bob F.” sent the first comment, which would have made a better title! “It’s good to celebrate things that last: faithful marriage and sturdy tableware.”
Happy 60th anniversary! It’s good to celebrate things that last; faithful marriage and sturdy tableware.
Oh, I just might have to quote you. Thanks, Bob!
Great title suggestion, Bob. 🙂
Happy anniversary to you, Joy, and your Favorite Guy. Your list of shower and wedding gifts could be my list, too! I still have a cookbook I use from 45 years ago that’s tattered from use. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. I wish I’d kept my cookbooks (and also Mom’s).
Happy Anniversary to you and your favorite Guy! Those Corningware casserole dishes last forever. I have several. When I was growing up, our “everyday” dishes were turquoise Melmac. They didn’t break, but they got horribly stained, and my mother finally had to ditch them.
Thank you, Liz.
You’re welcome, Joy.
Terrific, Joy. Your choice of dishes served you well. (not to mention the choice of husband) 😀
Good one, John!
I used that very same CorningWare casserole dish last night. As I was washing it, I recalled it was a wedding gift from my first marriage in March of 1966. The marriage didn’t last, but the casseroles did!! I see you will be celebrating your 60th Anniversary in a couple of days. Well done.
Thanks, Darlene!
Happy 60th to you and your favorite guy! That CorningWare dish has served you well. You could do a commercial for them and include a testimonial about their durability.
When we celebrated my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, we displayed many mementos from their lives. One was a toaster they received as a wedding gift, which they had used faithfully every day since. I looked up the company online and saw they were no longer in business. That’s what happens when you make your appliances so good they don’t need to be replaced. 😊
Wow, great story, Pete!
Oh my…I’ve never heard of Centura dishes but golly, they’re pretty – and I love that you still use them! The blue cornflower dish is such a classic. I remember many a mac and cheese served up in one of those! 💝
Yes, mac and cheese!
😜💝😜
Celebrating your happiness <3
Bless you, Annette!
Happy Anniversary, Joy and Guy! You certainly found some good quality dishes and other gifts.
Thanks, Eilene!
I love this post. First of all, that pic of the shower. That could be my mother’s family when I was in junior high. Looks identical! Then the Corningware casseroles. Those things are so great. Our first dishes were Corelle, Those things were supposed to be indestructible, but they got so if you dropped one it shattered into a zillion pieces. My mother got me a 4 piece set of something else to replace them because it was becoming a real problem, especially with dogs and kids padding around the kitchen barefoot. Eventually she got me my dream dishes: Fiestaware. We still have our flatware from our shower, too. My uncle and aunt gave it to us. I didn’t want good dishes at the time we got married either because I didn’t have any furniture to put it in, but the gardener’s relatives bought us a beautiful Royal Doulton coffee and tea set that I’ve never used. Looks pretty though. hahaha
Thanks, Luanne. Corelle came later. Guy’s sister started out with it. Fiestaware! Yes, dream dishes.
Indeed, Joy – Happy Anniversary. Looking back over the years we notice the many things that have changed – but it’s good to celebrate those people and things that have remained constant, consistent and reliable.
Thank you, Malcolm. God blesses us with the new and the old, doesn’t he!
Happy 60th. Good things last!
Thanks, Jim! Guy’s a Vietnam vet with Parkinson’s and more. I’ve dealt with fibromyalgia for two dozen years, now also Crohn’s. But we’ve got each other, and we’re still in our own home, at least for now!
Happy Anniversary. That’s a good long time to be together.
Thanks, Dan!
Happy anniversary, Joy and Guy! What wonderful role models you two are! I was nearly 50 when Doug and I were married. By then, I had accumulated all all sorts of dishes and small appliances and cutlery, all the stuff one requires in a kitchen. One of my friends suggested a wedding gift list and when I told Doug about it, he thought it was a great idea because people were going to want to give us things anyway, we might as well get what we want. Now, 31 years later, we have a service for 8 in “good” dishes and glass ware that we use once a year without fail, about 8 pieces of Corning French White casserole dishes and a stand mixer that we may have used 3 times. The everyday dishes that I received as a shower gift have long ago gone the way of all broken dishes, to be replaced by a set that we bought for Doug’s mother, and inherited on her death. It will all last until we no longer need it. Nobody wants to inherit any of it!
Thank you, Gail. My mother would be so disappointed to learn that no one wanted her pretty dishes and glassware, or the china cabinet she waited so long for.
I hope you have a wonderful anniversary, Joy. 💖🙏 The Centura dishes must be good. My wife still uses kitchen objects we received as gifts at our wedding, 5 years and almost 2 months after yours (July 10, 1971).
Thank you, Tim. We’ll go out for lunch somewhere. ha