When I asked my girlfriend Celine to marry me a few weeks ago, I thought the basic prize was her acceptance and perhaps a lifetime of marital bliss. It seems however that that's only the beginning, as even the intention of getting married brings a wealth of fabulous prizes.

As I've come to understand things, it basically works like this: Get engaged and people lavish you with kitchen appliances. Putting it that way may take some of the romance out of the whole procedure, but a bowl of homemade ice cream and a loaf of freshly baked bread goes a long way to re-light that fire.

Should that fail, I'll set our romance ablaze, probably along with my kitchen, using the new blowtorch I hope to receive. Perfect for making crúme brulee, melting marshmallows or cooking chicken really quickly, buying a blowtorch for myself always seemed a bit excessive.

Luckily, the enormous amount of people, some of whom I might actually recognize, waiting to shower us with presents makes every whim a good idea. Better yet, you need not expose your self to the gift-giving taste of your dear friends and family. These people, whose judgement you trust in so many other areas, would, if left to their own devices, buy you nothing but serving dishes and ugly clocks.

As we do very little serving, and have more than enough ugly clocks that we have picked out ourselves, we have chosen to register for gifts. Like a birthday party where you assign each person the present they will bring you, a gift registry makes sure you get what you want.

That means no crock pots, ice buckets or wall hangings. Picking your gifts minimizes returns and means you don't have to keep a list of things that you keep in the closet expect when the person who gave it to you visits.

Nothing can stop the relative who gives you the framed needlepoint or the friend who makes every engaged couple a macaroni sculpture, but the gift registry helps. Registering also insures that no one will give us one of those ceramic dogs that contestants on "Wheel of Fortune" used to spend their last $250 on in the prize round. I actually wouldn't mind one of those giant Toblerone's you could also buy on "Wheel," but I've been unable to find a store that actually sells them.

Though it's just a side benefit to the whole lifetime of happiness thing, I'm excited about finally having the opportunity to receive every kitchen gadget I've ever thought better about buying. Forget a new toaster, or a microwave, I specifically want the type of appliances that you're happy to get but use only once.

If it chops, does anything with coffee, or helps you make a food item that would normally only be available in stores, I want it. We have plenty of cabinet space and there's lots of room next to our waffle maker, the George Foreman grill, and that machine that makes triangular grilled cheese.