Recs for cool/unique “wedding china”?

Don't let your dad talk you into registering for something you don't want. "Traditional" doesn't mean required and only matters to the people who want to keep that particular tradition going; it's not a reason to do something you don't want to do.

Anyway, you do need dishes to eat off of, so I would find something you love that you will want to use every day and register for that. I don't know what stores are available to you and your guests, so I can't recommend something. But just look around online and see what appeals to you both.

I personally have replica railroad china from the California State Railroad museum that we use as our only set of dishes.

Echoing not to register for something you'll never use. It'll just sit around collecting dust, and nice plates are usually supposed to be hand washed which can be a pain and not super practical for everyday use.

That being said, Waterford has a collection named "Lismore Black" that I think is neat. It's crystal rather than China, but still qualifies as fancy dishes in the end lol.

I’m a huge fan of Fiestaware! It comes in so many fun colors but is super practical for everyday use.

0% chance I'm registering for fancy plates lol. They will sit in a cabinet forever because I'd be too afraid to use and break them. Then when i die my future kids have to feel guilty about not wanting to keep my never used fancy dishes. I'm big on only buying/requesting useful things, I dont need extra junk to drag around my whole life.

I don’t understand the “taboo” of china. Everyone uses dishes every day if they eat at home. There’s no law that says you can only register for super fancy styles that get used one day a year at most. Pick whatever you love. Browse Target or Wayfair because they have unique styles. Corelle has a variety of designs and it’s pretty unbreakable for the most part. Back in the day, all dishes were made with a certain material. Nowadays there are countless choices from bamboo to melamine to stoneware to porcelain. Some types can’t be put in the dishwasher, others are not microwave safe.

Corningware/Corelle is super functional and my husband loves it. I recommend it for everyday use. My mother loves Villeroy Boch. It has some cute designs

I registered at crate and barrel and I found a cute blue modern set.