How old is the instructor? She sounds like she's still in college, yeesh. (I've heard that students often use toothpaste to patch holes from hanging posters)
As for the wedding, the advice I can give is to stick with the registry ideas; you could always get really good versions of the items they're asking for, especially the items that are mechanical in nature, or go for items that are meant for small spaces. As someone who's lived in an extremely small space (250 sq ft), I often felt a) guilty for not being able to enjoy items that people had purchased for me, and b) annoyed because I was constantly having to tell people that I had no space but people often didn't listen to me (usually my mother, sigh). I still have a hard time accepting knick-knacks unless they are very specific in nature, which is directly due to living in such a small space. The best thing to do is think about what your cousin's personality is like and draw from there- i.e., while I do like decorative things, I also am extremely practicable and would rather get something I'll use every day; you should have seen how excited I was to get a vaccuum cleaner a few years ago. ;) (my other one was too large for the space I was using due to it being a hand-me-down- my parents bought me an apartment-sized one)
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As for the wedding, the advice I can give is to stick with the registry ideas; you could always get really good versions of the items they're asking for, especially the items that are mechanical in nature, or go for items that are meant for small spaces. As someone who's lived in an extremely small space (250 sq ft), I often felt a) guilty for not being able to enjoy items that people had purchased for me, and b) annoyed because I was constantly having to tell people that I had no space but people often didn't listen to me (usually my mother, sigh). I still have a hard time accepting knick-knacks unless they are very specific in nature, which is directly due to living in such a small space.
The best thing to do is think about what your cousin's personality is like and draw from there- i.e., while I do like decorative things, I also am extremely practicable and would rather get something I'll use every day; you should have seen how excited I was to get a vaccuum cleaner a few years ago. ;) (my other one was too large for the space I was using due to it being a hand-me-down- my parents bought me an apartment-sized one)