Wedding Registries

Time for the fun stuff – the registry!

First off, no you do not need to make a registry. It’s completely up to you! (…As with everything else I’ve mentioned on this blog already haha!) However, where a registry comes in helpful is that it helps provide your guests with ideas on what to get you...so you don't end up with 50 sets of pots and pans!

Let’s start with some of the basics:

What is a Registry?

It’s basically a wish list – it’s where you add things that you would like to receive.

What should I put on my Registry?

Everything and anything you’ve ever wanted. Just kidding. You want to think hard and long about this. Don’t just put everything you think looks nice onto your registry or you might end up spending hours on the back end trying to return things that you really didn’t need.

Some factors to consider when adding things to your list:

• Is this something that I need right away or can it wait? My husband and I started our registry shortly before we moved into our new place. Prior to moving in together, we both lived at home so we literally had nothing that was ours and had to buy a LOT of stuff ourselves. Our wedding wasn’t until a year later. As a result, we put a lot of stuff we wanted/needed for our new place on the registry…but ended up buying most of it ourselves because we needed the items sooner and couldn’t wait to see if anyone might be getting it for us instead.
• Do I have room/space for this? Yes, that massage chair or that new pot set would look GREAT in your living room and kitchen, respectively…but do you have room for it? Do you already have things in mind that you can get rid of to make room for this new stuff? If the answer is no, then don’t bother adding it. Piggy backing off of my story from the first bullet, we thought about adding some nice plates to our registry, but we had no room in our cabinets for anymore!
• Does my registry offer a range of items at different price points? You’ll want to be considerate of your guests, including those who might not be able to afford spending too much on a wedding gift. As such, you’ll want to make sure you add items at different price points to your registry (i.e., low, mid, high, etc.).
•  Do the items on my registry match the theme of my home? This probably isn’t a high priority for most people, but I like having a cohesive theme at home. As such, when adding items to the registry, I also took into consideration whether they matched the theme of my home and whether they went well with my furniture. I didn’t want things to look random and out of place.

Where should I register?

This is where you can have a little fun! Do you research in advance! Many stores offer promotions/deals for couples who register with their store. Here are just a few:

• Macy’s
• You will receive a packet of exclusive discounts on wedding wardrobes and honeymoon must have’s in store once you register
• You will receive a 20% off all items on your list and anything new you want for 6 months after your big day.
• Earn 10% rewards points on eligible items you buy and 5% rewards points on eligible gifts you’re given.
• You can add a gift card to your registry and allow your guests to contribute to it.
• When your guests shop from your list, they will get $20 off their next $50 purchase.
• Special gifts are available when your complete your registry with select brands.
• Bloomingdales
• You get wedding specialists/personal consultants to have you as needed.
• Special discounts on select items:
• 25% off any regular-price women's dress purchase
• 25% off a single regular-price men's purchase of 500.00 or more
• 20% off almost any fine jewelry purchase
• 20% off a single regular-price intimates purchase
• 10% off any luggage purchase
• You will receive 10% off all items on your list for 6 months after your big day, PLUS, receive a $100 splurge card when you spend $500 or more on your registry…(but let’s be real, who’d going to have an extra $500 lying around to spend on completing your registry after paying for a wedding! HA!)
• Invitations to special in-store events (offers may include honeymoon deals)
• Amazon
• The really cool thing with registering with Amazon is that it’s universal. Basically, anything you can add anything from amazon and anything from a non-amazon site TO your amazon registry. For example, I really liked this apron from Anthropologie, but Anthro doesn’t offer registry services…so I added it to my Amazon registry! This also makes it convenient for guests because they won’t have to look through multiple registries—everything is in one place!
• Orders that include $25 or more of eligible books qualify for free shipping—otherwise all orders of $49 or more of eligible items across any products also ship free!
• You may receive bonus gifts for purchases made by your guest
• Returns are easy to process via Amazon’s Online Returns Center.
• One-time 10% off completion discount after your big day

One common theme you’ve probably noticed is that all three places offer “completion discounts” – this is great if there are things on your registry that your guests didn’t end up getting for you. This is also a great time to be strategic because you can always add things to your registry when it’s closer to your wedding to take advantage of the completion credit!

How do I communicate my Registry to my guests?

When I researched this question back the in the day, there were some mixed opinions on this. Some considered it inappropriate to have it written anywhere, while others were okay with sharing the information. However, the overall consensus seemed to be to just have it noted on a wedding website…which begs the question…how do I create a wedding website? Great Question!

There are a couple of different popular wedding websites available. One in particular is theknot.com. Through theknot.com you can find a large array of wedding resources, including templates and domains to create your own wedding website through them (here). You can customize the template as needed and add photos and pages to provide your guests with information about the wedding party and the wedding.

So I guess the next question is…how do I tell my guests about the wedding website? You can just include it on your invitation. Most invitations I see would either just have the website noted at the very bottom or they’ll preface it with “For more information, please see *insert wedding website*”.

For those who don’t want your registries written anywhere, another way to communicate it would be to wait for your guests to ask where you’re registered at. Then you can just tell them where you’re registered and they will be able to go online see your registry by searching for your names.

Now, go forth and conquer your registries!