Yesterday, Whitney posted about things she wished she had known before she got married. One of those things was how to register strategically. I definitely did not have everything figured out before my wedding, but one thing that went very smoothly for me was planning and registering for wedding gifts. Today I’m sharing a few tips on how to get the most out of your wedding registry.
1. Gather wedding registry checklists from wedding websites and stores. Even though you may have a general idea of things you will need for setting up a home, I can guarantee that there will be lots of items you will overlook if you don’t have a wedding registry guide to help you. I downloaded one from The Knot and also picked up one at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I crossed off items that I knew we wouldn’t need (like wine glasses since we don’t drink alcohol) and then made a final list on my computer with all the item ideas I had gathered from my wedding checklists.
2. Register for twice as many gifts as you have invited guests. This may sound like a lot (200 guests, 400 registry items), but it is much better to give your guests lots of options of what to buy for you. Also, you don’t want to register for just 50 items and only receive 50 gifts even though you invited 200 people. We ended up with some items that we didn’t really need, so we simply exchanged them for things we did need. On a side note, be sure to register in stores that have good return policies. You will have at least one item you’ll want to return and you don’t want to end up having issues with customer service about returns and exchanges.
3. Register at two or more stores and pick items with varying price points. This will give you lots of variety and choices in the type of items you register for and also give your guests options in how much they want to spend and where they want to shop. We also chose to register for some of the same items that we really needed – such as a coffee maker and blender – at each store to increase our chances of receiving those items.
4. Make registering for gifts fun. I think couples often dread the wedding registry process, but it really can be so much fun to do together. Talk about what you both want before you go to make sure you’re on the same page. Seeing engaged couples arguing about what brand of food processor to register for doesn’t exactly give the best impression of their future marital bliss. It’s so exciting to be picking out items for the home that you get to share, so just relax and bar code-scan away!
Come Home For Comfort 
Many options, stores, and price points are huge! And also a variety of purchasing options. When my sister was doing her registry last year, she opted to do all online registries (Amazon, etc) but my mother lamented that the “older folks” won’t buy gifts online, but will instead want to buy something physically and wrap/ship. Never crossed my mind that would be an issue until that comment popped up!
But registering is such fun, and shouldn’t be stressful!!! It’s shopping without spending money 🙂
Katie @ Cup of Tea
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I agree with giving your guests lots of options to choose from when shopping your registry. It’s always nice to see a range of prices so that everyone feels comfortable with their purchase. My parents were recently invited to a wedding and everything on the couple’s registry was $150+ 😦 I’m guessing they will end up with a lot of gift cards because $150 is a lot to spend on a wedding or shower gift.
The only other tip I would add is to manage your registries on-line to keep them current – delete registry items if you receive something similar as a gift, remove clearanced out items or discontinued ones and add things as you think of them.
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