Our registry!

Katralex

Hey girls!
My fiance and I are planning to start our wedding registry soon. I think we will for sure register at Target and one other place that we haven't decided on yet. I was just wondering if those of you who've been through this process have any hints or tips for me! Anything to help make the day organized and fun, not stressful would be great.
~Katrina

graysquirrel

My tip would be to make sure to register under lots of different price points. Don't be afraid to go for a few expensive items, like nice cookware or a mixer. Chances are, at least one person will spend that much or people will go in on items. And make sure to pick a few cheap things, too, like spatulas. Don't stress about it. It is actually quite fun and you can always delete things from your registry online if you change your mind-- we have. I would also go to Target or their website and browse before you register. That way you can save time by noting items that you really, really want. I liked Target because they gave us a free $20 Shutterfly card. 

TriSaratops10

Our personal favorite was Bed, Bath & Beyond; not really for any particular reason, we just did   But we registered at Target, Macy's and a little at Pottery Barn with all sorts of price-points.

My advice would be to think about the things you either need or things you have but want to upgrade and like PP said, simple things are great!! I found that a lot of people liked giving lots of little things, which was also fun on the receiving end!

Really, it should be a mostly fun process and most places will have a list you can work off of so you don't forget any major category

JennyLange

I'm ridiculously organized, so I made a spreadsheet of the items we wanted to register for and where, and then we just went to the store and picked out the exact coffee pot or mixer or whatever that we liked the best. I think there's something cathardic about checking things off lists, so I really liked that. I went online to check out registry list suggestions and copied a friend's online registry who recently got married. That worked out really well because they thought of things I never would have.
And to make it fun, we shared the guns as much as we could, and joked all day at Target about how it looked like we were going to play laser tag. Pretty sure I scared a few people coming around corners all Mission Impossible-like. It was great!

wittyschaffy

Ditto pps, pick a bunch of different price points and you don't always have to be reasonable about your picks.  We registered for a Wii for fun and surprisingly got it.  I worked at a local cooking store for 6 years so we absolutely did NOT need any kitchenware so we went heavy on splurge stuff that we wouldn't normally purchase for ourselves but would have enjoyed.  We even registered for (and got) a bunch of yard games and camping gear.

As far as kitchen wares go, do you research about what you want.  There really are major performance differences between some brands (and even levels of brands that are sold at many types of stores).  PM me if you need some help on that front if you'd like.  I don't work at said kitchen store anymore but I do know the market and can give you some good pointers.

Once you're done registering, print off what you have selected.  You may find that you accidentally registered for something twice at different places.

Also - you may want to keep in mind where your guests live and evaluate if you have stores they may have access to.  Most of my family and DH's family are local but not all of them.  Some of them have to drive at least an hour to get to a major mall so having a store that had a good shipping/online ordering system was a must for us.

Other than that, give yourselves a bit of time so you're not rushed and have fun!

newlyseliski

I agree with the PP's... definitely talk through with your fiance what types of items you for sure would like to register for ahead of time before going into the store.  I did a lot of research of performance of different brands for small kitchen electronics and other big-ticket items.  Compare prices for items between different stores and try to register for it at the store that is most reasonably priced at.

 Even with that research ahead of time, set aside one afternoon for each store because it can be overwhelming hunting through all of the items!  My fiance and I almost went crazy doing Bed, Bath and Beyond and Target all in one afternoon.  We also plan on registering at Sears as my fiance would like some good tools!  I live right by the Bloomington Bed Bath and Beyond, which also has the only fine china section in the metro area BB&B stores... so we were able to find some nicer giftware there, too.

A cautionary note about your Target registry... watch it closely as they circulate some types of their merchandise frequently and some items might be discontinued or unavailable within months.  Also, many items that you zap in the store are not available online and vice versa.  That said... still do it because people will always buy you Target gift cards anyways and it's the most convenient gift registry shopping for most wedding guests in this area!

I'm not registering at more than 3 places... but if I had different gift needs, I'd also love to do Crate and Barrel because they have really reasonably priced china and it's such an enjoyable retail experience!  Macys also has a great registry... but we didn't register there because they didn't have anything that my fiance and I really needed.

Steph0871

As much flak as Target gets on the boards sometimes, they were our favorite registry store.  Returns were very easy for us, even though I didn't have gift receipts.  They have a new thing where you can return anything from your registry, just by printing it out at the store.  Super helpful.

The only other store we registered at was Williams-Sonoma (mostly just for some 'upgrade' kitchen stuff as well as dishes.)  Registering was awesome, but after that they were horrible.  They screwed up my grandparents order when the bought us a full set of 4 place settings.  (About $500 worth of stuff, by the way.)  They shipped the wrong plates.  Then, because the plates we received didn't match the receipt, there was all sorts of drama about letting me exchange them.  Even though the receipt matched our registry, which is how my grandma ordered them.  

They finally figured out it was their fault to begin with, and let me exchange them. THEN they tried to make me pay the difference in cost, because my grandma bought them on sale originally.  The problem with that, though, is that they were the same original price.  I spent almost an hour and a half there trying to exchange 4 plates, and left in tears because I was so frustrated.

wow that ^ was a novel. sorry!

Anyway... I think PPs have covered most of my recommendations.  Figure out what you REALLY need. Don't just register for stuff because you think you'll want it.  We did that with a few things, then realized we really didn't need it.  Meanwhile, there were some things we registered for that we really wanted and didn't get.  We exchanged some stuff, but I felt bad for registering for the items in the first place, if that makes sense.  

Make sure you cover a wide range of costs.  We tried to keep most of our stuff around $20, and had quite a few people ask us to register for more expensive stuff as well.  Ditto Sara that people like to buy lots of little things too.  We got a few combined 'baskets' of all of our 'little' kitchen gadgets, and another one of all of our towels, etc.  

leggwilliams

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_registry-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:0a032e1a-fb31-481b-b40a-e955438210f4Post:2ad50b27-8583-407a-b509-bb4099fd90ca">Re: Our registry!</a>:
[QUOTE]As much flak as Target gets on the boards sometimes, they were our favorite registry store.  Returns were very easy for us, even though I didn't have gift receipts.  <strong>They have a new thing where you can return anything from your registry, just by printing it out at the store.</strong>  Super helpful. The only other store we registered at was Williams-Sonoma (mostly just for some 'upgrade' kitchen stuff as well as dishes.)  Registering was awesome, but after that they were horrible.  They screwed up my grandparents order when the bought us a full set of 4 place settings.  (About $500 worth of stuff, by the way.)  They shipped the wrong plates.  Then, because the plates we received didn't match the receipt, there was all sorts of drama about letting me exchange them.  Even though the receipt matched our registry, which is how my grandma ordered them.   They finally figured out it was their fault to begin with, and let me exchange them. THEN they tried to make me pay the difference in cost, because my grandma bought them on sale originally.  The problem with that, though, is that they were the same original price.  I spent almost an hour and a half there trying to exchange 4 plates, and left in tears because I was so frustrated. wow that ^ was a novel. sorry! Anyway... I think PPs have covered most of my recommendations.  Figure out what you REALLY need. Don't just register for stuff because you think you'll want it.  We did that with a few things, then realized we really didn't need it.  Meanwhile, there were some things we registered for that we really wanted and didn't get.  We exchanged some stuff, but I felt bad for registering for the items in the first place, if that makes sense.   Make sure you cover a wide range of costs.  We tried to keep most of our stuff around $20, and had quite a few people ask us to register for more expensive stuff as well.  Ditto Sara that people like to buy lots of little things too.  We got a few combined 'baskets' of all of our 'little' kitchen gadgets, and another one of all of our towels, etc.  
Posted by Steph0871[/QUOTE]

SO good to know! That was one of the reasons I was super nervous to register there is because I was worried about returns!

Steph0871

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_registry-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:0a032e1a-fb31-481b-b40a-e955438210f4Post:130ea14c-5ebf-4d30-bff4-34b29279366a">Re: Our registry!</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Our registry! : SO good to know! That was one of the reasons I was super nervous to register there is because I was worried about returns!
Posted by leggwilliams[/QUOTE]

<div>AND I think you only have to do it within 90 days of your wedding, instead of 90 days from date of purchase.</div>

Bimbi284

DH and I REALLY liked Crate and Barrel for ours. We picked a lot of more classic designs from them that the registry person assured us would be available forever (in case of things breaking so we could replace easily). I like that they have registry events also where you can go in to the store (they usually have some apps and drinks too, plus a free gift - we got a crystal dish) and a rep will walk you through each area of the store and discuss the whole registry process as well as give you tips along the way. After the walk through, you are free to go around scanning the items you wish to add to your registry. Its super easy to go into a store or the website and update it as well. Most of our guests ended up buying from C&B based off of convenience and availability of products in store and online. The variety of price ranges at C&B are great too! We also registered at Macy's and Target, which were good too, but C&B was the clear front runner.

[Deleted User]

A tip on returning stuff to target - if someone buys you something that is NOT on your registry and you want to return it - go online and see if you can add it to your registry and return it then    I did that with a lot of stuff we got from my baby shower that we didn't need