How much did people use your registry?

kitty8403

So I realize the stores have some crazy recommendation about registering for twice the number on your guest list (or something like that). That seems like overkill to me. 
Did people really use your registries all that much? 

HisGirlFriday13

People almost exclusively used our registries. Other than about a half-dozen things, everything we got was on our registries. (Or cheques.)

We did not, however, register for the 2.5-times the number of our guests as recommended by BBB and Target.

lizandmark2014

I registered for one gift per invitation.

AddieCake

The majority of our gifts came from our registry. We had a few give us cash, another few give us restaurant gift cards, and another few give us random boxed gifts not on our registry. 

emmyg65

We registered only for things we really wanted, which ended up being about 50 things for a guest list of ~100. About 2/3 of people used the registry and we got almost everything we registered for. The rest gave us cash or thoughtful gifts we never could have registered for.

chibiyui

Most physical gifts came off the registry. We probably received between 50% to 70% of what we registered for.

mysticl

We registered for what we needed/wanted.  There was no correlation between the number of gifts and the number of invites.  Most of the boxed gifts we got were off the registry but the majority of the gifts overall were cash.  

rpilking

most people who have purchased from our registry have given 2 to 8 items (depending on the price) so Im having to add more things (but only ones we would definitely use and have space for) So I guess the 2 items per guest suggestion isnt far off - about 20% of our guests have used the registry and we are less than 2 weeks away.

lyndausvi

 I would say about 70-80% used the registry for the shower.  I would only say 1-3% for the wedding.   

We mostly got cash for the wedding.  The few gifts we did get were mostly handmade or custom gifts with 2-3 off the registry.

Ven&Radio

Literally 3 guests bought off our registry.  It was such a waste of time to register.  The rest of the guests gave cash or a check.

weddingmcgee

If you are registering, I think it's important to give people options in terms of items and prices. If you have less gifts on your registry than the number of guests, then sure they could just give you money or come up with their own gift, but if they wanted to get you something off your registry, you could be leaving them with limited options. Someone could be stuck buying you a less expensive gift when they wanted to get you something nicer. Or, on the other side, someone could feel like they are stuck paying for a nicer gift because the less expensive items are gone.

If you register for extra things and no one gets them for you, no harm done. But I think guests will appreciate seeing what kinds of things you want and what your style is. Even if they don't use it to buy a gift, it could give them an idea of what you're looking for. 

tammym1001

We registered for 46 items:

12 people were invited to my shower - all of them bought from the registry.

35 people were invited to the wedding - 2 of them bought gifts from the registry. Of the remaining about  half gave cash and half gave gifts that weren't on the registry.