4 Stores for Registering?

dragonavicious

Okay so my fiance and I are going to register a little after he gets out of work today. We were going do the cheaper tier at Walmart, the midlevel tier at Meijer (which is a store like Walmart but more expensive in Michigan) then either Bed, Bath and Beyond or Kohls. Well looking at Meijers I realized that they were only in Michigan and also that they don't allow shopping online. Now me and my fiance love the cookware there more then any other store so we really wanted to register but we do have several out of town guests. My mother suggested adding another specialty store, like Pier 1, where we'd only register for a few things like decor and if someone didn't want to shop at BBB or Walmart, and didn't have access to Meijers they could still find something. She also said that my older sister didn't register at enough places and that led to a lot of confusion and irritation from her guests. 

What do you think? 

manateehugger

I think 4 stores is too many, honestly. Why don't you try looking for the brands/items you want first, and then go find nationwide stores that carry those brands and items. What is this special cookware you like?

I'd at least do Target over Walmart, but maybe I'm just a snob. I also wouldn't register at a store that most of my guests couldn't use. 

I don't understand how your sister not registering at a bazillion stores could irritate guests. Register for the stuff you need and leave it alone. Cash and off-registry items are always options for guests. 

dragonavicious

Yeah I don't want to register at Walmart either, that's why we were originally thinking Meijer instead, but then only about 50% of the guests have access to it. Target, is so far away I don't think I've ever even been into one. 

wrigleyville

I would do it this way:

Lower tier: Meijer - 50% of guests is a decent number, and Meijer is better than WalMart. (I used to live in Michigan.) You could register for your cookware and maybe a few other things, like picture frames.

Middle tier: Kohl's - 100% of guests have access, either in person or online, and they have a bazillion sales and coupons. This is where I'd do the bulk of my registry, since they have so many items but aren't expensive.

Upper tier: BBB - 100% of guests have access, either in person or online, and they're known for the more "pricey" items. I'd choose a few higher-priced items here, like good knives, crystal, etc.

I would only register for the Meijer cookware, not Meijer cookware plus BBB cookware. That way, if someone wants to buy you cookware, you get the set you want. If nobody buys it, you could keep it bookmarked and use any money guests give you in cards at the reception or save up for it.

dragonavicious

I am so sad because apparently Meijers doesn't have a registry. Now I don't know what to do. My fiance and I had planned out our entire kitchen with them. They were decently priced with some high quality goods. 

We just registered at BBB and found out how very expensive it is. I have to go through the registry again and remove a few things I know I'd prefer to get from other stores. 

So what should my low-tier store be now. We only have Meijers and Walmart in my area. No Target and the last Kmart just closed down. 

wrigleyville

It sounds like you live in a smaller town in northern Michigan?

You could stick with Wal-Mart, if that's where most people you know shop. Or, maybe you could create a wish list on Amazon (maybe they have your cookware?)

Kohl's has such good prices that you could make them your "low" option. You could do Kohl's, BBB, and Pier 1. Just make sure to pick items in a range of prices at each store. You don't have to do all low-priced stuff at one and medium at another, etc. You can choose $20-200 gifts at every store if you want. Guests like to have a variety to pick from.

simplyelise

I've really appreciated amazon registries when shopping for friend's weddings - they're very easy to navigate and the couple has tons of options. I agree with PP about looking to see where the brands you like are located. That's why I ended up with Macy's instead of BBB. But I think Amazon/Walmart, Kohl's, BBB would be great for you guys. You could also probably drop one if you find all the brands you like at two of the stores.

dragonavicious

I didn't think about Amazon. I guess me and my fiance always assumed registering had to be in person. My friend recently got married and she said that Kohl's is really great and reasonable so maybe I will check that out. I assumed Kohl's and BBB had comparable prices. 

@wrigleyville - I'm from the dead center of Michigan. An hour to Lansing, 2 hours to Grand Rapids. 1.5 to Flint 1.5 to Mt. Pleasant. It's really in the middle of nowhere with a few larger towns in between. 

On a side note, when I went to BBB they had this futuristic huge computer thing and they sat us down for about two hours virtually flipping through dinner plates for us to pick out. We ended up settling on this really nice gold rimmed china that was about 200. We thought, " 200 is really decently priced for a good set of china"..... but it turned out it was 200 per plate. The entire package was almost 1000.  We took that off the list. That's an eighth of the cost of our entire wedding. 

wrigleyville

I'd be terrified to eat on that stuff, let alone pick it up and wash it.

[Deleted User]

Kohl's is a great store when it comes to housewares.  I'd go with that, Macy's, and Pier 1, if you have those locally. 

dragonavicious

Okay so we registered for a little bit of stuff at BBB and then most of it is through Kohl's. I was just wondering, for a wedding of about 150 people, how many things should you register for? I have been trying to get a variety of price ranges but a lot are falling in the 35-50 range. Is that reasonable? I honestly haven't been to that many weddings. My friends and my sister's and that's it. 

caitlinmca

@dragonavicious Meijer's isn't just in Michigan, I live in Ohio and we have them here too, they actually have them all over the place. Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. 

Another idea instead of having mid-ranged stores like a low, medium and high store, have different tiers of pricing at the store instead, that way you only need 1 or 2 stores. Our kohl's registry for example has some kitchen gadgets that are like 7.99 both above and below that price or something, then we have kitchen towels and kitchen scrubbers 3 pack from Food network, that are normally $10.99 but are on sale for $5.49. We have some mid-range items like bath towels that are Vera Wang and a $50 shower curtain that is on sale, toothbrush holder, a nice wastebasket, etc. For our high priced item, we have a Oneida 45 piece flatware set that is normally $169.99 and some luggage among others. 

Stores that are most popular seem to be Kohls, Macys, I've heard around here Sur La Table (kitchen store), Williams Sonoma, BBB, Pier 1.....I too come from a small area that you have to travel quite a ways to get to a big city however we do have a Kohl's, Walmart and the basics but no Macy's or BBB. My FI and I live in a big city with everything so we decided to register at Kohl's since we love Kohls, but its convenient for our families but we are going to register for something in our big city as well, guests may have to travel if they want that option or to buy online, but they also have the kohl's registry or cash/check as well, or obviously nothing. Some people will be okay with buying online, some will not, its up to the person. 

[Deleted User]

$35-$50 isn't too expensive.  I'd still try and also register for gifts under this range ($20-$30) just to give your guests options.  BBB seems like it has many items in this category. 

dragonavicious

I just wish I knew exactly what to register for. I have no clue. My sister keeps telling me to just register for anything I think I need while keeping an eye on price to make sure it's varied. And I know that a lot of people won't actually buy off the registry but it still is stressing me out. For some reason its really hard to register for appliances because I keep seeing things and thinking I could find them cheaper somewhere else. I guess it just gives guest an idea of what we need and what our style is. 

Here is another question.... My fiance and I want specific themes for our rooms (not that we wouldn't gladly accept anything someone wants to offer) but should we tell our parents and bridal party what those themes are in case someone asks or is that a weird thing to say? 

caitlinmca

dragonavicious said:

I just wish I knew exactly what to register for. I have no clue. My sister keeps telling me to just register for anything I think I need while keeping an eye on price to make sure it's varied. And I know that a lot of people won't actually buy off the registry but it still is stressing me out. For some reason its really hard to register for appliances because I keep seeing things and thinking I could find them cheaper somewhere else. I guess it just gives guest an idea of what we need and what our style is. 

Here is another question.... My fiance and I want specific themes for our rooms (not that we wouldn't gladly accept anything someone wants to offer) but should we tell our parents and bridal party what those themes are in case someone asks or is that a weird thing to say? 

You never bring up the topic of gifts and registry yourself, however if someone asks you, where you are registered and such, then that is the gateway for you to talk about it.

Edit to add more: I would also see where the things that you register for can give people an idea on your "theme".

Our registry all of our kitchen towels and pots/pans and anything that you could pick a color specific to are green, like the Rachel ray and food network color bright green. My cousin had all red stuff for her kitchen on her registry.

I'm more of rustic but chic I say but I could be wrong. I like new things but I have had my eye set on these old looking candle lanterns at kohls that are wooden. I like silver not gold. By the way you make your guys registry people can see you in it. We have a ton of bar stuff on ours since we want to host a lot of get togethers, I have tons of cookbooks since my work has a pot luck 1-2 times a month.

caitlinmca

dragonavicious said:

I just wish I knew exactly what to register for. I have no clue. My sister keeps telling me to just register for anything I think I need while keeping an eye on price to make sure it's varied. And I know that a lot of people won't actually buy off the registry but it still is stressing me out. For some reason its really hard to register for appliances because I keep seeing things and thinking I could find them cheaper somewhere else. I guess it just gives guest an idea of what we need and what our style is. 

Here is another question.... My fiance and I want specific themes for our rooms (not that we wouldn't gladly accept anything someone wants to offer) but should we tell our parents and bridal party what those themes are in case someone asks or is that a weird thing to say? 

In the end, just be mindful of what you register for. A cousin of mine and my FI sister have had bad experiences with their registries because "they went out and registered for what they wanted, needed, thought they needed...ect." And it came back to bite them. One register at menards for things like a washer and dryer, an off road atv type of vehicle and some other high end stuff and lawn gnomes then went to kohls and registered for underwear. FI sister went to target and registered for a samsung galaxy tab I believe, $180.00 rug plus 4-5 more rugs that were $80.00 and above, tire shine for the car and a few more things. In the end, these 2 registries had barely anything and 1 had nothing bought off it because of what general items and pricing.

In the end, think about what you really need, what you will really use, versus what you want. I'm sure some things on that above this were things that were more personal wants than needs.

JoanE2012

4 registries is too many.  Even 3 begins to looks a little much unless you're having a huge wedding.  I'd try and stick to 2 registries that cover most of what you're looking for.  Bed Bath and Beyond is a good one (they always have coupons and they have a great return policy if you need it).  And then pick one more.  Maybe Macy's?  They're pricing is usually pretty good with sales.

I'd skip Walmart.   I don't think you need a "cheaper" tier.....I think you can find plenty of items at BB&B in a range of prices

jenijoyk

We did four. Whatever. We generally wanted five types of things: nice plates, nice silverware, nice pots and pans, kitchen appliances, and tools. The only casual china we liked was at Williams Sonoma. The only silverware we liked was at Crate & Barrel. We thought the appliances and pots and pans at Williams Sonoma were too expensive, so we registered for those at Macys. And then we registered at Sears for a tool box, a drill, a pivot driver, and a set of fancy wrenches. Overkill? Sure. As long as a couple of them only have a few specific things on them, I wouldn't side eye it. If you had four registries with 100 items on each, then maybe.

huskypuppy14

Why does it matter how many registries people have? I only had 2, but if someone wants 4 who cares. 

I think 4 registries could give people variety.  Just being devil's advocate, but if you have appropriate wedding items on 4 registries, that's better than underwear, and tablets etc on 2 registries.

feignducky

I have four. Initally I had three in mind: Amazon (universal registry, for tools, or random Crate-and-Barrel items), Sur-la-Table (we love affordable, quality kitchen gadgets more than decor), and then Macys (have rewards card, and accesible to non-tech savy). After a bit of research, (and encouragement from a couponing friend), I found a most of my items were carried at Bed Bath and Beyond (BBB), vs Macys (for better prices) so one was created at BBB as well. 

I opened them up early because, I know I've been difficult to find presents for (typically create/substitute, don't like accumulating stuff). A chunk of family will throw an informal shower and/or January birthday party (with family that's all invited to wedding) to finish out christmas leftovers around the holidays. Therefore I opened them, to ease gift finding, just in case. 

Sadly I'll admit I googled too many checklists to come up with smaller items. That has opened up a mini flood gate of wants for expensive upgrades/gadgets, that are not necessary. So now I've created wishlists on Amazon to house/list those wants for later purchasing/dreaming/forgetting, because no one wants to be that generous.

annakay511

Most people I know registered at 2 stores, and that's what we're planning on doing (Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond). I think 3 stores is plenty. Your out of town guests will have plenty of options with your other 2 registries that are online.

dragonavicious

My mother runs an art gallery and she has some elderly people that work there who are all invited to our wedding. At their insistence, because they don't like to drive into the big city anymore, we did get a small registry at Walmart. Now I registered for plates and silverware at every place but now I'm realizing that people wouldn't know cross registry what had been purchased so I might end up with multiple plates and no dishware. Heart attack commence. 

wajohnson09

We registered at Target, Kohls, and Cabela's (laugh if you want , we're outdoorsy:) )

Most of our guests didn't use the registries. We got a lot of cash and a few keepsake things like candle stick holders, picture frames, etc. So we are just using the money to complete our registries- pretty good deal because Target and Kohls give you completion coupons.

If you guys really had your hearts set on the cookware and kitchen stuff from Meijer (sp?) don't register for cookware and other kitchen stuff at a different store. If you get cash from people use that to buy the cookware you really want.
It sounds like this is really stressing you, remember there is no rule saying you have to make a registry!

---ETA----
I'm not 100% on the etiquette on showers and registries (I didn't have one). To me a shower implying cash gifts is tacky so you probably need the registry if you know someone if throwing a shower for you.

JoanE2012

dragonavicious said:

My mother runs an art gallery and she has some elderly people that work there who are all invited to our wedding. At their insistence, because they don't like to drive into the big city anymore, we did get a small registry at Walmart. Now I registered for plates and silverware at every place but now I'm realizing that people wouldn't know cross registry what had been purchased so I might end up with multiple plates and no dishware. Heart attack commence. 

I'd adjust your registries so you don't have duplicates across them. Not only does it inconvenience you having to return, it's also awkward for the gift giver at a shower to see an item they bought opened up first.

sdawsonca

You can try a universal registry. I love myregistry.com. You can add things even from stores that don't have a registry, although if you can shop online it light still be a little difficult as they would have to print out your list and go to the store. Does Miejers at least have a website? I think I registered for items from 5 different stores. They can sort my list by price, store, or my favorites so I think it should be pretty easy for however the guest wants to shop for a gift