What's too many places to register?

AprilDBradshaw

My fiance and I have registered at 4 places: Target, Kohls, Kmart, and Amazon.com. Is this over the top? I know the typical number is 1-3 locations, but it was tough finding what we would want from certain locations. If I really wanted to put effort into it, I suppose I could cancel the Kohls or the Kmart registry and find those items (or something similar) on Amazon. Should I go through the trouble? We haven't announced our registries yet at all so no one would be the wiser. I just don't want to look tacky (but then again, what's tacky to one person may not be to another).
Also, how many items should we register for? We are not quite sure how many guests we will have. We are trying to figure out how (or who) to invite some and just send announcements to others beacuse can't afford a large wedding (hoping for no more than 50 guests). So far the number of items on our registeries total about 60-70 items. I've tried to make the prices range from a-little-expensive to not-very-expensive. I just don't want anyone to be talking behind our backs about how tacky we are!

Sincerely,
April

bananapudding91

I think it gives your guests more options to choose within their price range and what stores are in their area. So, not a bad idea from this perspective. Not tacky at all, simply more flexible.

And, as far as how many, take a look at your price ranges. If you tend to have more high ticket items, try to add a few more less expensive things for the not-so-well-off in your circle, and vise-versa. Just my thoughts.

quotequeen

Yes, 4 is a lot.  I would suggest getting rid of one of them.  70 items is a fine amount for 50 guests.

We haven't announced our registries yet at all so no one would be the wiser.

You don't ever announce your registries, you wait until people ask.

lkm2006

I think 4 if perfectly fine. 

I was going to orginally register for 4 places total (we ended up doing 3) but it was going to be perfect because we were covering several different parts in town that would allow our guests to shop easier!

Hellokatie0517

I have 4 small registries set up...we're fairly established in our house, so it's kinda tough for us to register for the typical registry items at 2 stores.  I, too, questioned whether 4 was ridiculous.

kristinanddan

You could easily get rid of the Target or Kmart registry - I think 4 is one too many, especially when 3 of the stores are so similar and the 4th is Amazon. Amazon certainly has everything.

AprilDBradshaw

Thanks for the tips. I probably will try to narrow it down more. I just didn't want to put almost everything on Amazon (which is already a majority portion of the registry) in case people didn't like to order stuff online. And I had trouble finding a lot of things on Amazon (as crazy as that sounds because I certainly thought it had everything too).
And I know not to "announce" the stupid registries--I might be asking for advice, but I'm not THAT tactless.

noodle_oo

I think 4 is too many.  Three is fine, but more than that starts to look gift grabby.

mags0607

Yeah, I think 4 is one too many. Plus, you will probably find that one registry gets "bought out" more than another, having more choices at less places will help your guests get you something you really want instead of them getting frustrated when one registry has nothing left, or nothing in their price range.

mags0607

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_whats-many-places-register?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:75d9f7b5-25da-4475-a86a-2e2ae6d194d3Post:169615d6-a47d-4b49-940c-daeb19874edc">Re: What's too many places to register?</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks for the tips. I probably will try to narrow it down more. I just didn't want to put almost everything on Amazon (which is already a majority portion of the registry) in case people didn't like to order stuff online. And I had trouble finding a lot of things on Amazon (as crazy as that sounds because I certainly thought it had everything too). <strong>And I know not to "announce" the stupid registries--I might be asking for advice, but I'm not THAT tactless.</strong>
Posted by AprilDBradshaw[/QUOTE]
You would be surprised at how many people ARE that tactless. We get asked all the time if its okay to include registry info on the invitation.

kristinanddan

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_whats-many-places-register?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:75d9f7b5-25da-4475-a86a-2e2ae6d194d3Post:169615d6-a47d-4b49-940c-daeb19874edc">Re: What's too many places to register?</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks for the tips. I probably will try to narrow it down more. I just didn't want to put almost everything on Amazon (which is already a majority portion of the registry) in case people didn't like to order stuff online. And I had trouble finding a lot of things on Amazon (as crazy as that sounds because I certainly thought it had everything too). <strong>And I know not to "announce" the stupid registries--I might be asking for advice, but I'm not THAT tactless.</strong>
Posted by AprilDBradshaw[/QUOTE]

Not to be snarky, but your OP said:
[QUOTE] We haven't announced our registries yet at all so no one would be the wiser. Posted by AprilDBradshaw[/QUOTE]

So someone was just trying to help.

Sapphire1002

I think 4 is a bit much... I'd try to narrow down to 3.

AprilDBradshaw

I didn't mean the "announce" to be taken literally, just that we've spoken to no one about where we are registered yet. We are still only just getting started. Forgive that stupid mistake.
I hardly see a difference between being registered at 4 locations and considered "gift grabby" but being registered at 3 places with the same exact amount of gifts and not being "gift grabby". I thought more locations would be more options for gift-givers as well (like if one registry is "bought out" more than the others, or items in a particular price range is running low). It's not like anyone's forcing them to visit each location, is it? The precise reason we have 4 and not 3 is because we could not find the items on the 4th list at any of the other 3 locations (that's including Amazon.com). We ceratinly wouldn't go higher than 4, of course. We're still debating. This all seems such a trifle part of the wedding to be worried about, compared to everything else.

antoandkelli

Well, we just couldn't go get half of BBB so that people could have stuff to get us that we wouldn't need, so we used myregistry.com. We only have about 30-40 things there (from 14 different stores), but we really need/want them, so whatever comes will be more than appreciated.

And, my friend organized the "non-bridal shower", and she DID announce the registry on the evite. We had just told who asked us. And we weren't asked about announcing it on the efite....she asked where we registered, and then she did the rest herself! Would that be considered completely tactless? OMG, I hope not!

Well, too late....

HKD817

FI and I only registered to one place. Bloomingdale's. However our registry is pretty naked. We have alot of our neccessities already. We didnt want to start adding things to the registry just to fill it up.

laurprez

Right now, I have four.  Macy's for my fine china, Target & BBB for more casual items and Sears because the FI asked to register for "man" things like tools, etc.

However, I am thinking of getting rid of either Target or BBB because I think four is one too many.

Also regarding number of gifts you're registered for, I have always seen that you should register for close to double the amount of gifts compared to the number of people on your guest list.  So for 50 guests, maybe register for 80-90 items.

LLz925

I am registered at 4 now too and I too thought it was maybe too much. However I did have that same problem about not finding what I wanted at one store and found it at another.
My registrey does cover everything from the less expensive (Target) to mid-range/high (Macy's). My sister works at Pottery Barn and highly suggested I register there for more high-end items (they also had the bath towels that I wanted). Another familr member works at Sears so we are registered there for more "man" stuff for my fiance.

The other thing is that some people live out of state and my not have one store near them and may not want to purchase online and ship items, so multiple registeries make sense for this issue too.

AprilDBradshaw

Ok I combined the Kohl's and Kmart into one registry at MyRegistry.com. Excellent! So I have Amazon.com, MyRegistry.com, and Target. Two online and one  store that could be either online or offline. I hope that's easy enough for our guests.