I'm already starting to feel anxious about registering as I've heard that the process is very stressful and overwhelming! Already FI and I went to a few shops that we're considering though we'll prob go with BBB and Macy's. Any tips for making the experience less overwhelming or stressful?
Re: tips for registering?
My Bio
If you want sales people to be hands-off, come in looking prepared. I had my own legal pad and pen, and my lawyer's attitude on (at Macy's, I had my lawyer's suit on, too). We got minimal sales pressure.
I wish I'd had a prepared answer for the sales pressure we did get at Sur la Table. Maybe, "We live a simple life" or "We plan to move frequently" would have been better than what I ended up muttering when they insisted a third garlic press would make a perfect shower gift.
Right now Macy's is hosting nationwide "Sip & Scans" where you can RSVP for a store event (which is free BTW), and they have drawings for prizes, DJ, and mocktails and catered hors d'oeuvres. I went to one with my fiance' and it was alot of fun. It's always better when you can feed your man to distract him while he's scanning. I think you'd have to call a store in your area to find one. Totally worth it to go. Also, if you are wondering what you may need for registering, if you have a good idea in your head as to what you need, go with it, or if you will feel stressed, go through your house and see what you may want to update, like if between you and your fiance' you have 4 different kinds of flatware, but not a full matching set, you will want to add it to your registry. Same goes for casual dinnerware, or serving pieces. You don't think you need it until you REALLY need it with friends coming over for a dinner. A registry is a dream list, so don't be shy about putting down extravagent items on your registry. If it's something you really would like to have, you never know who may suprise you. Sometimes items in a higher price point are going be more quality and enduring than items in a lower price point. Enduring items you won't have to worry about replacing in the future. If you have a family member that received their cookware for the wedding, and that was their favorite gift, they will be more apt to give that to loved ones.
Something that helped us a lot was figuring out where each of us really wanted to upgrade and working on those places more than others. Our list was really skewed toward kitchen stuff, as we wanted to get better quality and more consistently similar stuff there. I also wanted to have some nicer table linens, so we spent a little more time there. We didn't have much in the line of decorations or bedroom stuff.
We also added a few higher-end items to our registries soley for the purpose of getting the completion discount, but we made sure we ran the price gauntlet from individual napkin rings to (shocking!) the stand mixer.
Have fun with the process! Good luck!