Thought I would take a moment to post a review of the registries that I used for our wedding I hopes that it will help you. I will preface my reviews by telling you a little bit about what was on our registries. I'm in my 40's, well established and honestly, we didn't need a lot. We approached our registry with the idea of replacing some older items, adding basics you can always use and having a little fun with some items we may not buy for ourselves. I love Fiesta-ware, so I added some new serving pieces and colors.
Macy's - I started my Macy's registry online and went into the store about 6 weeks before the wedding because I couldn't find a few things I wanted to add. I was sorry that I went in so late because of the benefit programs they offer with your Macy's card. You get credit for most of your purchases prior to the wedding and a handful of coupons. I learned about the iPhone app, which is awesome! Instead of using the bar code scanner, you can use your phone to scan items into your registry. Macy's offers many free gifts when you fill specific items on your registry - some item specific, such as filling your china registry, others brand specific. Because we didn't need basics, we didn't really benefit from the free gifts. In the end, the only one we qualified for was the Neopresso gift. My one complaint about Macy's was related to the gifts that were mailed to us. You only received one card, so if items were sent in separate shipments, it took a little digging to figure out who sent it. We also received a gift where the givers name was partially cut off. Out of the three registries we used, I would rank this one #2.
Crate and Barrel - Hands down my favorite registry! Like Macy's, they offered a very easy to use iPhone app that I would say was even a bit better than the Macy's app. Many of the gifts we received via mail and they were carefully packaged and sender was well marked, even on multiple shipments. The Thank You Manger tool was great. The majority of our guests purchased gift from Crate and Barrel, I think in part because we picked fun items that we would not normally purchase for ourselves. This registry was not about being practical, but having fun. I believe Crate and Barrel offered some free gifts like Macy's, but we didn't qualify for anything. The only heads up is to be careful about registering for seasonal items and if you register for these items, keep an eye out for them to be discontinued or sold out.
Pottery Barn - While I don't have anything bad to say about them, they were my number 3 registry choice for 2 key reasons - 1) Lack of technology. 2) They offer very seasonal items. Technology - they did not have an iPhone app like Macy's and Crate and Barrel and their web registry was a bit harder to read, where both Macy's and Crate and Barrel offered summaries at the top of the page (number of gifts available, purchased and other info), you have to dig through the registry to find updates from Pottery Barn. Also, Pottery Barn is a store that is very seasonal and many of the items on our registry were discontinued even before the wedding. We didn't receive much from our Pottery Barn registry, but I think part if the reason is that so many items were discontinued and at last minute, I was removing the summer items and adding fall and I think it was too late. On the plus side, we received some gift cards and were able to purchase some of the summer,items on clearance!
Hope this helps!