{wedding wednesday: the registry}

Here we are again, another Wedding Wednesday! It may sound strange that I chose this topic for this week, but I felt that registries are something that are both misunderstood and misused.

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I’m sure you all know what a wedding registry is. It’s an opportunity for you to choose exactly what types of gifts you receive for your pre-wedding parties and for your wedding itself. I think a lot of us think of a department store when thinking of registering for a wedding, but the truth is that there are a lot of different options available.

Target: I personally registered at Target. It’s one of the most obvious choices, especially if you’d like a lot of variety at a lower price.

Macy’s: Macy’s is another classic choice for a registry. They too have a lot of options, and their stock stays pretty consistent. That means that they don’t typically change out a lot of different items by season or other promotional line. It’s good, because your guests won’t be presented with a lot of items that are no longer available if you register a year or so before the wedding.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond: If you would like a more affordable option for your registry, Bed, Bath, and Beyond is a good one. They have a pretty well-known registry program with quite a few perks, such as easy returns and discounts on unpurchased items from your registry.

Crate and Barrel: I love Crate and Barrel, but if you register here, you may want to do so only a few months before the wedding. They do tend to rotate out their inventory by season, though they do have some standard lines that stay consistent.

A relatively popular option these days is to register for your honeymoon. The Honeymoon and The Big Day are two well known companies that offer honeymoon registry. This means that you can choose your destination, and people can either contribute cash to your honeymoon, or purchase activities and other items that you consume while you’re there.

Believe it or not, you can even register so that guests can contribute to a down payment on a house. This gets a little trickier, since it asks explicitly for money, which is a very touchy and controversial subject when it comes to wedding registries.

REI offers a registry for those couples who prefer the great outdoors rather than the inside of their house.

If material items or cash aren’t your thing, you can register so that guests send money to a charity of your choice in your honor. Changing the Present allows you to choose organizations attached to causes such as cancer research, homelessness, and education.

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Don’t feel bad about what you register for! But at the same time, be reasonable. If you have your heart set on that Kitchenaid mixer or flat screen TV, by all means go for it. But just make sure that you have options for all price points ad shoppers.

]Register for multiple sets. It may sound sensible to just register for one set of sheets, but I guarantee life will be easier if you just register for more than one. Register for as many sets as you need! 12 place settings, 8 towels, lots of wine glasses…but you can also mix and match whatever you’d like! If you get tired of the same color sheets all the time, choose multiple sets in different colors. Or, register for all of your kitchen utensils individually.

As a guest, my biggest tip would be to ship your gift to the couple, rather than bring it to the wedding itself. Doing so really makes everyone’s life easier {including mine…}.

And, of course, have fun! You might be surprised at how much of a good time your fiancé has with that price gun.

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