There are so many fun and exciting things that happen around your wedding day and one of them is getting to register for gifts! Well, unless you are my husband, then it’s it like pulling teeth to get him to participate! The only thing he enjoyed was seeing how far away he could hold the scanner and still get it to scan. This is the reason we had a $300 camera on our registry!
Since getting to register is the one time you can tell people exactly what you want as a gift, you better do it right! For me this was a challenge though. I didn’t want to seem selfish by registering for only the most expensive and nicest things. However, I did have several people tell me to make sure I registered for things I actually wanted and for the nicer of those things. Example: Not registering for a $50 vacuum when I could register for a nicer $100 vacuum. Someone is bound to buy it or you’ll get gift cards to cover it. Either way you will end up with a nicer one that will hopefully last longer.
Here are my top ten wedding gift registry tips, in no particular order…
1. Take inventory of what you and your fiancee already have. Toss what is broken or really old. Then start creating your registry of the things you will need.
2. Be yourself and register for what you want and would use. If you are not going to use China, don’t register for it.
3. Register for gifts in all price ranges. Not everyone can afford a $75 gift, but some friends might want to go in on a $300 gift. Prices should range from low to high. The average guest spends $25-$50 on a gift.
4. Register for enough gifts for your showers and wedding. Take in account how many showers you will have. Also how many guests will be attending your wedding. Ex: If you plan to have 300 guests aim for around 250 gifts. It seems like a lot but if 10 of them are kitchen utnesils someone might purchase 4 of them at one time.
5. Register for gift cards. Yep, I said it. People want to know it’s okay to purchase you a gift card…so register for it!
6. Register at stores you like and would purchase from. If you don’t shop at Pottery Barn normally and won’t use a gift card for there, don’t register there.
7. Think of where your guests are from. This might seem silly but I grew up in a small town where the closest shopping center was 30 minutes away and over an hour away if you wanted the “big” stores. For us it made sense to go with some place that everyone would be able to get to, like Target.
8. Remember somethings are seasonal. Think of when you are going to register and when the actual wedding is. We were engaged in July, registered shortly after and were married in November. So things we had registered for like a grill, camping equipment, etc, were no longer available because of the seasons changing.
9. Register for your honeymoon. If you have been living on your own for a while and have the things you need or just don’t have a huge registry list then why not register for your honeymoon. My husband and I registered for gifts and our honeymoon. We ended up having half of our honeymoon paid for through gifts from family and friends. It was fun to know that someone paid for us to swim with the dolphins or eat breakfast in bed. There are several websites that help you with this process.
10. HAVE FUN! You are getting married! You are starting your new life together! You are getting to pick out everything you want and putting it on a “wish list” for someone else to buy!
A couple after tips…
When you start getting gifts keep track of any doubles and plan to make a trip to the store to exchange or return them. If you have several showers close together hold off on returning one item here and there, but instead make one trip with several items. Some stores only allow you to return items a certain number of times a year. If you don’t know what you want in exchange then take the return as a gift card!
