More thoughts on registering

There are so many do’s and don’ts of wedding registries!  I feel like our registry is a bit unconventional compared to those of my friends and family who got married  few years ago.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few raised eyebrows at our registry.  As I mentioned before, we chose to register at Crate & Barrel because we love the furniture from there.  There are also tons of kitchen gadgets that I love to drool over as well.

Registries have evolved from containing all the items that you would need to set up your first house over the years.  As people are choosing to get married later those needs change and you can register for camping gear or touristy things to do on your honeymoon – a pretty cool idea!

I’ve read threads on boards entitled, “Would you be offended if you saw this on a registry?”  I hope people won’t be offended with ours, and truthfully we don’t imagine that people would buy us a chair or a table.  If we wind up purchasing our big ticket items off of our registry after the wedding that is okay with us. 

Here are the top pieces of advice I gathered from wedding etiquette sites and it really helped to solidify our choices:

• Don’t feel uncomfortable about opening a registry. They’re an established tradition and a convenience guests can use or not. Registries show consideration for guests’ time and budget, and help them avoid the stress of choosing an appropriate gift. (Source)
• Do request non-traditional items if they reflect you as a couple. (Source)
• You should be registering for gifts you'll both enjoy in your future life together. To decide on what you need, take inventory of the things you already have, talk about the style of home you'd both like. (Source)

And absolutely not to be forgotten.

• Don’t reference your registry info on any stationery, such as your save the date or invitation. (Source)
• And of course it goes without saying, thank you notes need to be sent promptly!

How did you decide what to register for?

Fun with the scanning gun

Future Hubs and I are both in our thirties.  We’ve already managed to acquire a nice set of dishes, cutlery, a great set of pots and pans.  We own most of the things that couples ask for on a traditional registry.  In fact, we have two Kitchen Aid stand mixers already!

Back in the fall we were perusing Crate & Barrel, admiring all of the nice furniture.  A very helpful sales associate let us know that we could include furniture on a gift registry with Crate & Barrel.  So, why not register for furniture – the things we would need and like – rather than registering for things we don’t need or not registering at all?  The completion program sealed the deal. 

We decided to go to one of the wedding registry parties this past weekend.  They are typically held on Sunday mornings from 9 – 11 am, just prior to the store opening.  We got there right at 9 am and we were welcomed, given a scanner gun and shown how to use it, and our coats were whisked off to the back for us while we browsed the store.

We made a beeline to the drink table…orange juice, cranberry juice and mimosas!The drinks were conveniently located next to the waffles!  We grabbed a couple of hot of the iron waffles with syrup and sliced strawberries.After having a few bites it was time to get to work!  We had talked quite a bit beforehand about what we wanted to register for so we had a plan.  We found the first item on our wish list and put the scan gun to work!We continued to browse the store.  There were other food stations set up, one serving paninis, another serving smoothies.Once we had scanned in everything on our wish list we took another look around at the couches and tested out some of our favourites.  We had a great chance to talk to the staff about options, prices and they answered all of our questions.  The staff were helpful but not pushy.  Just before 11 am we uploaded our items from our scanning gun, got our registry set up and we were done!  We also got a thank you gift for registering – a glass vase.All in all it was a great experience!

How did you decide where to register at?