Where Are you Going to Register?
One area of planning that can easily become a point of contention if y’all aren’t on the same page is the registry, especially if you have different tastes. My husband is BIG on doing research before he purchases anything. His best man even joked about it in his toast. “Jacob is the kind of guy who will research tweezers before settling on a pair”. (Which actually happened). I, on the other hand, kind of tend to pick things by what I think looks good.
We spent quite a while planning where to register. We went back and forth and compared the benefits of each one. Hopefully, my stress can help you out now! Here are my top picks and tid bits of advice.
1. MyRegistry.com
Keep in mind that you are most likely going to be registering at more that one place, so don’t start squabbling over where just yet! We had a total of 4 registries that we shared on invitations. My favorite of which was Myregistry.com. It’s all online, so it is super easy to edit as necessary, and it allows you to add items from ANY site. If you love one special set of canisters from William Sonoma, but you don’t want to set up your whole registry there, simply add the item to myregistry.com and your guests will be able to see it and purchase it from there. You can also sync your registries from other stores so that guests can view everything in one spot. It really is amazing not being constrained by the products that your primary registry carries. You can completely customize your list to let your personalities really shine through.
2. Amazon
At this point, almost everyone uses Amazon. It makes shipping and wrapping super convenient for guests, and the variety is certainly a plus! You can compare your options, read the reviews, and pick whatever works best. An added bonus is that Amazon offers a completion discount of 20% (10% for non-prime members)!!! Anything that you have added to your registry and ships through Amazon will get a price cut after the wedding. When you still have tons of stuff you want, but didn’t get to unwrap, this is a huge help. It literally saved us hundreds!
3. Zola
This site really does have tons of interesting and stylish items, but what I loved was the cash funds they offer. Some people just want to give you money instead of a gift. I actually set up my registry with Zola to only include the cash fund and then saved the fund to myregistry.com instead of setting up a whole registry with them. They have the lowest fees I found on cash funds, and they give an option for the giver to pay it if they want. You can set up funds for whatever you want; honeymoon, house, experiences. Once people contribute to your fund, it doesn’t matter what fund they have given to, you just transfer the money to your own bank account and spend how you see fit. Definitely the way to go for funds on your registry. Zola also allows you to set up group gifting options for big ticket items that you probably won’t get from just one person. Sign up with this zola promo and get a $50 credit!
Zola Sign-Up Credit
4. Pick a Common Brick & Mortar Store
Even with the ease of buying gifts online and convenience of myregistry.com, there are still people that are going to want to walk into a store and physically pick out the items you are going to get. For this reason, try to pick at least one store that has locations almost everywhere, like Target or Bed Bath & Beyond. Even with all of our options, I think that we received more gifts off of our Bed Bath & Beyond registry than others. My guess is because it is so accessible, and you always have a 20% off coupon. Also, keep in mind that many of these chains hold in-store registry events where you may be eligible for extra discounts and door prizes.
5. Pick a high-end or specialty store, or a local favorite
When setting up the registry, you have to keep in mind that your guests are going to vary wildly in how much they intend to spend on your gift. Some people might just give you a card, and some are going to want to go big! Picking one more registry like Crate & Barrel or Sur la Table may offer more stylish options than other places and it is just plain fun to go look at items that you may not normally splurge on for yourselves. Many of these stores also offer registry events. We even won a super fancy Simple Human trashcan from Crate & Barrel!
Wherever you register, you will probably want to re-visit your lists a couple times before the wedding and update your lists, so make sure that is going to be convenient for you. Don’t drive 2 hours out of your way to register at a boutique that you can’t update online. Trust me, especially when you get close to the big day, you are going to want to stay on top of your items. Make sure the place is local, or you have online access.
Regardless of where you register, keep in mind that these people are buying you gifts and enthusiastically celebrating your commitment to each other. Give them shopping options to make it easy on them. You’re going to get some things that you don’t ask for, you are going to just have to buy some of your favorite items for yourself, and you may realize that some of the things you registered for you don’t really need. Remember, while the gifts are great, they aren’t what’s important.
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