Wedding registries have been a well know tradition since before the birth of the internet. However, with the wonders of the internet, your options really are endless! This can be both a blessing and a curse; no limit to what you can ask for also means no line to draw in the sand and stop yourself from going totally overboard on random faff. Here are our top 10 tips to optimize your wedding registry!
1/ Make It A Team Effort
Work with your partner to make a solid list of thing you both want. Similarly to a wedding, it can be very easy to make decisions based on your personal taste without conferring first with your future spouse and so it's important to communicate with each other exactly what you want and why you want it. You may find significant overlap in your reasons for wanting two different things and knowing their reasonings will help you both come to a compromise.
2/ Upgrade What You Already Have
This is the perfect opportunity to upgrade all of your raggedy old towels, bedding and kitchenware for higher quality, full sets of matching items. The best part is that nobody will bat an eyelid and you and your spouse will sleep in luxury in the coming months after the wedding!
3/ Be Realistic
It might feel very tempting to go absolutely nuts and register for enough kitchenware to make Martha Stewart drool, but you have to be slightly realistic about this! After all, it's all going to be taking up space in your house for the next few years. If all else fails, talk to married couples around you and ask for their advice on what they wish they had and hadn't asked for; nobody knows better than those who have been there and done that!
4/ Do Your Research
Don't just spring for the most expensive stuff you can find (high price doesn't always mean high quality!), it only takes a little research here and there to get a good idea of what brands sell the quality you like and where to get the best version and deal (Amazon offers insurance for electronics you buy from them at a discounted rate). If you're really stuck then talk to salespeople in various shops about their products and if they would recommend them to you.
5/ Get The Timing Right
You ideally want to have your registry done in the first stages of wedding planning, this gives your guests time to start saving or allocating a certain amount of money for the gifts you've asked for. Also if you're announcing your engagement around Christmas time I would suggest waiting till the new year before putting out your registry as people may feel expected to spend money they don't have.
6/ Don't Fill It With Crazy Expensive Things
If you're making a registry then it's fair to assume that you would like people to give you and your partner wedding gifts. If you fill it completely with very expensive luxury items then it's also fair to assume you won't be getting many, your immediate family may be inclined to spend big money on gifts but the random friends, cousins and coworkers might feel as comfortable doing the same. Put a few high priced items in your registry (e.g. a new mattress or some fancy furniture) on the off chance that somebody is feeling generous, but also be reasonable.
7/ Over-Register
It's a good idea to give your guests options when it comes to a registry, because of this it's recommended to over register for things you want. Also, if a guest can't attend the wedding they may still want to send you a congratulatory gift and so your headcount might be a lower number than the gifts you'll receive.
8/ Consider Every Item
It might be tempting to slap anything that's ever caught your fancy on the registry but it's important to consider the use of each gift and if it's actually going to be useful for you! You can always make a register and remove things from it before you give your family and friends access to it, why not take advantage of that?
9/ Have Fun With it
I've told you over and over to be realistic about what you register for, that doesn't, however, mean that you can't pick some fun things. Why don't you ask for a year of Netflix or a gym membership for you and your partner? China and sheets build up quickly, think about what you would really want and have a little fun with what you ask for. You're more likely to use it than most of your other registry gifts anyway!
10/ Create a "Hold" Registry
A hold registry sends you a notification each time you receive a gift but doesn't ship the items until you are ready. This lets you have full control over what you receive and when. With a hold registry, you can always return items from your registry if you later decide against them, each gift is essentially just an amount of store credit that has been reserved for a specific item. With a hold registry, you can decide to exchange certain gifts before they've ever been sent to you, this makes the number of packages arriving at your house infinitely easier to manage and you won't be inundated with things you have to return after sorting.
- Grainne