Wedding Registry: Tips and Tricks

**full disclosure: we love everything that our family and friends bought for us for our wedding, so thank you ALL! I am in no way bashing any gifts we received or having regret over what we registered for. These are just thoughts I had after the fact that I found might be helpful for a newly engaged couple registering for their own wedding.

Creating a wedding registry is just as fun as it sounds. Picking your favorite stores, frolicking through aisles with scanning guns, and building a wishlist of items for your wedding guests to buy you. It’s like you’re a kid in a candy store, except way better because you’re actually an engaged adult in Target. Or Bed Bath and Beyond. Maybe Crate & Barrel. All three stores are honestly better than any candy store I’ve ever been to.

When Ben and I began the adventure that was registering for our wedding, I think we really underestimated it. The process is all too easy. “Oh I love this” *scan*, “We NEED this” *scan*, “We already have one of these, but now we definitely need two more bc getting married” *scan, scan, scan*.

I’ll be real with you all. It’s not like Ben and I NEEDED a bluetooth scale, but it was just so pretty. It promised us a healthier lifestyle because it synced with everything. And we were getting married after all, so didn’t we need the best scale there was on aisle D64 of Target to accompany us on our road to happy, healthy, married living? Engaged Benla said OBVIOUSLY yes. We couldn’t scan fast enough. Married Benla says that $60 could have been a cash or check at the wedding to use towards life things – like groceries.

I’m here today with a quick list of tips that you should keep in mind while creating your wedding registry. Hindsight is truly 20/20. While Ben and I love everything that we received from our wedding guests, these are just a few things I wish I had kept in mind when we got a little “scan-happy”:

Know what you want/need beforehand. It’s helpful to know what you actually want and/or need BEFORE you see everything that you think you want/need. What’s something you’ll actually use? Nice glasses? Pots and pans? Those are items you’ll use everyday. Register for those. Make yourself a list and try your best to stick to it. Just be careful and…

Know what you’ve already registered for. By the time that Ben and I made it to Crate & Barrel, we already had a pretty full registry list at Target. We ended up registering for a lot of plateware at both locations. We’re so excited to have a thriving bowl collection, but I wish we were a little more careful with our cabinet real estate. Our kitchen is not that big y’all – and we’re only currently a family of two. Eight bowls (while fantastic!) isn’t all that necessary for us just yet. On the bright side, we don’t have to do the dishes as often.

Don’t be scared to put a big ticket item on your registry, but try not to make all of your items big ticket items. You’d be surprised at how validated a big ticket item becomes in your guest’s eyes because “it’s your wedding day”. Usually friends and family will collaborate to split the cost on a pricey item for you. It’s a win/win because you’re getting an expensive item that you want, and they’re paying the same amount they would have spent on a lower priced item anyway. Also keep in mind that if your big ticket item isn’t purchased off of your registry, you can use your wedding money to buy it yourself and *BONUS* at a discounted price. A lot of stores are known to give you a percentage off of items left on your wedding registry after your big day of love passes.

Setup a HoneyFund too. A HoneyFund is an awesome alternative to your guests physically handing you cash or a check at your wedding. The HoneyFund page is super easy to setup! Remember to include the link to it on your wedding website, and your invites so guests know where to access it. They’ll be able to visit the url and from there they can send you money. A lot of engaged couples use HoneyFund for their honeymoon travel, excursions, etc. We setup ours so that people could put money towards a downpayment on our first home. *Be aware that when using this website there is a small fee charged to your guest and it’s taken out of what they gift you.

Think big picture when it comes to the items you want. While it’s fun to get wildly colored kitchen appliances, bathroom necessities, etc. you have to ask yourself this question: will this item grow with us? A good example of this is when I wanted to buy a turquoise blue KitchenAid Mixer for our kitchen. My aunt Jeannette taught me how important it is to invest in appliances that will grow with an ever-changing kitchen scheme. As tempting as the pretty pastel ones were, I’m so glad we went with a white KitchenAid Mixer. It’ll continue to match every kitchen that we have in our future homes for years to come.

I hope these tips are helpful in that they keep you efficient when registering for your big day. Wedding planning and registering for the event are fun times that shouldn’t be compromised, so enjoy it! Even if you end up with tons of plateware and you have a tiny kitchen, just store some of it under your bed like we did. One day some day it’ll get used – trust me.