Mrs. Lime, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 25, Design
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT
Engagement Date: July 7, 2006
Wedding Date: August 5, 2007
Venue: An historic estate
About Me: Between work and wedding planning, I try to squeeze in napping, drawing, random spurts of craftiness, tennis, and eating lots of Sprinkles cupcakes, dark chocolate, and noodles of all kinds. Mr. Lime and I have spent our adult lives growing up together, and we're very excited to finally be getting married!
‘Different’ Registries
April 4th, 2007 @ 12:19 pm by Mrs. Lime
ifferent* in a good way, of course. Someone else has already done the research on this topic and summed it up so well that I think it is worthy of a full copy and paste rather than just linkage. After reading the blog entry, I came home to the newest issue of InStyle Weddings, which coincidentally contains an article called “10 Surprising Registry Ideas.” I’ve listed their suggestions below the blog entry as well, but for further explanation and suggestions, pick up the most recent copy (if it’s on newsstands… not sure if it is, yet). It’s actually a pretty helpful article with tips on each suggested registry. I hope this helps those of you out there who *really* don’t need any more items from a more traditional registry.
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pots and Pans
Posted Monday, April 02, 2007 2:05 PM
Having lived together for about five years before getting married, the hubs and I had little to no need for the usual wedding presents, i.e., cookware, bakeware, kitchen appliances, fine china, linens, etc.
[aside]
To tell you the truth, even if we hadn’t lived together for so long, we wouldn’t really need these things either, as neither of us gets home early enough to cook. We should just convert our kitchen to something more useful. Like a closet for all my shoes and the hubs’ golf clubs and accessories.
[/aside]
Lucky for us, Taiwanese peeps give money stuffed in red envelopes to newlyweds. Cash money, yo! Woot woot! Major props to our non-Asian friends who embraced the Taiwanese tradition!
Of course, we needed to register for *something* for our other non-Asian friends who may not have felt comfortable giving cash. We ended up registering for luggage and a few appliances at Macy’s, appliances and random things at Bed Bath & Beyond (best return policy!), and electronics and makeup (yes, makeup!) at Amazon.com. Everybody knows about Macy’s and BB&B, so I won’t use this blog to address them or the other usual suspects like Bloomingdale’s, Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, and Pottery Barn.
Now for a little explanation regarding my makeup registry and other places you can register if a new tea kettle is, well, not your cup of tea….
Registering at Amazon.com rocks! Two of our favorite wedding gifts — a digital camera and an underwater cover for that camera — were from Amazon. They came in very handy during our honeymoon! We also got great iPod speakers. In my book (and probably in most grooms’ books), electronics beat housewares any day.
Amazon is not only excellent for its non-traditional offerings, spanning from electronics to apparel, it is extremely user-friendly. You can tag each of your registry items with levels of desiredness (”nice to have,” “like to have,” “love to have”) and further personalize each requested item with any other notes.
Oh, and about the makeup….Since I didn’t want to receive skanky lingerie or kitchen trinkets at my shower, my wonderful bridal party and friends encouraged me to put stuff I liked on our Amazon registry. I added some Nars, Philosophy, Chanel, and Shiseido products, as well as some books, and I tagged them “for bridal shower.” Pretty freakin’ awesome.
Finally, Amazon is great at keeping track who bought what. The list includes each gift-giver’s address, which makes writing thank-you cards a breeze. Be kind to your hubby (or your own geeky self), and register for cool gadgets (and makeup!) on Amazon.
Flooring and faucets and fixtures, oh my! If you and your hubby have a hankering for home improvement, these are the registries for you. Lowe’s and The Home Depot have policies that allow you to return things to any store, accompanied by a receipt or invoice, and provided that the items are in new condition.
Are you marrying a mountain man? Or are you a camping chick? Then look no further! Your dream registry is here! The hubby really wanted to register at REI, but I talked him out of it because I hate dirt and sweating, and we would never actually use any of the equipment bought for us. (Don’t feel too bad for the hubby, though. He already has a room full of top-of-the-line camping and hiking gear…which gathers more dust every day.) An REI registry would be great for the active couple who camps, hikes, climbs, bikes, skis, snowboards, kayaks….
A friend of mine who got married in 2005 registered at Morrell Wine, which was particularly fitting, as her nuptials took place at a vineyard! You just pick all the wines you like, and people buy them for you! Neato! Morrell is based in New York City, but it ships nationwide (and even internationally — for a hefty fee), except for the sad states of Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Utah, which have laws restricting or prohibiting the shipment of wine. Poo on them!
Lastly, many couples are doing honeymoon registries now. Since my pal Nannersp has blogged on the topic, I’ll just link you to her thoughts.
Haappy registering!
Posted by WeezerMonkey
Filed under: Planning
From InStyle Weddings, Spring 2007, “10 Surprising Registry Ideas.”
[1] Home Improvement:
Lowe’s
Farm and Fleet (huh?)
[2] Charity:
Justgive
I Do Foundation
[3] Home Furnishings:
Target
Unica Home
[4] Artwork:
Velocity
Moss
Mixed Greens
[5] Large Appliances:
Sears
Home Click
[6] Travel:
The Big Day
Artisans of Leisure
Starwood Hotels
[7] Wine & Gourmet Food
Morrell
Cooking.com
Chocolate of the Month Club
[8] Coffee Table Books:
Taschen
Dashwood Books
Amazon
[9] Financial Assistance:
Giftsofstock.com
Registerstock.com
[10] Indoor Fun & Games:
Frontgate
FAO Schwarz
The Conran Shop
*Today’s letter, D, brought to you by some baseball forum, via googleimages, of course.
11 Responses to “‘Different’ Registries”
I like the idea of a non-traditional registry. I opted for a traditional registry despite having almost everything I need after living together w/ my FI for 5 years. There were some things I still “needed”. lol
We’re passing along three options for everyone:
1. We know the wedding is expensive to get to (flight, rental car, and hotel will be close to $1000 for a couple), so we don’t expect gifts. BUT…
2. If you really want to give a gift, please make a donation to the American Cancer Society (tons of cancer in my family) or the American Diabetes Association (groom is Type I); think of it as contributing to a long and healthy marriage. OR…
3. If you just cannot accept this breach of tradition (FMIL, for one, is aghast at options 1 and 2), we have two tiny, tiny registries. One reason for that is to let the uber-traditionalists get their registry groove on; the other reason is to make it clear how little stuff we really need. I’m hoping the reaction will be “Man, all they want is a good garlic press and two Silpat sheets? I guess they really meant it about the charities!”
Wow Sarah, that is great. When it comes to my registry, it will be “traditional”, I really don’t like the idea of telling people what to buy me :), so better to give them what they’d expect to find.
We registered at AMazon because you can register for books, board games, yard games (bocce!), and all kinds of not-reading type of stuff. 
I love this post! My FI and I have been living together for 5 years. We do not need anything more and have opted for a charity (Brain Tumour Foundation b/c my cousin died of a brain tumour). But my FMIL (who isn’t putting a penny towards the wedding fyi) is throwing an absolute fit over it. I have given in to her over sooooooo much (ie. MY DRESS, my flowers, venue, food….. oh my) and we HAD a good relationship before the wedding planning. But I do not want to give in at all on this one. It means too much to me. Is this charity registry really that horrible/insulting??? Please just give me your honest opinion! Thanks!
If anyone is interested in an eco-friendly gift registry checkout http://www.gaiam.com. Gaiam has alot of nice products, all eco-friendly. If you are going with the traditional or not so traditional, I also highly recommend the “I do” Foundation (link given in the main post). It’s free to sign-up with them and if you have your gift registry with any of the participating stores, including any of the weddingchannel.com registries, the stores will donate a percentage of any purchase made on your registry to the charity of your choice!
[…] ‘Different’ Registries […]
Also, another nice option is to make a Kaboodle list. You can add ANYTHING to it that you find on the internet, and you can organize multiple lists, etc. There is a place for notes and tags.
If you were going to charity route, you could add that to your list as well. So easy, and so handy!
Esp. nice if you have someone…difficult to shop for, like my SO, who cannot think of anything he would be interested in until six months after his birthday. This way there is an actual list that I can access anytime I want to get him a gift. 
jessiegirl, I don’t think the charity registry is insulting at all. It’s very thoughtful of you. I think you should get a say in something since your FMIL got her way for practically everything else. If I were you, I’d put my foot down and explain to her that the charity registry means a lot to you because of your cousin’s death…and it would be a great way to honor him.
Another website that helps you set up a registry for charity is Firstgiving.com. Firstgiving is a website that helps anyone create a free personalized fundraising page for any non-profit registered with GuideStar (a national registry of non-profits).
Opting out of gifts and in for charity is a beautiful and meaningful way to pass on your new marital bliss. There is nothing more glorious (absolutely NOT insulting) than having guests give to charity in honor of your new marriage! It is definitely true that many newlyweds don’t need more stuff and would rather see money spent on things that they feel passionately about! Jessesgirl, you rock!
What about registering for furniture, so people can give GC to a chosen furniture store? My fiance and I have a lot of basics but we don’t have a bedroom set or living room set (just odds and ends I collected after college). We would LOVE to furnish our home with wedding presents. Should we just rely on the cash we receive to do this? Thanks!
