Weddingbee Blog

Registering is pretty exhausting. When my sister got married three years ago, she and her now-husband had a meltdown over flatware, so I was recruited to be the fill-in registry partner. Then, it was a lot of fun! We went all over to build the perfect registry, and I felt (almost) invigorated by the process.

Now that it’s my turn, it feels so different. Not nearly as glamourous as building your “wishlist” ought to be. It brings out the need for the very best kind of communication between you and your FI, sometimes requiring a game plan before you even step into the store, and patience and endurance like we’ve never had to muster for shopping! Word to the wise: If you can avoid malls, do. And avoid the weekend as well. After an unpleasant experience at Williams-Sonoma because of the two previously-mentioned “lessons,” we just went to a self-standing C&B at 10:30 on a Thursday morning, and it worked wonderfully! Very few people in the store, sales associates that weren’t too busy to answer our questions, and the ability to stuff our coats in the corner and walk through the store to our hearts’ content. But then we ran into the “hunger wall.” Every engaged couple needs sustenance to make it through this process! We should have eaten brunch before we went. : ) But having a shorter time also meant that we were able to stay focused and avoid getting grouchy with each other.

I also love your china pattern. Gorgeous!

I am glad that you said what I have been thinking; my FI and I have such different taste (I like all things traditional and he hearts contemporary style.), so creating a wish list that “married” both of our styles was time consuming and occasionally frustrating. In the end, I am sure that it was a great lesson on compromise for us both.We also came up with 1 final compromise; I did the registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond (He got to double check it and have the final say.) and he did our registry at REI (I had the same veto power.)

I would definitely second the idea of adding/modifying the registry online in order to have the most “fun” with it and signing up for special registry parties for engaged couples like they have at Crate and Barrel. I added the link here:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/aboutus/grEvents.aspx

Ah…so Macy’s did it to another town, too? They took over Kaufmanns in the Pittsburgh area and most importantly the huge 13 story one right in the heart of downtown. It was one of the last true department stores (the place had 3 salons , 3 resturaunts, and the most legendary bakery just to name a few). I’m registered there, but not because I want to be. They really are the only game in town. And I too have found the whole process to be stressful. The have asked 3 different salespeople about the difference between 18/10 and 18/8 flatware and gotten 3 completely different responses. They are always busy, even at off times, like Wednesday evening. It’s no wonder the first time I went in with my scanner, I left with only 40 items scanned…most of which were the fine china and casual china that I had picked out before I even got there. Oy.

I picked Crate and Barrel because the store makes me happy. For the fancier stuff, I too chose Macy’s because with guests from both three of the four corners of the US — well it was the only department store I could trust was everywhere. Service was ok–scanner itself is frustrating because you have no way to recall what was scanned. But selection was very strong. I found a china pattern there that I love that I have not found elsewhere. I too was disappointed with vases and crystal. I plan on registering from Tiffany’s for that kind of stuff. I know–Tiffany’s sounds ridiculous, but compared to Waterford, it’s less than half the price!!