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At times our registry experience was magical, at other times it was not. I had visions of us happily flitting about the store, my wooly counterpart delighted to be holding the clicker, and after a full day of registering, we would eat junk food in the mall food court with smiles on our faces. Seriously. Where do I come up with this crap?
Our real experience went something like this:
After a long morning at my outdoor graduation, we went to the Greenbriar Mall Macy’s. We waited for 15 minutes for a representative to show up in the china department. It took about 45 minutes to set up the registry. This also included the time to open a Macy’s credit card account so we could take advantage of the Star Rewards system. We didn’t think too hard about this and learned the hard way:
Do not open a credit card (even at a dept. store!) when your loan request for a mortgage is being processed. We finally got the clicker and walked aimlessly around because we had no idea what to register for when we didn’t know where we would be living. After registering for a roaster and some mixing bowls (and wasting another 30 minutes), we gladly handed the clicker back and vowed never to come to that Macy’s again. It’s small and definitely not worth registering at because their selection is quite limited.
*both images sourced from Macys.com
I have been using the online system exclusively since then. There is a big drawback however. I have repeatedly run into the problem of the registry site, which is run through Wedding Channel, not matching the Macy’s website. I’ll find something I like, I’ll try to register for it, and it will not be available to assign to my registry. Leave it to me to find the 10 things that you can’t register for, but it’s definitely annoying.
The reason I keep the registry open is twofold. The first part is that it’s the only brick and mortar store where we registered. The second is that when items are purchased online, Macy’s makes a donation to the charity of our choice (Special Olympics, in our case).
Have you been happy with your registries? Did you have a smooth experience?
Ogod. I had a similar experience with our Macys. we didnt’ try to go to the store. But when i set up our registry online, they told me we had to meet with a wedding consultant in the store. Only problem? There isn’t one at our local store. We’d have to go 90 minutes to fargo to see her. I didn’t. She called me. I said I wasn’t gonna drive down there to register for misc bowls and a mixer. She sent me a letter. I finally got to register. And then after the wedding, I Got a letter stating that the only way to get our 10% off remaining items was - you guessed it - to meet with the lady again. Oh and not to mention that Wedding Channel sells your information to anyone and everyone. Imagine my surprise when our registry information started showing up in Ads on my friends’ facebook pages. Ugh. Obviously, I can write a novel about this experience. 
Wow! I am SO glad I didn’t go to Macy’s now! I really thought about it, but I decided to stick to Crate & Barrel and Target, and had great experiences with both. Setting up the registry was quick and easy, and the FI enjoyed “shooting” things. Both of their registry websites are SO east to manage, too. Sorry you had a bad experience!
I’m glad I decided to not go with Macy’s too. It sounds like too much of a headache for you & Mrs. Mary Jane!
I registered at Macy’s and Crate and Barrel and I have to say I had wonderful experience. I think the difference is i went to the “registry events” listed on their websites. At Macy’s they gave you information about the layout of the store, all of the products they had, the differences between in store and online, and other helpful suggestions BEFORE they give you the gun. Plus its after store hours so it totally mimimized the amount of people in the building.
I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed the Crate and Barrel event. In fact I posted about it here:
http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/crate-and-barrel
I know that some of these events are only offered in major cities ( and i was lucky to live in one) but it was totally worth it!
Good luck.
I felt pressured to register at Macy’s, since it’s everywhere and “cheaper” than Crate and Barrel. We registered in Florida when we were visiting my fiance’s grandfather, even though we live in Texas. This made us stuck to doing everything through the Florida store and the wedding consultant there was a total space cadet. She kept misspelling my name, got our wedding date wrong multiple times and just about offended me when she kept going on about how I’m not going to change my name after the wedding.
We wandered through and registered for things out of obligation, not because we particularly liked the items. In the end, I realized most of the basics - pots, pans, knives, etc - were the same brands at Crate and Barrel. Never mind that the plates, glasses, flatware we liked was at C&B and cheaper than Macy’s. I closed out the Macy’s registry and have stuck with C&B. Uggggh.
We registered at Macy’s and had a great experience, BUT we went to the epic-huge-gigantic flagship in NYC. If I had gone to the one closer to me, the selection would have been way limited. We haven’t gotten married or gotten any gifts yet, so I can’t say there won’t be snags down the line!
Our macy’s experience was pretty good, but we did decline to open the card at that time. I didn’t want to deal with that, just scan things!
I know exactly what you mean about the items that can’t be added to the registry online. I had the same frustrating experience yesterday morning!
I had a horrible experience registering with Macy’s (in Richmond, VA)! It took 30 minutes for someone to help us begin our registry and then we hardly registered for anything (like you said, very limited) and then it took another 45 minutes for someone to finalize our registry! We never went back!
Hmmm I wonder what would happen if you already HAVE a Macy’s card? I have a Macy’s Black card that I love more than anything.
I’m sorry to hear your experience was so awful! I don’t think we’ll register there; you’re not the only one I’ve heard have a terrible time.
@Mrs. Mary Jane: Holy moly! I hope our friends don’t think I’m trying to get presents out of them on facebook!!!! What a nightmare.
I had a horrible experience at Macy’s too. We went to the registry event where they had representatives from major brands like Keurig, Dyson, Cuisinart, etc.. Those reps followed us around and tried to pressure us into registering for their items. Additionally, the items to choose from were minimal. Thanks Mrs. Mary Jane for letting me in on the whole ad thing on Facebook- that is so horribly not classy!! I too, had wanted to register for Le Creuset. Well, they did not have items in store and then when I went online to add them to our registry, it would not let me - argh! The save the dates are out with registry info otherwise I would delete mine as well and just stick with Crate and Barrel - which was a GREAT experience. Oh well…
@KMSull: I have a macy’s card too and sadly that didn’t improve my experience.
@Scusie: Imagine our surprise when an ex (who is not a fb-friend) found out we were getting hitched - through an ad on facebook!
SO glad we didn’t go that route. We’re using Amazon. Hopefully all goes well!
We initially registered at Macy’s. However, we visited Bed Bath and Beyond the next day and realized it had both the fine China and the household items that we wanted. We have tried repeatedly to remove ourselves from the Macy’s registry, and have not been successful. We just got a Macy’s gift from someone (who was not invited to the wedding) because they googled us, and found the Macy’s registry. Frustrating.
Ugh, that’s so frustrating. We plan to register at Macy’s, Pottery Barn, and Williams Sonoma. Hopefully our experience registering doesn’t failboat.
Oh wow… We’re planning on registering Macy’s but Iwill be sure to look out for any red flags mentioned above.
@Miss Lamb- oh nos about opening a credit account while in the process of a loan application! This is the main reason Mr Knit and I got engaged in September vs July. Our house took 80 days to close this summer and the one piece of info out mortgage guy told us was no financing anything, opening new credit, or making large purchases until the house closes. I hope Macy’s didn’t screw anything up too bad for y’all.
@Mrs. Mary Jane: Oh ugh, I can’t imagine having my registry be an ad. That’s horrid.
We did Bed Bath and Beyond as our one brick and mortar store and have been really pleased so far! We also went to a local kitchen supply store which didn’t go well at all. Our third registry is myregistry.com, which I think is a great idea but I’m a little worried people won’t realize they have the click the “I bought this” box. Either way it’s great to have Myregistry because we can have whatever we want on there.
we registered with kohl’s and have been having a great experience =D
Same experience here with macys. Adding items online sucked,the store in my town is too small and doesn’t have a consultant, and the big store 1.5 hours away always wants me to drive up there! They also weren’t giving me my rewards. People bought me expensive items online from macys but they didn’t get taken off my registry so I couldn’t get the 5 percent back. That was 5 more annoying phone calls!
I registered online at Macy’s, from England, and didn’t have any problems at all during any part of the process. The one thing I don’t like is that they don’t allow people to take advantage of free shipping coupon codes, when they’re purchasing from a registry. Why not?
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Mrs. Lamb, Norfolk Age and Occupation: 25, Homeland Security Consultant Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Graduate Student Engagement Date: January 2009 Wedding Date: January 2010 Venue: Trinity Presbyterian Church/Harrison Opera House About Me: I’m a Homeland Security Consultant with a tendency towards pulling office pranks, taking lunch breaks, and drinking Wawa shakes. I’m also an English major with a serious obsession with alliteration and rhymes. While I’m not keeping America safe, I’m training for half marathons and the Escape from Alcatraz swim. Or moving for the third time this year. Or baking. Or wedding crafting. Or crying about wedding planning. All the while, I’m getting myself into Lucille Ball-esque scrapes and making Jim Carey-esque faces. Our big fat Czech/Baptist/Jewish/Italian wedding is a combination of vintage eclectic, DIY, and little spoonful of sugar from our Event Coordinator. It’s going to be a Norfolk flavored wedding with the verve of an only-daughter-blow-out bash!
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