Wedding Blog
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?
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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?
Honestly I think it depends on what Macy’s you go to. All large flagship stores will have a dedicated bridal registry department. Most of the smaller stores do not. Some have great consultants and some have some not so great consultants. I hate the fact that just because one person had a bad experience at one Macy’s they assume all Macy’s are bad. Can you tell I used to work at Macy’s? In the bridal department? I can tell you so many stories of brides who come in steaming and yelling at us over something we didn’t do, something we have no control over and they expect us to fix it right then and there. I did my best to make the bride happy but some that came in just could not be consoled no matter how hard I tried. I am so tired of people bashing Macy’s on this site. Yes they have their issues and yes I agree their customer service in most stores suck but if you were to come in my store when I worked there I would have listened to you and made sure you had a wonderful experience and wouldn’t pressure you to do anything you didn’t want to do. As far as the websites go, I know that was an issue they were working on when I left and the reason you can’t always register for items found on the Macy’s website is because the item is probably not going to be there in a month or two or it is considered a seasonal item.
Ok so before anyone else comments I want to apologize if my comment was rude or snarky. I am just very passionate that people need to have their own experiences and not base their opinion of something off of someone elses experience.
We’re only registered at Amazon.com and use their universal registry, so we have some items from Macy’s on there, but mostly Amazon items and ThinkGeek. 
Sorry to hear about your poor experience.
Dang. I was thisclose to registering at Macy’s. Glad I didn’t! We chose Target and Crate and Barrel.
We registered at Macy’s, mostly because they had a couple of things that we really wanted (our towels and the Martha Stewart line). We were already registered at both BBB and Target, so we were just adding a few things to the Macy’s registry. The consultant was nice enough, but she kept acting disappointed/insulted that we weren’t registering for more. After our initial appointment, I used the website to add/change our registry instead of going into the store. I see the consultant when I’m shopping occasionally and I always feel like she’s giving me the evil eye.
I hated Macy’s registry! I got rid of ours early and I’ve heard from several other brides who did the same. It’s a shame since they’re such a hallmark store….
i thought about registering at macys but after reading LOTS of negative reviews covering pretty much every aspect of the registry process, i decided strongly against it.
we wound up registering at michael c fina - NYC brides, i HIGHLY reccomend this. the consultants are incredibly helpful, sit with you for 2+ hours walking you almost literally by the hand through the store to pick your items (there isn’t even a gun! the consultant does everything for you.) and follow up is prompt afterwards.
the brands are competitively priced with other places, and they have a wide selection just like macys or bloomingdales.
the only drawback (we thought this was a positive, however) is that they hold ALL of your items until after the wedding (unless the purchaser specifically asks otherwise), at which time you can decided what items you want to keep and what you want to exchange for other things. then they send it all in one fell swoop. this is GREAT for tiny-apartment dwellers! oh and the completion discount is 15%, not 10% like most places!
anyhoo, just wanted to share that. NYC brides, definitely reccomend it.
@sweetkate: You sound like a conscientious consultant and super helpful! I think it would have gone a lot smoother if we were working with you. I think you’re right - we were at a smaller store with not a lot of selection. But I think some of the problems outside of the consultant (like wedding channel selling your information) are larger issues that do affect all of the brides registering there. Every bride should definitely decide for herself 
I really think this is one of those things where it depends on which Macy’s you go to. I live about 5 minutes from a fairly large Macy’s home store with a dedicated bridal registry section and it has a huuuuge selection. I went to one of their registry events and everyone was extremely nice and there was absolutely no pressure. They gave me a consultant so that if I ever want to come back to the store and work on my registry more, I can just make an appt with the consultant.
That said, I prefer online registries and I think Macy’s online registry is pretty darn decent. I’ve ordered many things through Macys online before and have had few problems. They have a huge selection and a lot of sales, so I am glad I registered there!
I went to a “wedding event.” When I RSVP’d, they told me to go online to set up an account. So, I did. Then when I got there, they couldn’t find it. Never mind the fact that if you went to a kiosk, you could find my registry listing with no items. Then when I tried to access it on line to fix the towel selections, I couldn’t access anything except the registry (with no items) that the “wedding consultant” told me did not exist. I finally had to call customer service. They did get it straight.
Also, never mind the fact when I asked about specific items (towels), the sales people couldn’t help me. And there were actually extra people for the event!!! Fortunately, there were very few couples.
The only good thing: I scored a couple of wine glasses and they had nice stuffed figs, mini quiches and a few dessert items with wine.
Ok I may have a solution to the Facebook problem. If Facebook Beacon is the culprit you can turn it off. On your facebook account go to Settings >> Privacy >> Applications >> Settings. Half way down the page is a check box for Beacon Websites: Do not allow Beacon websites to post stories to my feed. Check this. A good rule of thumb would be to inquire if your information will be sold and ask for the opportunity to opt out- if there are any check here to receive special offers via e-mail don’t check it.
I’ve always been torn on the concept of registries, but a lot of family prefer it. It’s good that you considered a physical store for those that are leery of internet purchasing. But…I just hope that the pieces you have/will receive makes you happy.
That’s horrible! I need to register at Macy’s b/c my FI lives in the US (and I’ll be moving there) but I’ll have to go the online route as well…
@Mrs.MJ: They insisted you meet with a consultant? Ugh… I hope I don’t run into that problem- especially since immigration prevents me from stepping foot on US soil until my visa is approved lol.
We registered at Macy’s for 6 items: our china and related pieces (saucers for mugs and desert plates) and a flatware set. Our home is fully furnished and there isn’t much we need. We are also registered at Target and Amazon for the rest of the items.
I have several locations close to me that are huge stores and carry everything. I filled our the registry online and they made me choose a preferred location. I chose the one closest to my new home. The bridal consultant sent me an email to welcome me. Then I got correspondence explaining the reward system, blah blah blah. She sent me a second email scolding me for only registering for 6 items. She seriously used the words “randomly selected” to describe my registry. How is picking items from the same china set random??? She even questioned the amount of dessert plates we registered for!? Then she went on to say that she didn’t think the mugs would sit right on the saucers we picked. Really? They’re from the same set! Not to mention that she kept insisting for me to visit with her at the store.
Needless to say, I gave her a piece of my mind and made sure to say to her that we would make it a point to visit the store when we find the time to stroll through items we already considered but don’t need.
In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”
I had no problem registering at Macys. I already had a Macy’s card and so did my FI. It may also be that I am in NYC where Macys Herald Square is sooo gigantic. In fact, I felt overwhelmed with all the stuff because I couldnt make a decision. I didnt know that there were so many types of china!! I had to go home and narrow the down the selection because I picked two of everything. I just looked up reviews to see which ones I liked better.
We tried to go to a Macy’s only to find that it was one without a registry department. But then we did everything online and never had to meet with a bridal consultant in a store. Hmm.
@sweetkate: I generally really like Macy’s… and aside from them wanting me to drive to another city (When I do have a perfectly nice local macy’s) to register, I had no problems with the store. Their partnership with WeddingChannel, I have a problem with. I know several other stores are partnered with wedding channel too, yet for some reason I never had problems dealing with them. Something’s just screwy there.
I had a SLEW of issues with Macy’s. I registered both in person at the Herald Square store in NYC and supplemented the registry online. We have had SO MANY items backordered - gifts bought in April were shipped in October. One example was a Waterford butter dish - I tried to go to the store to pick up one in the store and they refused to let me fulfill this gift and said I had to wait until the online store had one to send.
There is a very large disconnect between the brick & mortar store Macy’s and the online Macys. Store Macys seemed unable to fix any of the issues I had with online Macys.
Also, we had a number of international guests who tried to buy presents from BBB and Macys online that had problems because they didn’t accept international credit cards online, only over the phone. This was frustrating as a bride, to have all these international guests who were flying to America for our wedding call me and complain that our registry was hard to use - awkward!
That’s really frustrating — sorry you had a tough time registering. We’re having issues, too, so you’re definitely not alone!
Thanks everyone for such helpful advice! I was wondering if it was worth it to go to the big Macy’s registering events, and it certainly seems like that’s the way to go. We’re lucky b/c my fiance is still in NYC and works right on 31st, blocks away from Macy’s and I’m in Boston, so we have the opportunity to hit up the big stores, and the fiance is a Macy’s whore LOL. It seems like most stores do not make this type of thing particularly convenient though. How frustrating!
Hmm I am not sure what to think after reading all the comments about Macy’s. We were planning to register at Target, BBB, and Macy’s but after reading about all of the bad experiences I am not so sure. I can however add that my brother registered at Macy’s and you could never access their registry online. I think I was able to reach it once. Has anyone registered at Elder Beerman?? If so how was your experience?
We didn’t have a bad experience at Macy’s- it was actually pretty good, even for our guests to order online. We registered there and Target, since we don’t have any major stores in our town.
we had a terrible experience at Macy’s three times in a row in two different states!
I wrote a letter to their bridal department and received a small gift card because of my complaint, but we definitely don’t recommend Macy’s! Limited selection and poor customer service. (at least for the registry)
I too have mixed feelings about my Macy’s registry. I started mine online and then went to the store for the “touchy-feely” stuff (towels, bedsheets and glasses). Before I went to the store, I received the requisite email welcoming me. Shortly thereafter, I rec’d an email from “my consultant” telling me that several of my items were discontinued. Fine. It happens, but she neglected to tell me WHICH items were no longer in stock. After registering for 150+ items, I couldn’t possibly look @ the list and figure that info out. So I immediately replied (we’re talking in 10 minutes) asking which items were discontinued. I received no reply. 3 weeks later I tried again. It took another week to get a reply. Turns out it was 1 item, and it wasn’t discontinued, just not available online. Anyway, what really got me PO’d is they harp on this whole star rewards business. Everytime I talk to someone, it’s star rewards this, star rewards that… It seems like a great program - I’m all for cash back. One problem - they don’t extend the benefits of this program to their employees. FI works for corporate and thus, we’re not allowed to take advantage of the rewards, not even on MY personal/non-employee affiliated Macy’s card. We also can’t take advantage of his employee discount with any gift cards we receive. It’s incredibly annoying that they give their own employees the shaft like that. I’ve been seriously contemplating removing our registry in protest…
Love everything we recieved off our Macys registry, however, we did have to return quite a few things because a) we didn’t actually register for them and b) they arrived chipped/unglazed. Returning/exchanging was a PAINFUL process. Everything I wanted to exchange was unavailable and had to be shipped from another store or re-ordered online. Long story short, I have a $300 Macy’s credit card bill and $300 worth of Macy’s gift cards that I cannot use to pay off my bill - very frustrating.
I have always had a pleasant shopping eperience at MACY’S. I am fifty four years old and NEVER, I MEAN NEAVER has MACY’S let
me down. One of the few remaining stores in America where shopper satisfaction is guaranteed. I just love ‘em andGod bless ‘em!
DB - I agree that shopping at Macy’s as an every day consumer is awesome!
BUT - I had really rough experiences as a bride. They wouldn’t let me use my completion discount on top of existing sale prices, we couldn’t use our merchandise credits AND coupons… they were over the top with the red tape. It was unfortunate, because I loved their variety. However, i would not recommend them to any of my friends for future registries!
Im glad to know about your experience we are looking at where to register now, so thank you!
I’m nervous about registering! People always seem to have trouble with them.
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Miss 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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