Weddingbee Blog

Sometimes people love registering (yay gifts!), sometimes people hate it (boo decor arguments). For Mr. Guinea Pig and me, it was sort of a neutral experience. We both feel weird making a list of things we want people to get us… but if people are going to give us stuff anyway, we’d rather be able to make suggestions for what we’d like. And because we use it for everything else in our life, our main registry is at Amazon.com (although I have yet to explore the Universal Registry Button)! We registered at Target and Crate & Barrel for some brick & mortar options as well. But, to offset our creepy feelings of registering for gifts, we are also suggesting on our wedding website that in lieu of gifts, people can make donations to two charities that have a lot of meaning to us: the Maryland SPCA, and Playworks. I have no idea how many people will take advantage of that option, but just knowing it’s there put Mr. Guinea Pig and me more at ease.

So, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Mr. GP and I sat down with our computers and added stuff to our 3 registries. Independently. And we never set foot in a store. Is that weird?

Mr. GP and I are almost exclusively online shoppers. Neither of us really likes to shop, so if we can avoid actually going into a store, we most certainly will (my only exception: crafts/fabric/yarn stores). I think part of it is that we live together - so we already have plates, glasses, and a blender/toaster/mixer/etc. But we just started adding stuff as we thought of it, and would occasionally check what the other person had added. Generally I added kitchen stuff, and Mr. GP added ’house’ stuff (a wheelbarrow, Flip video camera, DVD player, and the like). I’ll admit, it is exciting to think about having a nice set of pots and pans, since ours are currently a mishmash of old IKEA and Target stuff!

Similarly to many consumers these days, I base a lot of my choices on customer reviews of products. So when I was deciding what to add to our registry, I pulled reviews from as many places as possible. My favorites are, of course, Amazon’s reviews themselves, Cooks Illustrated for anything kitchen-related, Consumer Reports for stuff in general, and CNET for electronic goodies. Not to mention just Googling the item + review! Using a combination of those sites really helped us decide on items.

Here are a few of the things I’m most excited about on our registries:

(Square Floor Lamp with Paper Shade, from Target)

We have this small poorly lit space on one side of our couch that’s too small for an end table, and also needs a lamp - this is the perfect solution. Man, we sure are practical.

(Victorinox 8-piece Knife Block, on Amazon)

I heard it’s bad luck to gift knives as gifts, but we have 2 knives in our kitchen, both dull. I can’t wait for a set of sharp knives (anyone have any better recommendations on a knife set?)! Who cares about superstition? If people wish us harm, I’m pretty sure they can do worse than give us knives. After all, then we can defend ourselves!

(OXO 10-piece Pop Container Set, Crate&Barrel)

Like Miss Ramen, I’m super excited about organizing the mess we’ve got going on in our kitchen cabinets/pantry right now.

(Silpat Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat, on Amazon)

I call myself a serious baker and yet I don’t have one of these! Oh, the horror!

Overall, we registered for about 95 items, but we’re inviting about 200 people to the wedding. And, we really really struggled to come up with ideas on stuff to register. One place I saw suggested you register for 3 gifts/guest to give people options and account for showers/parties! That is incomprehensible to me. What if you just don’t want that much stuff?!

How was the registry process for you? Would you ’register’ at charities? What are you most excited about on your registry? Anyone else struggling to register for ’enough’ stuff?