- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
… you could learn something from Macy’s.
There I said it. You might be a staple department store in the Midwest and you may have great bargains (we got our groomsmen suits from you, remember?) but you are totally in the doghouse with the Pretzels at the current moment.
WTF is up with how you indicate the gift giver on your packing materials?
Exhibit A
On first glance you would assume that the gift in this box came from Aunt Pretzel. That made sense since another gift came the day before from Aunt Pretzel and she had told you that there were two pieces to the gift. With both gifts accounted for I thought it was safe to write a nice Thank You note where I expounded on how cool the gift was and how I couldn’t wait to use it. This sounds pretty safe until you look more closely at the packing slip.
Exhibit B
What is that fine print buried in the description? The gift is from MIL Pretzel? Well crap. The now-incorrect Thank You note was already in the mail. I searched the box for some sort of gift card and there is none. Really Kohls? This is how you include a gift message? Nice. Needless to say Macy’s has schooled you on gift cards. Take notice of the gift card that was included with a recent gift.
Exhibit C
It’s an actual card, in an actual envelope with a complete message and proper indication of the sender. I’m not giving up on you Kohl’s but cut a bride some slack and make your gift messages easier to read.
Thanks,
The Pretzels
PS: We love the Purdue Insulated Cooler Backpack that caused all these problems. Can’t wait to take it to concerts and sporting events. We’ve since called MIL Pretzel and explained our snafu… new “Thank You” cards are on their way.
PPS: You do get brownie points for having “As Seen On TV” items. I was quite pleased to add these two items to our registry.
Have you had any wedding gift mix ups? How did you handle them?
GO BOILERS! Love the Purdue Insulated Cooler Backpack. =)
Can’t believe they put random guest names on the packaging….Kohl’s definitely needs to get with the program, if they want to gain more business from wedding registries.
I’m really paranoid that I’m going to put the wrong thank you card in the wrong envelope! Beyond that, we had a snafu with Macy’s where my FMIL thought she was sending the gifts to her house, but they were shipped to us instead, and it included all of the pricing information and everything on it. I don’t think she wanted us to see that she got stuff on sale, but good for her!
Macy’s doesn’t do that! They left gift cards out of many of the gifts we received in the mail. I don’t know what Macy’s world you have been living in, but Macy’s was terrible to deal with for our registry.
@amariem25 I can only account for my personal experience. Each and every gift that I have received from our Macy’s registry was accompanied by a gift card. Regarding the our experience with our Macy’s registry we have nothing but praise.
I did a fair amount of registry research and I noted that Macy’s is not consistent in service across the country and that when you have a bad Macys experience you really have a bad experience. We lucked out and have two stores close to us that have wonderful bridal consultants and we have had smooth sailing. I’m sorry your experience fell on the bad side of this equation. 
@Miss Pinot Grigio: BOILER UP! Macys is our primary registry and we actually only registered at Kohls because a fair portion of our family is in Indiana (and they were going to shop for us at Kohls whether we registered there or not). I really prefer the Macys registry and struggled to find a lot of stuff to put on our Kohls registry.
We had a few snafus
1) The UPS truck, now accustomed to bringing BB&B boxes to our doorstep, brought us a box. We opened the box - and none of the contents were from our registry. The packing slip indicated a name we’d never heard of. Finally, we discovered that the box was supposed to be delivered to a neighbor two streets over - we, so accustomed to receiving BB&B boxes, hadn’t even check to see if it was addressed to us.
2) We received a BB&B box with _the_ item we really wanted off our registry (immersion blender). However, we didn’t recognize the names of the people who sent it, and their gift greeting was generic enough to not provide much immediate insights. Much sluthing later and it was discovered that a very kind 1st cousin once removed sent it to us having heard through her mother that we were getting married. Still, for awhile we were worried that someone had purchased us something on accident by selecting the wrong registry list!
3) One of the items we received from BB&B didn’t have a packing slip or gift card in it whatsoever. To this day, we still have no idea who sent us our iron.
Ohh I got Shamwows for a house warming gift a couple of years back and we were NOT “WOW-ed”. I wouldn’t recommend this product because it’s not as absorbent as it was marketed.
I can sympathize with your registry issues. We’ve had major problems with our Target registry (things we register for in store don’t show up, or later disappear from the online registry. It doesn’t delete items we’ve removed online from the version that prints in store, and when items go out of stock it becomes a random code, and you have no idea what it was that is no longer on the registry, hence you can’t reregister for a similar item). We have had to exchange several shower gifts due to their crappiness. However, we did get a nice, normal card with the one gift that was sent in the mail, so I guess that’s a bonus. Shame on Kohls.
P.S. We have the sham wows, and they are terrible. Such a disappointment!
hilarious. We are having some Williams Sonoma woes right now.
We received an item off our registry with nothing in the box except the gift. No invoice or card, nothing. So I have no clue who it came from and hope they don’t hate me for not sending them a thank you note.
we have shamwows…only we call them SCAMwows
they suck
but agreed: love macys, kohls not so much!
There was a thread about this on the boards, but just so everyone knows, you can track who sends you what through your online registry at some stores. It’s called the Purchase Report at Dillards and the Thank You Card Manager at Macys - it’ll display the names of who buys the item. However, for 3 of my items at Dillards, it says the purchaser’s name is not available, so it looks like it isn’t foolproof!
What Kohl’s lacks in labeling it makes up for in sales and coupons, you have to give them that one. 
I also received lovely cards with my wrapped gifts from Macys. I can’t remember if we received cards with gifts that the sender didn’t pay to have wrapped though.
Another frustrating registry/Thank you experience I had was with Target…one of our friends sent three things and two arrived together with no indication a third was coming. So I had the thank you note already sent when the third non-thanked item arrived. Oops.
Quick question from someone who knows EL ZILCHO about wedding etiquette: are we supposed to send thank you cards when we receive a gift? I had assumed that all the thank yous go out after the wedding. Thanks!
Good looking out Pretzel. This is good to know as we enter gift season! Thanks.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Mrs. Pretzel, Seattle Age and Occupation: 32 Learning, Training, and Development Specialist Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28 Manufacturing Engineer Engagement Date: September 2, 2009 Wedding Date: July 2010 Venue: Catholic Church & The Engine Room at Georgetown Studios About Me: I’m just a thirty-something girl who never dreamed of weddings, poofy dresses, or ritzy receptions. I am a rabid knitter, except recently, wedding projects have replaced my yarn and needles. I’ve been fiercely independent since the age of 2 and 30 years later I think my family and friends had given up on me settling down and getting married. Ironically, I had to go all the way to Seattle to find a boy from Purdue. We fell in love over Seattle Beers and cooking together. I love NASCAR, he loves Legos. I can talk like a Muppet and he can fit a whole McDonald’s cheeseburger in his mouth. We are a two reception couple, currently planning a brewery inspired bash.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
Latest Gallery Pics