Make wedding gift buying and receiving easy as 1, 2, 3 with our advice for setting up your registry. You'll be amazed by your guests' generosity, but let's put them on the right track by creating a user-friendly gift registry.
Wedding Gift Registry 101:
1. Set up a gift registry, at multiple stores, within a month of your engagement. With love in the air, your peeps may want to start buying gifts sooner than you expect.
2. Register for gifts at all price points. Friends and family may be buying shower and wedding gifts so give them lots of options. Group gifts are on-trend so don’t be afraid to put a few big-ticket items on there as well. For low priced items, it's best to register for everyday items that can always be useful such as this bamboo kitchen utensil set.
3. Also, register for items you know you’ll use over “traditional” registry items. If you’re not a fine china kind of couple, register instead for something more useful in your daily life, like these Moscow Mule Metal Cups, easy to hold and inexpensive to replace. And what a fun way to keep track of your favorite drinks with this His and Her's Beer Caps and Wine Corks Shadow Box. Get what matches your lifestyle now and what you think you’ll need ten years from now; not some preconceived notion of what you are “supposed” to register for.
4. Maintain your registry. If the stores at which you register offer the option of receiving notifications when gifts are purchased, take it. This will make it much easier to know if you need to register for more items along the way. It’s a good idea to register for more items than number of guests to help compensate for engagement party and bridal shower gifts. If you end up with more than you need of a particular item, you can usually return or exchange the items for something you really need. (Check with each store about their return/exchange policy when registering)
5. Express gratitude as you go! Sending thank-you cards as you receive gifts not only makes it easier on you in the end, it also alleviates any guessing from guests if their gift was received or not. (Pssst… opening gifts as you receive them will also help you keep your registry updated.) Not everyone purchases from the stores you’ve registered at.
Twelve months to go! Be sure you’ve discussed whose paying for your wedding costs and use our tips on saving money along the way. Let's have some fun and talk wedding dresses and throwing an engagement party. Also, stay super organized by taking our crash course in Pinterest 101 for brides!
Follow our Month-by-Month Wedding Planning Guide for more tips for every phase of your planning process. Feeling crafty? We’ve handpicked our favorite DIY wedding projects too!
Article written by: Melissa Collier
