So, you’re newly engaged and you’re making plans to get “say I do” to your future spouse. Regardless of the online wedding application you’re using to help manage your wedding to-do’s, you’ve more than likely seen a checkbox with some variation of the following words listed next to it: create wedding registry.
Wedding registries are really fun because you’re essentially just choosing what you and your future spouse would need or want to help start your life together. For some people it’s a pressure cooker from Target and for others, it’s two boxes of pizza. Whatever it may be, I think one of my favorite parts of planning our wedding was deciding what goes into our wedding registry.
While I am happy with what we selected, in hindsight I realized there were some mistakes I made while choosing things for my wedding registry. In lieu of it being wedding season, the culmination of the “ring by spring” games, allow me to share some of my wedding registry mistakes so that you don’t have to make them, ya know?
[bctt tweet=”3 Wedding Registry Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” username=”chickenandbliss”]
1. We had registries in over 6 stores: When we got to the point in our engagement where we began registering for items we needed for our place, I got a little “clicker” happy with the stores. We registered for Target, Anthropologie, Bed Bath and Beyond, The Container Store, Crate and Barrel, and at least two other stores simply because I really liked their stuff. Yes, there were items we needed and wanted on those sites, but it made things very confusing and messy when it came time to make our registry live. Our guests would go on the site and end up seeing over 100 of registered items, which is crazy to expect anyone to go through all of those items to choose the one they wanted to purchase.
I also ended up registering similar items on different websites by accident because it was almost impossible to keep track of everything we registered for since we had registries on so many sites. I distinctly remember during my bridal shower, receiving a gift from one of my bridesmaids that I loved, but forgot that I even registered for. There were so many things on our registry that later I ended up going back and deleting certain stores from our registry and just sticking to three.
How to avoid it?
Instead of registering for several sites, choose a good 3 that you absolutely LOVE and would have the majority of what you need to begin your life together.
2. We ended up getting two slow cookers and two toasters:
When I moved into my first apartment by myself, one of the things my mother got me as a “apartment-warming” gift was a slow cooker. It was the culmination of all of my Pinterest-recipe dreams and I was so excited to finally have one of my own to use.
During our engagement, I was convinced that I really wanted a rice cooker. I loved the set-it-and-forget-it convenience of it and how you could also steam vegetables in it. So naturally, we registered for it. Fast forward to about two months into our marriage, my husband and I finally got around to using the rice cooker we received from a family member. As I’m going through the instructions, I realized that it was also a slow cooker.
“Hey babe” I called out from the kitchen, my eyes still scanning the piece of paper and hoping that I was reading it wrong. “I think the rice cooker can also be used as a slow cooker.”
“Really?”
Sure enough, the rice cooker was not only something you could use to cook rice and steam vegetables, but you could also use it as a slow cooker for your pulled-chicken recipes. Needless to say, this was something that I realized I should have looked into it, but we ended up keeping both anyway, reconciling with the fact that we could use it for bulk recipes or if we wanted to cook rice alongside a stew.
Regarding the toasters, my mom brought me a toaster as a bridal shower gift from a place that wasn’t on my registry list and I COMPLETELY forgot to remove the one I registered for in my list. My mom ended up taking the one she purchased for us back and getting us something else for the wedding.
How to avoid it?
Do an inventory of what you and your future spouse currently have. Out of that inventory, decide what you can keep, what you no longer want, and what you no longer can use. Throw out what you can no longer use, sell what works but you no longer want, and hold onto what you would like to keep. Keep this list with you when you’re registering for items for your registry, so you don’t accidentally buy two of one thing.
Also, if someone buys you something that’s similar to something you registered for on your list, remove it, immediately. Don’t sit on it like I did, otherwise you might end up with two of something you only need one of. Periodically do a “registry cleaning” to ensure this doesn’t occur.
[bctt tweet=”Make sure your periodically clean your registry lists!” username=”chickenandbliss”]
3. We didn’t have enough room for the things we registered for:
As previously mentioned in other posts, our apartment is a little small for the two of us. I am so thankful to be in it and I love our cozy, little space, but we realized after moving in that we didn’t have enough storage space for all of the gifts we got for our wedding. My mother is graciously allowing us to keep some of our gifts in my old bedroom at their house until we eventually move into a bigger space and until we need them.
How to avoid this?
Consider and measure the size of your space before registering items. If you’re registering for a lot of plates, but you don’t have a whole lot of cabinet space for it, either consider getting rid of the ones you have or refraining from registering for any new ones.
Well, that’s it our my registry fails. Keep in mind that once you choose your items they aren’t set in stone and you’re totally free to remove them or even add new registered items as you please. To save you some time, confusion, and duplicate items, just make sure you don’t make the same mistakes my husband and I did.
[bctt tweet=”Do an inventory of all of the items you have, before registering items on your registry.” username=”chickenandbliss”]
What are some of your tips for registering for items for a wedding, graduation, or baby registry? Have you ever created a registry? If so, what was your experience?
