Wedding registries and recent happenings

Photo by legos+dream on Flickr
Well, you know its getting serious when you spend almost 4 hours at Bed Bath and Beyond and actually have fun. Yes, Andrea and I were registering today for our wedding gifts that we will hopefully receive from our generous guests this coming June.

For those of you who haven't heard... yes, I'm getting married on June 27 to my best friend. I talked a little bit more about her in my previous post "Ahh... Engagement, Wedding Planning and Getting Serious". Anyways we had a blast today registering and I think we picked out some cool stuff.

For those of you who haven't quite gotten to this step yet, never fear, The Horse is here to help ya out with some advice for how and when to register.

• Most wedding planners and websites say to register a good 4-6 months in advance. This gives you a chance to change and move things around or delete items that were "impulse registers".
• Stick with one store for the majority of your registry and a maximum of three stores or you run the risk of spreading yourself thin.
• Your main store should have a wide variety of home goods. Some great stores to register at are places like: Bed Bath and Beyond, Pottery Barn, Macy's, Target, and Wal-Mart.
• Many couples are also choosing to register at internet storefronts. Sites like Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay have either actual online registries or shared wish lists.
• Try an online registry compiler like MyRegistry.com.
• Be sure to check your store's return policy. Many, like BBB, have a very liberal return policy. They will even give a cash rebate for anything that you decide you don't want after the wedding! (very nice!)
  

The store employee will usually tell you to register for more than you need and try to push the more expensive china on you. These days many couples on a budget are not registering for expensive china that they will probably never use, and in its place, registering for more useful items like small electronics, or high end pot and pan sets from brands like All-Clad or Calphalon (we chose the latter).

But, after all is said and done, don't get caught up in the technicalities of it all. This is the time for you guys to have a fun day with each other getting to know each other's tastes and likes. Make it an afternoon when you don't have anything else planned... oh, EAT BEFORE YOU START!