Holidays {registry inspiration}

Last week was Thanksgiving and, after registering a couple months ago, I could not stop looking at all the things around the kitchen on Turkey Day and making mental notes of what I needed to add to my registry. It's one thing walking around Williams-Sonoma with a scanning gun and it's quite another to actually be cooking a feast and realize all the utensils, tools, and serving dishes that go into making it! Luckily we were at my fiance's family's place and they had all the necessities.

Sources: left, right

So, I took the holiday as a chance to take a little inventory of the things on our registry. Some items got the boot. I'm continuing to take mental notes as the holidays get into full swing...roaster for 25 lb. bird? Check.

Sources: left, right

At the moment I have two stores going - I chose Macy's, because they have everything and I know people will be able to go in-person if they prefer that, and Williams-Sonoma, because sometimes I like less options to choose from (and also because I love everything in that store). Potato masher? Check.

MyRegistry.com is a great option for couples that don't want to commit to a few stores. The world is at your fingertips (or mouse in this case). It aggregates any item you want into a central registry. You can even scan a barcode with your MyRegistry phone app and add it that way. Genius! If you'd like to do a non-profit registry or feature one that's close to your heart, you can do that too.

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I have to admit, when you are in the throngs of saving for a wedding, registering feels like the shopping you don't get to do!

Sources: left, right

I love knowing that the things I'm picking out will end up being the gravy boats, casserole dishes, and platters that my groom, and our family, use on holidays for years to come. It's about more than getting presents - it's about making a house a home :)

Source: my phone + Instagram (movember anyone?)

Do you have any registry favorites?

Wedding China {Yay or Nay}

This past week has been a busy and productive one! I've been checking things off my list. Here's what I've done:

Finally found a caterer who is listening to what we want and working with us to make it happen! Fingers crossed that this one works out. Future post to come.

Got in contact with a friend-of-a-friend designer for our wedding invites. She seems awesome but working on the details of style and printing technique, which both effect cost.

Set up multiple appointments to try on wedding dresses in the coming weeks. October=operation wedding dress.

Built our wedding website! We are going to use it to get the word out about accommodations since our destination is a small town and already booking up for next July. You may remember my post about wedding websites, here, where I talked about going social. I ended up going with Weduary and am really happy with it so far!

Solidified our condo rentals for the wedding party.

Started our wedding registry. This brings me to the topic of today's post - wedding china.

I'm sure many of you have thought the same thing - do I really need china? Does the tradition of creating a family heirloom outweigh the fact that I won't be hosting Thanksgiving until I have a house or apartment big enough for a table with a leaf?

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As of now, I'm undecided on whether china will be a part of our registry. But, these pictures are making me see the appeal! They also remind me of my grandma's collection of teacups with saucers. She has all different styles and gets a new one every couple years. I would be so excited to have them one day and it's not because she got them for her wedding, it's because they remind me of her. So, I don't think you have to have wedding china to build something to pass down to future generations, but it would be fun to have a fancy set for holidays and dinner parties.

Did you, or are you going to, register for china? How did you decide whether or not to do it?

Adventures With a Registry Gun

After reading blog posts and registering and looking through magazine articles that said I "had to register" for this or that, I really wasn't all that excited about setting up our registries. Between the horror stories and the long list of things that I should have but will have no need for, I was ready to just include our Paypal info and call it a day. (Is that tacky? I assume you're nodding your head yes.) The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why it has to be a negative experience? So I decided it wasn't going to be. Easier said than done, right?

Source: Crate and Barrel

So the Mister and I had a chat about what stores or sites we wanted to use for our registries and then headed over to our first destination which was Kohl's. I shop at Kohl's regularly and they are really great about returns and I get tons of coupons which is really helpful when you have a lot to buy at once. I tried to be proactive and set up our basic information online beforehand so we could just pull up the info and start scanning! Unfortunately it didn't end up going that way. By the time the scanner was in our hand we were already a little frazzled from spending 30 minutes re-setting ourselves up. I think if that little bit of stress hadn't have happened it would have been a great experience but since it did, I quickly became overwhelmed by where we needed to start and trying to remember each thing we might need. We left with only about half of that registry done.

Luckily after about a month break, we went back to getting our registries done and it went really well! We did our Target registry which was really simple and a lot of fun. This time we took an open approach by just walking through each department and added things we could see ourselves using and things that would work cohesively in our home. Surprisingly it made a great date night! Dinner, desert and registering.

Source: Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn

So here's what I took out of it and what we'll stick to  in order to continue having fun while getting it done.

  • Make a list of where you want to register and see if there are any perks or rewards from registering there. Certain stores give you coupons or will give you special items for purchasing any remaining items on your registry. Also make sure the places offer registries and how easy it will be for you and your guests to use their registry.
  • Ignore the "have to register for" lists and register for things you feel you'll really need and use. Don't want an extra set of dishes and flatware just for special occasions and holidays? Don't include it! Not really interested in "things"? Register  for your honeymoon and experiences!
  • Don't try to get everything registered all at once. Trying to make sure you have every kitchen utensil you might need is a waste since you'll probably forget a pizza cutter. Break up the registries into a couple days in store and/or online.
  • Make it fun! Do fun things before and after and enjoy yourselves. Your fiancee might not like looking at throw pillows to add to your registry, but he will like scanning them with the gun! Maybe even let him add in some novelty glasses or a tech item he's been wanting. Also register for fun things like games to play when friends come over. Add things like camping gear or things for hobbies that you can do as a couple.
  • Make things easier on yourself. Using nifty things like the Amazon wish button (like the Pinterest pin button where you can add anything to your registry) and apps like Wedding Scan to add things from any store to a master registry. Not only are you saving yourself from having to sign up for multiple places, but you don't have to stress on filling an entire registry with items from just one store or having a registry on your website that only has a few things.
  • Revisit your registry. Make sure your in-store additions make it onto your registry and check in later to make sure you still want the things you previously added.
What did you find helpful when registering? What items were must haves for you and your fiancee?

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Registries: There's an app for that!

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was revisiting my registry. Well I think I also mentioned how overwhelming I found it. You think it would be easy to pick out gifts that other people will purchase for you, but it’s not!

So I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open for any helpful tidbits that might make the process a bit easier. I recently came across a cool app called WeddingScan, which is $2.99. WeddingScan is a wedding registry application that allows you to register for any item, at any store simply by scanning a product's barcode with the WeddingScan iPhone app. If a product doesn't have a barcode, WeddingScan allows you to take a picture of it and add a brief description. Pretty cool, right?

You can send your friends and family your unique WeddingScan URL, which will take them to your personal registry list. Or your guests can search for your registry on WeddingScan.com.

This allows you to have just one registry, no matter how many different stores you visited to register items. I kind of wish I found this before I started my registry process!

What cool technology has helped you throughout the wedding planning process?

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4

 

Resisting the Registry

Last weekend Kyle and I went "shopping" at Bed, Bath & Beyond for items for our wedding registry. I never want to do it again. First things first, we've been talking about our registry for a while. What do we need? What do we want? I've heard from friends just how incredibly FUN it is to go around with that little scanner gun and zap away at anything you want! I mean, you really get to go on a shopping spree of sorts, right?!

Aisle Dash, photo by Getty Images

Wrong.

Well, wrong for us, at least. Kyle and I are very methodical. Very frugal. We rarely, together or independently, make purchases for things we don't really need. Don't get me wrong, I know when things need to get updated and upgraded. But the question of do we really need this? or will we really use this? always comes up. So the idea of shopping for a bunch of things that we don't actually need is a struggle. Furthermore, we've lived together for 5 years and bought our house together 3 1/2 years ago, so we have pretty much everything we need and use regularly.

Every time we've said okay, what can we really use for our registry? all we've been able to come up with is a nice set of knives and a nice set of pots and pans. I mean really, it doesn't get much more boring than that. So we chose Bed, Bath & Beyond for our registry because they let you split up sets of All-Clad cookware and Wüsthof knives (among other things) - two great brands we grew up with and know will last us for years and years. And we cook nearly every day, so these are things we will actually use all the time.

Top: Sur La Table; Bottom: All-Clad

The guy at Bed, Bath & Beyond told us that we need to pick approximately 3 gifts per guest, so people have options. That's 240 items!! That's 10 times the number of things we've been able to come up with!

After closing our mouths, we talked, and decided that yes, we do need to expand our registry a bit. But really, we just can't compromise our characters and we can't add things to our registry that we would never actually buy ourselves.

Instead we're going to offer our guests the option to sponsor our honeymoon, and provide us with an experience that we'll never forget! And we're going to ask them to donate to our two favorite charities, if they're like me and feel a bit uneasy about giving material gifts that will just collect dust.

Crate&Barrel

And really, with all the traditions and websites telling you that you need 16 place settings of China and Chrystal (who, other than our grandparents, uses that stuff these days anyway?), I feel like so many people register for things they don't actually need. And as a guest, that's frustrating! If I buy you this one set of silver place settings (because I can only afford one set), will you actually use this for the dinner parties you've never invited me to?

Maryland Pink and Green

I have heard from so many people that they have a storage room or an attic full of wedding gifts that they don't have room for or don't ever use. That just seems frustrating all around - for the couple who has no more room in their place, and for the guest who spent their money buying something they thought the couple actually wanted.

We are trying not to do that, but it's admittedly hard. For example, we need a new set of Tupperware. Normally we would just buy that, but knowing we need to add things to our registry, we're holding out hope that someone buys that hideously boring thing for us. UGH. I'm just overall frustrated with this registry thing. I mean I really just feel like showing up at our wedding and celebrating with us is the best gift you can give!

Have any other soon-to-be brides felt the same way when trying to shop for their registry? Are you as frustrated as me? How about those of you who are already married - do you use everything that you got from your registry? Were you methodical with your choices, or did you just have fun shopping?

I'm feeling a bit down and frustrated with this whole thing, and would love to hear your thoughts.

The Woes of the Registry

I just spent the entire past weekend moving. And as I was unpacking boxes and trying to find space for everything, I forced myself to honestly answer the question, “Do I really need this?” As I was doing this, I couldn’t help but think about all of the wedding and shower gifts I will soon be generously given by our friends and family. And my first thought was, “I need to revisit my registry.”

The first time I actually headed to the store to start my registry, I have to admit I went a little crazy. You are basically picking out things that other people will buy you! I think it would be difficult for anyone to show restraint (Yes I NEED a melon baller and two different sized ice cream scoops!). But now that I know where I will be living when said gifts arrive, I think it’s time to edit this list a bit. For one, I actually hate melons and my fiancé and I don’t eat much ice cream, so why would I register for these two things?

In the registry process, one of the biggest things I learned was register for what works for you. For example, every one of my friends registers for a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. So of course, I almost registered for one (they are so pretty – for a kitchen appliance!).  But my fiancé and I try to avoid sugar and gluten, so I doubt I will be making anything that requires this. Oh yeah and that minor detail that I don’t bake!

So I will be taking a hard look at all the fun stuff that is on my list this week and doing a thorough “house cleaning” before these things are even in my house!

What about you – and tips for registering? How did you restrain yourself when “pulling the trigger” on that nifty registry gun they give you?

Credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10