Whether Target Bridal Registry or Bed Bath Beyond Registry – Ideas for registering for wedding gifts
It doesn’t matter if you’re building a Target Bridal Registry or a Macy*s Bridal Registry, the same etiquette principles will always apply. You should provide your guests with a range of price points, options and variety that reflect you and your personal style
If you are newly engaged and thinking about store hopping registering for shower and wedding gifts, a terrific guide book with updated insight into the new trends in bridal registries is written by wedding author and expert, Sharon Naylor, and you can get it through Amazon.com – The Ultimate Wedding Registry Workbook: Choosing the Best Wedding Gifts for Your Life Together
While we recommend this book as a great resource for seriously helping you make the right decisions for your registry (and you only have one go at it), we also offer some of our own basic thoughts into what you should and shouldn’t be “zapping” with your scanner and some basic gift registry etiquette. And it doesn’t matter whether you are looking at a Target bridal registry, Macy s Bridal Registry, Bed Bath Beyond Bridal Registry or anything in between, these tips and ideas are the same for any gift registry.
How much should I register for?
While it may feel greedy, you should actually register for slightly more gifts than you think you ought. Giving your guests a range of choices and budget options from which to choose from rather than them being constrained by a seriously limited wedding registry is courteous! Aim to have at least twice as many items on your list as guests at your wedding. See the section below titled “Update Often” for more tips on this.
When should I register?
Registering for wedding gifts should be one of the first tasks you tackle when you get engaged. Friends and relatives will be looking to buy wedding gifts as soon as he pops the question. Really! Take the guesswork out of gift buying by making sure they know what you want. You don’t need to complete your list just yet, but at least have a selection for guests to browse.
Oh, and do it TOGETHER! That’s essential. After all, the gifts are for both of you and it’s a fun day and a day to find out more about each other and your likes and dislikes in the world of “things.”
What types of items should you register for?
I think you should only choose items that you will love, use and cherish. Think about how you live and try to avoid filling your list with things you’re never going to use. If you’re not the formal type, then you’re probably not ever going to reach for that crystal punch bowl sitting in your closet. Guests would rather give you cash than buy something you’ll never touch. It’s tough to curtail you choices when you have that “zapper” in your hand or your are online clicking away with ease, but do try hard to pick wisely. If you and your partner have lived alone for awhile, you probably already have lots of your basic needs so going for some more fun things such as your china makes sense, but if you are completely new to setting up house, straight from mom and dad’s pad, for instance, register for the items that you will be using all the time and need right away.
Should I have only one registry?
Just having a single registry such as signing up for the Target wedding gift registry will make your life simpler; however, one store might not have the full selection you’re looking for. And, more importantly, if your guests are from all over, not all cities have every store. However, guests can now purchase their wedding gifts online for most stores and that certainly makes things easier and more versatile! But the tried and true registries are still well received as well as offer a variety of items and prices ranges:
Target Bridal Registry – Affordable and accessible for all your guests and even covers garden items
Macy*s Bridal Registry — A prime choice because it offers something for every room in the home
Bed Bath Beyond Bridal Registry – Who can’t use something from Bed Bath & Beyond?
Crate N Barrel Bridal Registry – Great trendy items, this store is always on top of what people are looking for from home decorating items to functional kitchen items and baskets.
Also, when deciding where to register, check the store’s return/exchange policies. The reason being is obviously self-explanatory.
Can I have too many inexpensive items on my registry?
A basic rule of thumb is to give guests a range of options. You want some higher-end, expensive items and then an equal number of mid- and low-priced options. There are close people to you, like grandparents and parents, who might want to buy for you one of your larger or higher-end items. That said, inexpensive items are an essential part of a registry and make a great pool for shower gifts. When you do pick lower-priced items, be sure to choose gifts that you really want and will use.
Update Often!
When a guest buys a gift for you, your registry should automatically update, allowing other guests to see what’s been purchased! Make sure to revisit your registry often and update it with additional selections as products are purchased so that guests always have a variety of things to choose from. I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but it has to me because sadly I admit I am a terrible procrastinator and so much into my work I don’t get right on things such as buying gifts – but I recently went to a gift registry to look for something for my nephew, and being late in the game, I didn’t find anything that I wanted to purchase and found that quite frustrating. Remember, your guests also want to make their gift to you personal, they might be major into cooking and therefore want to buy you a cooking appliance, but if all that is left are towels and glassware, they might just go out and pick something on their own (that you didn’t even know you wanted) – which could be good, or NOT!
How do I tell guests where I am registered?
Again, it doesn’t matter if you used a Target bridal registry, Macy s bridal registry or any other wedding gift registry; the most important rule is to never include the information with your paper invitations. It is considered to be in poor taste. Instead, you can include a link to all your bridal registries on your wedding website (if you haven’t created one yet, you might be interested in our review of the Wedding Tracker website builder), or simply ask your maid-of-honor, best man and parents to spread the word. When your guests get their invitation, if you haven’t created a wedding website that they know they can go to, and if they haven’t already decided on a particular gift they have in mind for you, they will seek out your parents or maid of honor/best man and ask them where you are registered.
When should I send a thank you note?
Thank you cards can start going out as soon as gifts are received. In fact, writing your thank you cards in small batches will help you get a handle on a major time task and help keep track of who gave what gift.
That said, according to traditional etiquette rule, you have up to one year from the date of the wedding to write and send your thank you cards – but I wouldn’t wait. If you were the gift giver, wouldn’t you be wondering/concerned if they ever received your gift. It’s also acceptable to send one card for both the wedding and shower gift, but you should mention both items in your note.
So, go have some fun and “SHOP”!
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.
“Create Your Own Wedding — Own Your Style, Not Someone Else’s — and do it all while keeping money in your pocket!”
Unique Ideas for Wedding Party Gifts – Photo Bound
You probably have a few very important people on your list that you would like to give a special gift to. Whether it is wedding gift ideas for children of parents getting married, maid of honor gift ideas, gift ideas for your parents, bridal party gifts, or that someone special that stayed by your side through the whole planning process, deciding what memorable gift to give can be an over-whelming task – especially if you are as anal as I am and want it to be perfect!
So, I believe the key word here is “memorable,” and add to that other keywords such as “keepsake,” “personal,” and “unique,” and I believe the answer to unique ideas for wedding party gifts is to be “Photo Bound” – give gifts made with personalized photos you pick out specifically for that special person you want to give a wedding memory gift too.
Some of my favorite gifts I have received revolve around photos – from a wedding photo scrapbook given to us by our daughter to a wonderful photo book of a family vacation given to us by our daughter-in-law and coffee cups with a picture of our newly built house on them from a dear friend – I cherish these gifts!! And remember by using photos you can make each gift personal and unique for the one you are giving it to. These types of personalized “homemade” wedding party gifts take time to think about and the time you take to put them together shows the recipient that they really do mean a lot to you!
There are so many ideas where gifts involving photos can create the ultimate perfect gift. For instance, let’s say you are the “combined” children of parents getting married – a blended family about to be. What a wonderful idea it would be for all the kids to bring some of their favorite photos of themselves with their mom or dad and put them together in one “blended” album. Or, if you are one of those lucky brides who have a very special relationship with your father, what about putting a photo bound book together of your favorite pictures of you and your daddy through all your years – from birth to the picture of him walking you down the aisle. And then there is that very special someone, whether it is your mother or best friend or sister, who has stuck with you through thick and thin of your wedding planning process – think about this one ahead of time and snap pictures throughout the process of everywhere you go, all the errands you run together, from looking at venues, to trying on wedding dresses, to her hanging out with you helping you organize your checklist, and all the great lunches in between and create a special memory book of all those moments for that very special person!
And it doesn’t have to be just photo bound books, they can include calendars, posters, mugs, stationary, key rings, mouse pads, mugs, golf towels, neck ties, playing cards, tote bags, and so on.
There are many places you can go to for these “photo bound” personalized unique ideas for wedding party gifts, but my favorite when it comes to the best price for the quality (after all, the main focus of YourWeddingDollars.com is about being smart with your wedding dollars!), is Snapfish.com by HP
. You can find out more about Snapfish in our Resources & Reviews section.
By Cheryl Cox, Editor of YourWeddingDollars.com. See “Note from the Editor” for more information on Cheryl and her credentials.