When we thought we would only have 85 guests, we decided to keep the registry smaller because we don't really need anything after over 6 years of being together. The things we do need/want just aren't registry friendly (i.e. high dollar)... like dressers, nightstands, a bigger television for the living room (with the accompanied entertainment console, of course), and MONEY!
I know that there are some family members that will always want to buy off a registry, so I started clicking away. J was half-heartedly paying attention, while also watching a Bond movie. Every once in a while, he would look over and say, "We don't need that. We already have something like that." The first time, it was new baking sheets, then casserole dishes, then placesettings. Ugh. Yes, we already have baking sheets... really old, scratched ones that I bought 10 years ago. Yes, we already have ONE casserole dish. Yes, we already have plates, bowls, silverware, etc. I bought them all 10 years ago... they're scratched; pieces have been broken over time; we don't have as much silverware as we have plates; we don't have actual steak knives, etc. I could go on forever! Honestly, the handle fell off one of the knives I was using the other day. If no one gets us any of these things, we'll be okay... but wouldn't it be nice to have a brand new matching set? Apparently, I'm alone in thinking this. The thing is... I know that if we don't register for a least a few things, people won't necessarily give us money (which is what J thinks would happen)... we could end up with non-returnable items that people wasted their money on because we won't be using them.
So, when we added another 109 people to the guest list, I decided we needed to register for more than the 20 or so items we'd already picked. One thing J has always wanted was a duvet cover. Funny, huh? We had one ages ago, but it got ripped by one of the dogs' nails. I am so dang picky about my bedding that I've never bought a new one to cover our down comforter. Instead, the comforter went into the linen closet, and quilts became the staple. J begs for the return on the down comforter. After searching both of our registries for a duvet cover, I realized I wasn't in love with anything they had to offer. So... I started a Pottery Barn registry, too. We still don't have a ton of items on the three registries, but at least our guests have a few options.
After sending out the save-the0dates, I remembered that I hadn't checked our website to make sure the links worked. After clicking on one of the links and scrolling down, I realized three items had been purchased! So, I've now become an accidental registry stalker. Now, I'm just hoping someone didn't buy off our registry on accident. ;)
How many registries did you have, and what ratio did you have of guests to items? I'm curious to know!
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8 comments:
we both had a lot of stuff, too, going into it. but i wanted everything to match and knew i would rather receive those things as gifts instead of having to go out and buy it myself. actually, we'd never go out and buy silverware or dishes ourselves. so i created my dream registry. one at a dept store, one at neiman marcus, bed bath and beyond, and williams sonoma. bed bath and beyond had our fine china and was basically a duplicate of the department store registry. a lot of people go to bed bath and beyond, though, and i wanted to make sure they picked up something we wanted rather than something we'd have to return. i've also heard that bed bath and beyond will give you cash back. cha ching.
anyway-- people WILL give you a gift and a lot of times it's not something that you want at all and often something that you can't return. i think it's better to just go ahead and register for what you want and need-- more baking sheets and casserole dishes-- and just see what happens.
and i was totally a registry stalker. :)
We had about 140 guests who actually attended. Sent invites for almost 200 people. We had three registries (I had to sign up for one because of MIL.) I went a little click-happy one night, and registered for a wall-mounted fish bowl.
We got it.
We received a lot of the items off our registries and were very surprised....definitely register for items you really want. You may end up with a fish bowl :)
I don't remember the ratio of items to guests but we had three registries and I totally stalked our registries! I hate to admit that but I loved seeing what had been purchased :-)
omg. i am so bad. i found out many of my christmas items by checking my registries...wishpot actually sends me an email when someone purchases off the site. (by the way..wishpot rocks. check out my list here:http://www.wishpot.com/list.aspx?uid=14193&list=58762&rc=surl&sp=ouAUy-faeNUzMzMwMTE6djIwLGwxNDE5Myw1ODc2MjtybDE0MTkzLDU4NzYyOw**)
we are in the same position..we already had most everything...so it's fun to register for the cute stuff that you know people would want to by...like an ice cream maker..or matching heart shaped mugs..or even champagne.
just have fun with it...how often to you get to kind of shop without spending a dime...it's fun..no?
xoxo
Bryan was the same way! Saying we already had pans... which he bought from ikea... 5 years ago... which leave little black things in the food because he uses forks and knives and such in them. I pretty much just took it over. I change things once in a while. Add a few things, take away a few things... :)
And yes, someone bought a rice cooker off our registry... someone we don't know... it happens!
I totally understand this. My fiance doesn't understand why I registered because he thinks we have everything we need. Technically, we could live with everything we have, but it's really cool to think that we may end up with stuff that matches.
I only wanted to register at 1, maybe 2 places for simplicity reasons. But my grandmother and his mother asked me to register at a couple of other places too. It was kind of frustrating because I had already picked out my china, and these other places didn't have it. So I did like you. I just registered for stuff that would be cool to have like tubberware and pyrex dishes.
I was a HUGE registry stalker when I was engaged. Interestingly enough, my husband was really concerned about registering for a duvet cover, too. Who knew guys cared about that stuff??
I registered at Crate & Barrel & Macy's - I did it all online from Vermont.
We had pretty much everything that we needed, but I wanted us to have a complete set of matching dishes, new pots/pans & bedding. That was the main gist of the Macy's. C&B was the "fun" stuff - the cooking gadgets that I knew I would use.
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