Registries that Rock!

So, this weekend, Mr. Dragon and I boarded the wedding gift registry train! As I have said before, we have a multitude of married friends who were more than willing to advise us on the process, and of course, I will pass those learnings on to YOU, my dear Bees! Some of the tips are super basic and common knowledge, but.... we might as well cover all our bases in case some of these tips are helpful to you!

Originally, Mr. Dragon and I considered not registering for gifts at all. In case you haven't heard, there's a recession going on, and we just felt extra weird about registering, especially since it's not like we are 18 and just starting out. However, as a close confidant pointed out, in our guest list of approximately 140 people.... somebody *may* want to give us a gift, and we might as well make it easy on them. This is true. Mr. Dragon and I always send some sort of wedding gift when we are invited to a wedding, and the few times that the couple didn't register... it was kind of difficult to figure out what to give them, especially if we weren't best friends with them.

So, onward with the registering.

Mr. Dragon and I got up bright and early, as we expected the process to take all day.... which it did! We actually only got through two of the three stores at which we planned to register: the universally popular Bed, Bath, and Beyond (of 20% off coupon fame!) and Crate and Barrel. We felt that the combination of these two stores provided a WIDE range of price points, as well as having a decent return policy, in case anything shows up broken or otherwise unusable!

Neither Mr. Dragon and I enjoy shopping (actually, we HATE it!) but we kept a positive attitude and it was actually pretty fun! We had a mission to be efficient, as the Superbowl was later that day, and Mr. Dragon refused to be late! Of course, registering wore me out so much that I practically fell asleep about 8 million times during the game (even though it was such an exciting game!)

Bed, Bath, and Beyond was really user-friendly. Their store was set up in a way that we could be organized in our approach, and they were pretty good in providing a reasonable selection of the home basics that everyone needs. Scannity, scan, scan! We spent about two and a half hours there (no pictures at BBB - I'm sorry, I forgot!!)

We took a short break for lunch... [psst, the pear and gorgonzola pizza at California Pizza Kitchen is delish - not that I, ahem, dine at chain restaurants or anything. ;)]

Then it was off to Crate and Barrel! What I really love about Crate and Barrel is that they have attractive items that run the gamut of price points, and I also appreciate that you can buy things like glasses separately, giving wedding guests the ability to purchase multiple items at an affordable cost.

Mr. Dragon vetoed my choice of dessert bowls... (c'mon, can't you just see an ice cream sundae in those bowls?!)

...But he was on board with the dessert plates!

All right, let's dish on registry tips... I have a few bits of advice gleaned from the Snapdragon Registry Adventure, along with helpful hints from other married couples that weighed in!

• Make sure to register at stores that - to the best of your research - are not going out of business anytime soon. All of those people with Linens n Things gift cards? No good anymore! You also don't want to annoy your guests with dwindling merchandise. Registries are supposed to make gift-giving easy and hassle-free.
• Go nuts with items under $20!!! For us, we actually were able to register for a ton of things we need that priced out under $15, and a decent number for $10 or less. This gives your guests maximum flexibility in terms of cost (if they are dead set on giving you a gift from your registry.)
• See if that place setting or box of glassware you are hoping for comes singly and register both the full setting and the single items. For instance, a guest may want to gift you a part of your china pattern, but don't want to purchase an entire place setting. If they can buy a few saucers or bowls rather than the entire place setting, that's helpful. Others (say a family member) may want to buy an entire place setting, in which case you should also give them that option, as well. (Overall, a place setting tends to be a better bargain than buying each piece singly.)
• As an addendum to the above tip, glassware is a GREAT area to register singly, rather than a boxed set. For us, Crate and Barrel sold great kitchen items at $7 or less per item. Again, this helps provide flexibility.
• Be prepared to spend more than one day registering. Yes, some couples might be superhuman and able to knock everything out in an afternoon, but... wow, that's amazing.
• Don't feel pressured into registering for things you don't need. Period.
• Register at one store (or more) that has national visibility. Most brides have a guest list with at least a few out-of-towners. Make it easy on them, please!
• Check out the store's return policy. This is a no-brainer, but uber important in the event that an item arrives broken or doesn't fit into your home as well as you thought it would.
• Bring snacks! This is one area where we failed big time! By lunchtime, I seriously thought we were both going to faint from lack of sustenance. Must bring snacks!

When we were all done, we were SHOPPED OUT! Registering takes way longer than I thought it would, and we still aren't done! I am reticent to register at Target - they are affordable and have a number of items that would do the Snapdragon abode some good, but... I have only heard nightmares about their return policy!!! Supposedly this return policy recently changed - what do you Bees think? Any specific registry tips that might help out other brides about to pick up The Mighty Scanner??