Wedding Gift Registry

I was at a wedding shower the other day and everyone was griping that the bride hadn't registered for enough items or at enough places. There had been a number of wedding showers for the couple and the lists she had were already exhausted - and the wedding was still several weeks away.

For engaged couples, a wedding gift registry service provides an opportunity to identify items that they would enjoy receiving as gifts. It also eliminates duplicate gifts in most cases and ends buyer's remorse, too!

Although traditional etiquette dictates that it isn't proper to announce gift preferences, most modern couples not only register at department and specialty stores, but indicate that they have done so. They often mention the stores' wedding gift registry websites on their wedding invitations. They do not, however, ever mention what gifts they want or prefer on the invitations - just where they are registered.

Many couples create their wedding gift registries and take them to the stores or list them online almost as soon as they get engaged - and even before the wedding date is set! Others wait until it is time for the engagement party (if there is one) or just before the wedding shower.

Most wedding registration lists are maintained via computer, so that as soon as family members and friends access the gift list - either at the store or at its online equivalent - and purchase an item, the computer removes those selections or announces them fulfilled. The registry is therefore current and the possibility of receiving multiple cheese knives is eliminated. Of course, if the buyer doesn't inform the registry of his or her purchase, the update is incomplete and the couple could receive several sets of cheese knives!

Most retailers still provide a personal shopper to accompany the couple as they determine what they would like on their wedding registry. I saw one bride gleefully walking around with a scanner in hand and a personal shopper trailing her as she scanned in practically an entire kitchen department for her registry.

One of the jobs that my mother undertook when my cousin got married was to check the registries and determine what was there. She kept a wedding and shower gift list of what was fulfilled on the wedding registry. Then, when she felt that my cousin needed to supplement her registry, she called and let her know. This way my cousin knew that she needed to let friends and family know what else she needed and wanted.

A wedding gift registry makes it so much easier for the wedding couple, for the families and for the friends! Sign up now!