Fun with the "Gun" a.k.a. Registering

So Cary and I recently finished our wedding registries. We decided to register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond as well as Dillard’s. My wedding etiquette book says that three registries is optimal, but after finding out that Lowe’s and Home Depot no longer offer wedding registries, we decided to just stick with two. We thought it would be fun to talk about the experience from both of our perspectives.
Cary's perspective: When Kelly asked me to check with Bed Bath and Beyond about how they do their registry, I obliged and called their consultant. She mentioned pre-registering online and then coming into the store. I did that and quickly realized that the more things I added online from our list, the less time we'd be in the store. It's so much simpler to type in what you want, click and done. Don't get me wrong, walking around the store is fun for a little while, but after an hour, I was ready to sit back in front of the computer. If I know what I want, having distractions to make me second guess myself doesn't expedite the process.

It's amazing how much stuff a store has. We started off looking at silverware as I call it. I guess the fancy term is flatware. My criteria: not too heavy, not too big, and can go in the dishwasher. There are still over 50 that meet that criteria. Kelly would ask "do you like this one" and "are you sure you like that one" but I always told her that if the silverware met my criteria, I was fine with it. I don't know where we went next, but I kept seeing people with these big packets of paper walking around. Once we were finished registering, we got our own large packet of paper. A printout of every item on the registry which was 17 pages long. It is kind of surreal to think that in less than a year, many of the items from this packet will actually be sitting in our home. It's exciting, too.

And my perspective couldn't be complete without adding a blurb about coupons. Bed Bath and Beyond has coupons for 20% off a single item, and I encourage you to use them.

Kelly's perspective: Cary had been wanting to complete our Bed, Bath, and Beyond (BB&B) registry online, but I had insisted that we go in person, we would be missing out on the experience if we did it all online! We got to BB&B around 10:00am and met with the wedding consultant. After making sure we had signed up correctly online (Cary wanted to get that out of the way, so did it online a few days earlier) and explaining a few things, she gave us our gun (which was actually a small scanner that did not resemble a gun), and let us loose in the store.

We started off with the flatware section and immediately felt overwhelmed with choices. Of course, Cary didn’t really have an opinion, so I picked a couple that I liked and asked him to help me make the final decision. We then looked over all of their everyday china and dishes. I had already decided not to get a fine china because I hope to one day get my mom’s china. We opted for an everyday set of white dishes instead. However, this wasn’t as easy to find as you would think. Turns out that Cary and I are very picky when it comes to dishes. He didn’t want anything square, and I didn’t want anything too modern or crazy. Well nothing in the store fit that description (hard to believe, I know!), so we wound up going home and searching BB&B’s website for the set we finally decided on. We then headed to the pots and pan section. We were much more focused here because we knew what we wanted. We love Calphalon because it is so durable and comes with a lifetime warranty. Plus, the company makes almost every kitchen gadget, utensil, bakeware, and cooking device you could ever want. And to make things even better, the Calphalon representative was in the store…so we picked her brain and asked a bunch of questions. Next, we went to the gadget section of the store and registered for many of those Calphalon gadgets I mentioned as well as lots and lots of other kitchen “essentials.” But this quickly became overwhelming. It is so hard to decide between five whisks…I mean which model do I really need. By this point our blood sugar was low and the fun had waned. We decided to take a break from it all and grab lunch. We turned in the “gun” and headed to Panera for a quick bite of lunch with my mom who happened to be in town that day. We decided to finish things up online, which I admit was a lot quicker.

So with the BB&B registry complete (after visiting the store once more and doing some of it online), I was fine with completing the Dillard’s registry online. This was my fun/splurge registry. I picked out several serving pieces and UGA memorabilia from Arthur Court, a designer known for his metal work. I found a few other items to add, but overall, I kept this registry very short. The items aren’t cheap but they will last a lifetime and are beautiful.

Overall, registering was a lot of fun…it was very exciting to know that we will start our married lives with brand new towels, dishes, and whisks, but it is kind of difficult at the same time because we were choosing items that we’ll use and keep for the rest of our lives…we better like them!