sam and dave: the registry
Posted by Mackenzie on Sunday, January 14, 2007
Ah Monday. A lot of lucky people have today off. I am not one of those people. But, it is a great day just the same. Today, we must give Samantha our advise. She is having some trouble with her registry. I'll let her tell you all about it.
Drama. The registry. I thought that it would be good to work on something together with Dave… you know, a couple bonding thing for the wedding. It did not work out as well as I’d hoped. I thought we would be able to sit down together and do a registry. Wrong. I read a lot of design blogs so I’ve been collecting interesting sites that would be good for registering or online shopping. Dave is a master guru at organizing filing and creating systems. So I thought I’d be able to come to the proverbial table with my collection of findings have him organize it all and then go through it together to make sure we have everything and agree on it aesthetically. He created a system using google notebook to categorize all my info. But by the time we got to the first item he was freaking out and getting frantic “how big is this dinner plate? $22 for a mug, are you crazy Sam, we break mugs everyday!! What’s an accent plate? IS this pasta bowl for a single serving or for serving a whole dinner party?“
UGH! We were sitting next to my 18-year-old punk brother having this conversation and he chimed in how bourgeois we are and everyone wound up going his or her separate ways. I don’t see what’s wrong with registering at 5-6 different sites. A few of the typical ones for older guests like Bloomingdales, Crate and Barrel etc. and then a few younger more independent designer kind of sites like Clio Home or Design Public. I love Kate Spade’s Gwinnet China but I also love these.
Dave thinks we should only register at two or three places, I think more like 5-6! What should we do? I really want some unique stuff and I want to support some indie designers. I figure the older people will be comfortable at Bloomingdales and the younger people will shop online. What’s the best compromise? And does anyone have any good registry suggestions. HELP!
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12 comments:
In my experience, friends don't buy from registries. This may be different in other places (I'm from the Northwest, we got married in Portland & most of our friends live there) but my friends all wanted to give us something unique and something that we didn't pick out. Of course, most of our friends have the same modern/indie aesthetic that we do, so it worked out. We registered at 2 places: Crate & Barrel & Amazon.com. I think one of the most awkward things about getting married is spreading the word about the registry. We opted to just tell people about it when they asked rather than print anything or put it on a website. We also armed our parents & wedding party with the info to pass along. 5-6 registries seems like a lot. I think its better to just do a couple and then inevitably people will give you $$ and you can spend freely on the independent design you love.
I agree, I think 5-6 registries is way too many. I think you need to maybe pick 2 or 3 at the most. Why not choose one all purpose Crate & Barrel type store, and then one indie store?
You're only registering for one set of plates, so it seems unecessary to register at 5-6 places. If your guests can't find something they want to get for you, they'll give you cash. Which is fun.
My fiance and I went through a similar process. I wanted to register everywhere, while he only wanted to register at Target. He didn't want people to feel like they couldn't afford to get us something if we were registered at Williams-Sonoma. Well, that changed as soon as he got the scanner gun in his hand. He couldn't get enough of the scanning! Now we are registered at three places, Target, Crate & Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma. That way there's a price range. Anyway, I agree with Robin (I live in Portland too!) that it makes sense to know that you're going to get some money and to use it to purchase from the more indie websites, instead of registering with them. You really want to make sure that where ever it is that you are registering that you can return it if you change your mind.
sorry, but i think that 5-6 registries is way too many. while it might be nice to give your guests some choices- it can also scream greedy on your behalf (and i'm sure you're not).
i think a "typical" registry like crate & barrel is great for older guests like you said.. but it's also great for your friends & family who live across the country. as for the more unique gifts- try http://www.wishlistr.com/. i've never used it myself but i've heard good things about it.
maxwell-silver is a great alternative/indie/hip registry
you can register online or in each of the contributing stores
some of the boutiques that are part of maxwell-silver are: auto, dwell, global table, hable, john derian, jonathan adler, simon pearce, so it's like having 6 registries combined into 1
my favorite gifts came from this registry
http://www.maxwellsilverny.com
I have to agree Sam. I think 5-6 is too much.
I'd say stick to 2 places. Seems like Maxwell Silver is a good choice for one of them.
Thanks for the input Mimi!
I would stick to just 2 places; It makes it easier for your gusets.
5-6 is way too many, and looks bad. Also, the more places you have, the less your chances of getting complete sets are (i.e. dinnerware and flatware, etc.), when your registries are all spread out like that.
Use the money that you get, and you WILL get money, to buy the special items you want.
So yes, I agree that six is too many. Also, be sure to have a very wide range of prices within your registiries, especially if there are going to be lots of showers. Younger friends will likely be on tighter budgets, but at the same time you don't want to stifle anyone's generosity!
Something else to consider for showers is people are less likely to buy online because no one wants to show up empty handed. People really like to have a store to go to for showers, but online is great for the main wedding present.
3 should be the limit.
Your advice has been spectacular. Thank you so much. I actually read about MAxwell Silver, we'll def check it out. We also decided to go to Bloomingdales in person to see and feel things out, like dishes for example. Dave keeps asking what size things are and that's not listed. We'll def go to Crate and Barrel top. We do not want to see greedy at all but registering at many places! I just wanted to support some indie designers but you are right we can use money for that. This is all so overwhelming. I never even thought I would register but people are insisting that it's the way to go so we want to make it an option. Your advice has been so valuable! I will keep you all posted! Blogging for KenzieKate has been so perfect. I get great advice from all of you!
Or you could go to something like kaboodle.com, which allows you to create a registry that spans an unlimited number of sites. Guests can reserve a particular gift and purchase it from that individual vendor, so you don't have to worry about receiving duplicates. I wish this had been around when I got married!
maxwell-silver is the best! i had such a good experience with them!
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