If you’re engaged to be married, no doubt the excitement is building around your wedding plans. Friends and family will want to share in your excitement and wish you well by buying you a wedding gift. You might be wondering how many gifts you should put on your wedding registry, as well as numerous other questions about your wedding registry. Here at Good Gifts Guide we know everything about gifts and gift etiquette so we’re here to help answer your wedding registry questions.
It’s a good idea to put twice as many gifts on your wedding registry as invited guests. That way the guests will have plenty of items to choose from. Of course people often attend weddings, and give wedding gifts, in pairs or groups, so don’t panic if you can’t find twice as many gifts as guests for your registry list, but try to have at least 50% more. So, if you’re inviting 100 guests, ideally you’ll have 200 items on your wedding registry list, but 150 items will do if it’s all you can come up with.
Of course, this way, you won’t receive everything on your registry list, but at least you’ll have some control over the things you are getting.
If you’ve not had much to do with weddings before, you probably have lots more questions about wedding registries, we’ll try to answer them here.
What’s A Wedding Registry?
A wedding registry, also known as a bridal registry, is simply a list of gifts that you, as the happy couple, would like to receive as wedding presents. It’s your ultimate wish list of things that would be useful to you as a married couple.
The service is normally provided by large department stores who will allow you to pick out all of the gifts that you would like to receive and then ‘register’ with them.
Your guests are given access to the list of gifts and can choose any item that suits their ideals and budget to purchase for you. Once purchased, the item is removed from the wedding registry so that nobody doubles up on the same item – it’s a good way to make sure you don’t get 7 toasters for your wedding!
Why Do A Wedding Registry?
As explained above, a wedding registry is a good way to have some control over the gifts you receive for your wedding. It means you can receive things in the colors you like, and helps prevent the problem of receiving items you don’t want, need or like as well as potentially receiving the same item multiple times.
Is a Wedding Registry Tacky?
Some people worry that a wedding registry is ‘tacky’ but it doesn’t have to be. The idea of letting people know what you would like to receive from them as a gift can feel uncomfortable to some people, because you are making the assumption that they will, indeed, buy you a gift.
But, rest assured, most people attending a wedding will be more than willing to buy you a gift as a way of celebrating with you. Giving you a wedding gift actually makes them feel happy! That’s one of the best things about gift giving – the joy of giving!
Especially in this day and age when most people are marrying a little later in life, and a lot of couples have already lived together before the wedding, a wedding registry makes sense.
If you’ve already lived together for a while, then a lot of everyday household items, which normally top the list for wedding gift ideas, like toasters and kettles, don’t really make sense if you already have them.
Giving your wedding guests a list of gifts to choose from means you won’t receive a bunch of things you don’t need or want. Think of it as a way of being eco-friendly and sustainable as well as making things easier for your guests!
What Is Wedding Registry Etiquette?
Just like any social interaction, there is an etiquette around wedding registries and how they can be used. Below are some tips to make sure you’re not making a faux pas for your wedding registry.
How Many Wedding Registries Should You Have?
In the past some couples liked to register at multiple department stores to cover all the items they hoped to receive.
However, in this day and age, with the advances we’ve made in technology, it’s best to only have one wedding registry. That way all of your items are kept on one, master list, so there’s no confusion for guests.
The best way to do your wedding registry these days is through an online wedding registry service such as theknot.com. These online wedding registry services enable you to create a list of items you would like from various different retailers, as well as experiences and sometimes even cash gifts.
The Knot sets you up with a free wedding website which your guests can easily access to choose their gift for you.
How Much Should Wedding Registry Gifts Cost?
It’s important to include a range of products across different price points – not everyone can afford to splurge on that new, $500 coffee machine you’d like!
Make sure there are some small gifts included in the under $50 category for friends and family who want to support you but might be having a tough time financially right now. Remember, it’s the thought that counts, not the price tag!
On the flip side, some people like to spend big dollars on wedding gifts, so feel free to add some high ticket items too. You never know, a group of friends might get together and pool their resources to get you something quite expensive, so nothing’s off limits, put it on the list and see what happens. Just don’t be too disappointed if you don’t receive all of your expensive options.
When Should You Share Your Wedding Registry?
It’s a good idea to share your wedding registry as soon as possible – even straight after you’ve announced your engagement, especially if your wedding date is set. This gives guests longer to prepare. You can always keep adding extra items closer to the wedding if you think of something else you would like to add.
What Can You Do Instead of a Wedding Registry?
If you don’t want to sign up for an official wedding registry, or do one through a store, you can do an unofficial registry.
Sometimes the mother of the bride or groom will keep a list of gift ideas to help the guests out when they ask what to buy. Even just knowing whether they should buy King or Queen size bed sheets is useful information for someone to have.
You can also just not do a registry at all and take pot luck at the kind of gifts you might receive. This can be a fun, and interesting, exercise!
You could also politely ask for no gifts. Sometimes, you really just don’t want any more clutter in your life and, if you’ve already got everything you need, you can simply ask your guests not to bring wedding gifts. Here are some nice ways to say ‘no gifts’.
Instead of registering for gifts you could register for cash! If you’re building a house or planning a big trip for your honeymoon and an injection of cash would be much more useful to you than a new set of bath towels, then you can ask your guests for gifts of money instead.
An easy way to do this is through a service such as Wish For You. Simply create an event, in this case, your wedding, and then share it with your guests.
Final Thoughts
Planning your wedding should be fun, and one of the most fun parts is choosing gifts for your wedding registry! Remember to put at least 50-100% more gifts on your registry than invited guests.
So for 100 guests you should include 150-200 gifts on your wedding registry list. It’s not a hard and fast rule, more of a guideline, but it means that the last person to access your list won’t be stuck with only a $500 option when they can only afford $50!
Having this many gifts on your list also means you won’t get everything on your list, but it’s the best way to make sure there is a good range of choice, and price, for your guests to pick from. If you miss out on one of your most coveted items, you can always buy it yourself after the wedding!
