Wedding Planning, Part VII

Perhaps the best part of getting married is all the wonderful wedding gifts that you receive. (Well that and the whole - living with the love of your life for eternity - thing...) But unless you want to receive those ubiquitous wedding toaster ovens from a dozen of your guests, I recommend that you take a moment to prepare a wedding registry at your favorite store. Sure, it might seem a little greedy to compile a list of all your needs and desires to unceremoniously present to your wedding guests. But let's face it, most of those guests will be purchasing you a gift (be it out of generosity or a feeling of social obligation). And those people might as well know what you like so they can give you a gift you might actually use. So with that said, allow me to offer you a few tips about preparing that wedding registry.

First, unless your friends and family are all executives at Fortune 500 companies, I recommend that you steer clear of the luxury stores. You know the ones I mean – the stores with the locked display cases and WWE-sized security guards. All you'll find in those stores are $500 gilded crystal gravy boats. And aside from the fact that many of your guests will think it's a little... inconsiderate for you to ask for a $500 gilded crystal gravy boat, you're a couple of newlyweds! Do you really need a $500 gilded crystal gravy boat? I'm guessing - probably not. I imagine that like most newly weds, you're needs and desires fall more into the range of $10 juice glasses and $2 toilet paper. So select a store that offers products you need/want at affordable prices.

Second, select a broad range of products from a variety of departments. This will not only ensure that there will be a large selection of products for your guests to choose from, but it will also provide a broad range of prices (enabling your guests to select gifts that fit easily into their budgets). Plus, let's face it – opening up 100 gifts all from your chosen store's bedding department isn't nearly as exciting as opening up 100 gifts from a broad range of departments. One minute you unwrap a wonderful espresso maker, the next a sea kayak with paddle included! It's much more exciting that way.

And finally – third, get specific. If you want your wedding guests to buy you sweaters, don't just write sweaters on the gift registry. Instead, go and find specific sweaters that you like. (And many stores make this easy for you by providing handy-dandy barcode readers that will record your favorite items automatically.) If you don't get specific with your gift registry, you run the risk of all your... thoughtful and creative guests running out to the nearest yarn store to purchase the supplies they need to knit you a delightfully oversized and rumbled sweater. You know the sweaters I mean – the ones with your initials sewn into the front in great guacamole-colored letters...

So those are my wedding gift registry tips. I hope they help. And until next Monday, I wish you good luck with all your wedding planning!