Monday, January 11, 2010

Who knew there was a differance between bridal & wedding registry?

Who knew there was a difference between bridal & wedding registry?! Well for sure not me! All the (4) bridal showers I have gone to there was not a bridal registry, people mostly bought lingerie or some cute kitchen items.  Luckily my FSIL/Bridesmaid gave me the heads up about the difference between a bridal & wedding registry and took the time to write up the many registry items that are available. I'm sharing the info she gave me because when I googled bridal vs wedding registry, I could not find any straight answer.  So here it goes:

Option #1: Have 2 different registry's - bridal and wedding.
  • BRIDAL - in this case the bridal registry would be fun stuff for YOU (because you are the bride) and for your honeymoon ie, travel guidebooks, maps, lingerie, or could you also include prewedding stuff likegift cert for pedicure or facial or massage at a local spot you like to go to.  

  • WEDDING Registry - for all of your wedding needs.  Keep in mind this is the only time in your life you can ask for things such as towels (a nice full set for both your bathroom and your guest bathroom), flat ware, dinner ware for dinner parties, bedding - stuff that you will want when you get a house.  No one will ever buy you this stuff ever again - your wedding is the only time it is appropriate.

Option #2: Only do one registry.
  • Just let people get you whatever they want for your bridal shower - you might get some weird things, but you also might get some really cool stuff that you didn't think of. Moms and married peeps are really great with these kinds of gifts.
  • For your Wedding registry - register at a place like Macy's or Bloomingdales that has multiple sections and once you get everything you can return whatever you want and get something you really need. 
Option #3: Don't do a registry at all and just ask that people make a donation to the charity of your choice.
  • You will need to provide all of the relevant information, but then people can just give in your name.
Option #4: Create a Honeymoon website and have people contribute $$ to your honeymoon.
  • You put the excursions you want on there and the dollar amount (there are sites that can do this for you did it), you can put your airfare on there and hotel and then people basically chip in and help pay for your honeymoon.  

We decided to go with option #1, I rather be surprised & already felt weird making a wedding registry. But I did add this cute Jessie Steele Red and White Polka Dot Bib Apron to the wedding registry just in case someone really wanted help with deciding what to get me for the bridal shower. Did you have a bridal AND wedding registry,  or jusy one or none?

7 comments:

  1. I just had the wedding registry and we had very personal items there too (he wanted a Livescribe pen, I wanted hair fascinators and makeup). It worked out well and we got GREAT stuff - donations to the American Cancer Society, makeup, Apple gift cards.
    Totally helped so people got us stuff we REALLY use!

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  2. I've never heard of a bridal registry and honestly, I would feel weird registering for a pedicure or something for just myself. We registered at a few places for variety to get the basic things for us in our new place after we're married.

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  3. Hmm, I've never heard of a bridal registry! In my group of friends, we usually have a wedding shower, and a lingerie shower that is part of the bachelorette party. We don't register for it, but the hostess tells everyone the bride's bra/underwear size.

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  4. I had no idea there was a difference and that people had bridal registries! I like option 1 too. We aren't having a registry either way as this isn't an option in Cyprus.

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  5. I had no clue there was a difference! Sounds like wedding registries are especially beneficial for those couples who are about to move in together and need household items. I like option 1....which allows guests to decide what they want to give you.

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  6. I had absolutely no idea that there was a difference. Wow, who knew??? I only had one and I guess it was more of a wedding registry. Nothing personal really. Just basic household stuff. Thx for spreading the word and educating us all :)

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  7. Yeah I knew about this. But most of our family and friends used to always just get things off the wedding registry to give the bride at her shower. However, at my sister's shower 3 years ago, she got a TON of lingerie! We usually got lingerie for the bride at her bachelorette party (along with some fun bedroom toys). Mr Fix It is not one for lingerie as he feels it only ends up on the floor quickly and is not necessary :P So I told my sis to make sure the guests know not to bring lingerie if possible. Therefore, on our wedding website, where our gift registries are listed, I also listed items for my bridal shower. As you mentioned, fun stuff for the honeymoon or whatnot. We also did a honeymoon registry through www.honeyfund.com and will register for normal gifts at Macy's and/or Target maybe.

    I also threw a shower for a friend where we assigned a time of the day to each guest (1 pm, noon, 8 am, 7 pm, etc). We asked each guest to bring a gift the bride could use at their hour of the day. It was a great way to ensure variety and creativity :)

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