When you and your partner start looking to build your wedding registry, the choices can be a bit overwhelming. Do you register at Crate & Barrel or William Sonoma and ask for products that are of a better quality and probably more expensive? Do you register at Amazon or Target, two businesses that most people have easy access to no matter where they are? Or do you register with an online platform like Zola or Hitchd so you can ask for honeymoon-related gifts and cash funds?
Before you know it, you’ve started wedding registries at eight different stores and you’re feeling completely lost. Who knew that nowadays you have so many options and not all of them can meet all of your unique needs?
The truth is many couples find themselves overwhelmed planning for wedding registries because what they need from a registry is no longer so black and white. In the past, engaged couples were young and often still living with their parents before they tied the knot. It was easy for them to register because they needed just about every single home good from the sheets on the bed to the welcome mat outside. Their parents were also more likely to be paying for the wedding so the couple could focus on finding a home to rent or buy.
But you and your partner probably have different needs than your parents or grandparents did when they got married. It’s much more common (and practical) for couples to live together before tying the knot, and that means the two of you have probably purchased all of those home good staples already. Sure, there are a few items that you want to upgrade or replace, but you’ll still wind up with a small registry. You might also run into the problem that no one store carries all of the things that you want.
So it may seem logical that the only answer is to register at five, seven or even 10 different stores for your wedding, but that would be a massive mistake. There is a limit when it comes to how many wedding registries is too many and here’s what to know about that.
How many wedding registries is too many?
In general, you should not register at more than three stores or online platforms. Anything beyond that is going to be more of a hassle to manage, both for yourself and for your guests.
It’s not surprising that no one store can supply you with every single item that you want. And even then, those stores can’t help you create a honeymoon registry. But don’t take that as a challenge to set the record for the most registries of any engaged couple.
Here’s how too many registries can backfire on you and your partner.
More registries equals more headaches
When it comes down to it, the person managing all of your wedding registries will be you. No one else. You will have to do all the work of adding gifts, maintaining the lists and answering every question about your registry. If you decide to cancel a registry or take it down, then you’ll have to update your wedding website and make sure everyone knows that the registry has been taken down.
Overall, it’s a lot to handle, and you have enough to do already. You might still be finalizing your venue and menu choices or finding the perfect dress or tuxedo. The last thing you want to do is add another job for yourself.
And yes, with so many registries, maintaining them all will feel like a second job.
Having too many registries looks bad to guests
Most guests expect couples to be registered at two to three stores or platforms. So when they see five or more stores listed on your wedding invites, your guests are definitely going to raise their eyebrows.
You know, of course, that wedding gifts are wholly optional for guests, and it’s up to you to make giving you a gift as easy as possible for guests. You might think that registering at so many places will make things easier for guests, but this isn’t true. With so many small registries, it’s easy for those lists to be bought out quickly, leaving some guests scrambling to find a gift at one of your other stores. There’s also the chance that all of the gifts within their budget will be purchased, giving them only a few options.
Having too many registries also looks tacky to guests. They might think you’re asking for too much or focusing more on the gifts rather than building a fun, meaningful wedding experience.
Having too many registries will be difficult to organize
Adding eight wedding registries to your wedding website is almost guaranteed to make your site look clunky and disorganized. It’s also going to be stressful to take off registries that have filled up so you don’t misdirect your guests because it means you’ll have to monitor each and every registry regularly.
Even the most organized person in the world will have trouble keeping eight wedding registries straight. When you have just a few to manage, you can easily add gifts as needed or take down any registries that have filled up.
What to do when your gift needs are not so cut and dry
Having a lot of wedding registries won’t fix the main problem: You just don’t need that many tradition home goods. And the things that you do want are expensive, and you can’t have a wedding registry made up of only expensive gifts. And all the other things you might want for a wedding present, such as a couples massage on your honeymoon? Well, you won’t be able to register for them at big-box stores.
So when your wedding gift needs are not so cut and dry, you need to think outside the box. Here’s what to do.
Choose an online platform
Online wedding registry platforms like Zola or Hitchd have grown in popularity over the years as couples’ needs have expanded. These platforms can help you register for honeymoon-related gifts and keep your big-box store registries organized.
Guests love when they can find everything in one place, so chose an online wedding registry platform that makes your wedding experience easier, not harder.
Narrow your choices down to three platforms
At most, you should not have more than three wedding registries. So whatever you need to do to narrow down your platform choices, do it. Here are a few tips to do it:
- Choose just one online wedding registry platform. You don’t need more than one if you build it right.
- Find just one big-box store that carries all of the essentials at lower prices with reasonable free-shipping levels.
- Go for just one more expensive shop that carries some high-priced items that you want. If guests want to give you something special, then they have options.
Of course, you don’t need three platforms if you can’t find enough gift options, but stick with at least one online wedding registry platform. Your guests will appreciate the ease of access.
Go with a platform that can do it all
Want to really make your life easier? Choose a platform that can do it all, and there’s only one that meets every expectation.
With Hitchd, users can register for virtually anything: physical gifts like vacuums and coffee machines, experience-bed gifts like massages and dinners, and cash funds for down payments on homes or charity drives. The platform makes it easy for couples to design a site that works for them, with thousands of stock photos as well as introduction and gift templates so you get help with every step.
Registering with Hitchd will solve the problem of wanting gifts from too many different stores. You can add them all individually to your Hitchd registry so guests don’t have to bounce around from store to store. Because guests send the couple money instead of buying the actual gift, couples can then purchase the item on their own, and if the same item happens to go on sale at another store, then you can buy it there and save a bit of money.
Having just one registry with Hitchd will make gift-giving much easier on your guests, and it will look cleaner on your wedding website. You can also use your cash fund as sort of a catch-all for guests so you don’t have to worry about running out of less expensive gifts on your wedding registry. With a cash fund, guests can contribute any amount of money they’d like.
It’s not always easy to register for your wedding, but with Hitchd, you solve a lot of the problems that come with having too many wedding registries. You won’t have to keep track of multiple platforms, and you can ask for virtually anything from any store or any honeymoon experience. All you need is a little imagination and let Hitchd do the rest.
Ready to get started? Sign up with Hitchd here.
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