Planning a wedding may be one of the most stressful and overwhelming times of your life. Just when you think you’ve got everything ready to go, there’s always that one extra detail or step that needs to be finished. For example, you’ve booked the caterer and the venue, but what about table linens? Does the venue provide them? Do you need to rent them? How much will that cost? Now suddenly you’re scrambling to find a linen company, and you really wish that planning a wedding came with an instruction manual.
When everything else feels exhausting, it’s no wonder that the easy tasks, like building a wedding registry, feel like climbing Mount Everest. If you’re so overwhelmed that you’re considering not even having a registry, then you’ve come to the right place.
The truth is you might regret not having a wedding registry. You’ll be fielding questions from relatives wondering what to get you up until your ceremony, and you’ll probably end up with a lot of stuff you don’t want. Some couples hope that guests will just give money if there’s no registry, but instead, they end up with a ton of gift cards to places they never shop.
It’s reasonable to feel overwhelmed by wedding planning, but don’t miss out on building a wedding registry. If you need a push, here’s how to get past those stressful feelings and design a wedding registry that works for you.
Get started early
The good news is that building a wedding registry can be done on your own time and mostly online if that’s what you prefer - no appointments needed and no phone calls necessary. So in order to stave off some of that building stress, it’s best to get started early on your wedding registry.
Plan to build your registry about six months out from your wedding date. That will give you plenty of time to decide where you want to register and how you want to design it. The project will also most likely be done by the time it’s time to send our wedding and shower invites.
Don’t be surprised though if you build your registry and gifts don’t automatically start rolling in. At Hitchd, the all-in-one wedding registry site, our data shows that couples receive the most gifts about a month out from their big day.
Work with your partner
Building a wedding registry together is one of the best ways for you and your partner to bond during your engagement. It’ll get the two of you talking about your future and where you want to go next. You can talk about the dream honeymoon you plan to take or how soon you want to start looking to buy a place of your own.
When you share the load, the burden feels much lighter. Pick a night for the two of you to build a wedding registry together and you’ll feel much less stressed.
Think outside the box when it comes to gifts
One of the biggest headaches couples run into with wedding registries is deciding what to put on them. The last thing you want to do is end up with a bunch of gifts that you don’t really want or need, and depending on when you tie the knot in your lives, that list of must-haves might be pretty short.
These days, many couples are waiting to get married, but they’re living together in the meantime. Because they’re older, they’re more established in their careers and likely making more money. As they’ve moved in together, they’ve already combined their belongings and even upgraded many of those hand-me-downs from their uni days.
So with that in mind, you might be scrambling to think of wedding gifts that you really need. After all, how many toasters and blenders can you ask for? So think outside the box. You can consider:
- Experience-based gifts that send you and your partner out to do something fun together.
- Cash funds which can help you raise money for a downpayment on a house.
- Honeymoon gifts that will help you pay for that amazing vacation.
Now that everything’s online, it’s now easier than ever to register for gifts that you never could 10 years ago. Think beyond traditional wedding gift ideas and you’ll find tons of options that give you and your partner what you really want.
Narrow your choice down to 2 or 3 platforms
There’s nothing more overwhelming than trying to manage multiple wedding registry platforms at once. If you have more than three (and three is kind of pushing it), then you’re going to make buying a gift difficult for your guests and exhausting for yourself.
Now that you know what you want, choose the best two or three platforms, basically a mix of a few big-box stores and maybe an online wedding registry. When choosing a big-box store for your wedding registry, go with one that is easily accessible to most people. If you live in an area where Target is more common than Crate & Barrel, then it might be more convenient for your guests if you registered at Target. There are those who still prefer to shop in person if given the chance, and who knows? It may be easier for them to buy your gift online and pick it up in the store.
With an online registry, you can design everything from the ground up and include those experience-based gifts that you can’t find at a big-box store. Although it can take more time to design each gift, you’ll feel better knowing that you’re asking for gifts you truly want, instead of picking from whatever’s available at a big-box store. You can also add cash funds to online wedding registries, which will allow guests to give any amount of money they’d like as a gift.
For a one-stop shop, try Hitchd. With our platform, you can register for both physical and experience-based gifts, which means you can mix and match. If you really want to register for honeymoon-related gifts but also have a few home goods that need an upgrade, then you can add both types of gifts to your registry so guests can pick what works best for them.
Jot down ideas as you think of them
Inspiration can strike at the most inopportune moment. Just when you’ve had to stop working on your registry, you think of the perfect gift. Now you just have to remember it until you’re back at your computer.
At home, keep a notepad handy so you can write down ideas whenever they strike your brain. On the go, use a notepad app to save your ideas for later.
You can also do some research ahead of time if you’re stuck. Look for unique gifts for couples that already have it all or the top favorite gifts for engaged couples.
Carve out a weekend to get it all done
No matter what, building a wedding registry will take up time, so the best way to handle it is to choose a weekend to get it all done. In reality, it probably won’t take you longer than one afternoon or evening to get the registry ready, and you can make it a fun task. Try:
- Playing your favorite music to get you energized.
- Watching a familiar TV show that makes you laugh.
- Listening to a fun podcast to keep you motivated.
It’ll be even more fun with your partner. Plan to order out so you’re not distracted by a growling stomach and choose a fun cocktail to sip while you add gifts. When the atmosphere feels fun and relaxing, you’ll find yourself easing up and having a good time.
To make this process even easier, check out this simple guide to building a honeymoon registry. It’ll prepare you for what to expect and make creating your own registry feel fun and effortless.
Building a wedding registry should be one of the easiest steps in the wedding planning process, not the most difficult. If you want to make it even easier, register with Hitchd. Our platform lets users add all sorts of gifts, and since it’s completely customisable, your registry will be filled only with gifts you truly want. Your guests will also appreciate having to go to just one registry, and once you’ve finished, you can sit back, relax and enjoy the rest of your wedding planning.
Ready to get started with Hitchd? Sign up here.
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