Today’s Wedding Wednesday is all about our first time. Registering (get yer minds outta the gutter, pervs.). We ended up registering at our first store about two weeks after we got engaged because someone offered to host an engagement party for us and wanted us to be prepared. So off we schlepped to Target (this store was picked because it was a nationwide, affordable big box store option for our guests). And it was CRAZY! Seriously, we thought that going in the middle of a workday would be quiet and calm. Um, no. Do you know where bored housewives and their children head to after naptime – Target, that’s where.
Image Courtesy of: Target
But, we decided to suck it up and do it anyway. The Boy bought a coffee and I grabbed a Diet Coke and off we headed to customer service to learn how to do this thang called registering. Here’s how it works at Target, at every customer service desk there are a few little computer kiosks to get you started. Just sign up for a Club Wedd registry (you’ll need to input your names, addresses, wedding date, and then you get to write a little welcome note that your guests will see every time they access your registry) and then print out your registry (even if it is empty – Target uses a bar code to organize registries and you’ll need that to select items).
Next, you’ll take your paper with the bar code to the customer service desk and ask for a scan gun to register with. The customer service rep will scan the bar code with a scan gun and send you along your way (at this time, you can also accept a Club Wedd booklet with lists of recommended registry items. We nixed this since we already had a pretty good idea of what we wanted thanks to a list from Real Simple’s 2011 Wedding Guide.). One item to note when using Target’s scan gun, the gun does not work well when you scan the barcodes on the stock shelves – you’ll need to scan the items actual printed (on the box) barcode to keep things straight (in our experience, scanning the shelf barcode lead to miscounts and incorrect items being listed).
We started in the electronics department (this is an excellent way to start the entire wedding registry process with a boy). We began the whole process by registering for a honkin’ HUGE TV. Yay, baby. Remember, you need to include some large/more expensive items on your registry for guests wanting to go in on a gift or anyone trying to buy your affection (Are you listening, Brian?!?!). Also, keep in mind that most registries have completion programs (after your wedding, you can buy any purchased items from your registry [usually] at a 10% discount) and that can allow you save money on your big items later.
After the electronics store, we wandered through the soft goods (towels, sheets, etc.). I think that it was at this time that I figured out THE MOST important thing about registering. Listen up – this process is less about selecting potential gifties and more about learning what the both of you like, dislike, and care about. For example, he now knows that I consider anything other than plain white cotton sheets to be verbose and I found out that the size of bath towels is really, really important to him.
Next, we headed to the kitchen section to pick out affordable appliances and utensils. This is where I found out another really interesting thing about The Boy – quality and functional design is more important to him than price or name brands. I actually ended up just reading items from off the registry list and letting him pick what he liked (usually by narrowing down to 2-3 items and letting me have the final say). That’s how we wound up with a really great vacuum and rice cooker.
Before leaving the store, we handed the scan gun and our barcode print-out back to the customer service people (and got a coupon for coffee in exchange). Once home, (after picking up my newly set engagement ring!) we signed into our registry online and double checked everything. This is a good idea because sometimes the scan gun reads barcodes wrong or you forget to list a specific amount of items needed for a particular product. Here's a screengrab of our registry:
Image Courtesy of: Target
Have any of you registered with Target? How was your experience? Was there anything that you wish that you had registered for and didn’t? Let us know in the comments!
Austin Wedding Blog says
First of all… I totally love Target. I’ve been a loyal customer for a long time and decided early on that we were going to register their for our wedding. One thing I didn’t like from the experience is that they only allow a certain number of returns per year without a receipt (4). We received a few duplicate registry gifts but couldn’t return them because we had reached our max earlier in the year when we returned a few items. Sure with they would bump up the return policy, especially if they can see that the items were purchased for a gift registry. Other than that, I liked the ease of their registering and (like you said) they are nationwide so everyone had access to them. Thanks for letting me vent 🙂 – Rachel