Registry

Create the Perfect Wedding Registry With These Suggestions
Look over these suggestions to help you prepare the perfect gift registry, which can be quite a fun part of the wedding planning process.

Look over these suggestions to help you prepare the perfect gift registry, which can be quite a fun part of the wedding planning process.

It often seems like there are a million little tasks involved with planning for a wedding. Fortunately, not all of the items on your to-do list will be taxing. Creating your registry, for example, can actually be a fun experience. While perusing potential gifts can be exciting, you don’t want to simply rush into the process without any plan. Crafting the perfect registry takes time and a bit of forethought. These suggestions will guide you through some general steps so that you see success.

Start Early

Registering for gifts is one of the few tasks you can tackle as soon as you’ve set a date for your wedding. In fact, you want to try and get it started as early as possible. The sooner you’ve established a concrete list of gifts, the easier it is for friends and relatives to buy what you’ve requested. Nowadays, there are a lot of options involved with your registry. Do you want to stick to one large store or register across a number of businesses? What price points do you feel most comfortable with?

To answer these questions, you require ample time. Avoid feeling rushed by taking on the task as early as possible after you’ve gotten engaged.

Consider Your Actual Lifestyle

It is easy to get ahead of yourself when creating a wish list. As you begin browsing all of the items you can add to your registry, you may feel inclined to include every single thing you see. It is important that you learn to fight this urge. A great way to focus your registry is by considering your lifestyle. If you love to make smoothies every morning, ask for a new blender or food processor. By thinking about which gifts would see the most use in your household, you will have an easier time limiting your list.

Registry Return Policies

As straightforward as a registry can be, to err is human. Friends and relatives might make assumptions and purchase items that are slightly off from what you requested. Unfortunately, you could be stuck with these items if the store you register with has a very strict policy on returns. Before setting anything in stone for your wedding gifts, research how exchanges are handled. Most stores will be upfront about these policies, and some might work out a deal with you in order to retain your business.

Cash Options

While the registry is definitely where most guests will turn when looking for a gift, there are bound to be a number of people who will prefer to take another path. When providing registry information to guests, you might want to include instructions on how cash or other gifts can be given. Since you might not want to have a lot of cash or checks floating around in cards at the venue, a PayPal or Venmo handle can be provided. This allows guests to give you cash digitally without fear the card will get lost during the event.

Show Your Appreciation

Finally, don’t forget to show gratitude for the gifts you receive. Whether guests grab something from the registry or not, you should send out thank-you notes as soon as you have the opportunity. A number of apps centered around planning weddings include features that allow couples to fill out and mail thank-you cards right on their phones. This means you can take care of this task while on the plane to your honeymoon or over breakfast the day after the reception. Custom dictates they should be mailed out no later than three months, so don’t wait too long.

Creating a perfect registry is all about approaching the task from a very specific angle. Put in the effort, and you are far more likely to feel satisfied by the gifts you receive for your big day.

Wedding Invitations: Tips and Ideas
Retro Floral Elements- illustrations for wedding invitations.

Getting your wedding invitations in the mail with plenty of time for family and friends to respond is key to having a good turnout at your wedding.

If you’re one of the many couples planning a summer wedding, you’re probably thinking about getting your wedding invitations and save-the-date cards out after the first of the year. The invitations set the stage for your wedding. It’s the first opportunity you have to share the style of your celebration. You’ll want to have an idea of what type of ceremony you’re having, classic or modern, elegant or casual. When you order your invitations, you’ll want to consider other wedding stationery, such as menu cards, ceremony programs and thank-you notes, that carry your motif and colors throughout the event.

Making Your Wedding Invitations

Here are some tips and ideas you’ll want to keep in mind when you make your invitations:

  • Choose your wording carefully. Learn the rules of how your invitation should be worded. Traditionally, it’s the host of the celebration who is listed first. If you are dealing with multiple sets of parents, you may choose something different to honor everyone. Don’t put too much information on the card. Print separate enclosure cards for directions to the venue and travel information.
  • Don’t include registry information in your invitations. Put it on your wedding website and tell your family for when guests ask.
  • Order invites and other stationery together and early. This saves you time, money and stress.
  • Double or even triple check everything that is printed. Have two or three different people look at the proofs to ensure nothing is missed, misspelled or incorrect.
  • Get creative with fonts and coloring, but make sure the invitation is readable.
  • When ordering invitations, count mailing addresses, not guests. But remember to add a few extra invites to avoid having to run a reprint later on.
  • Send an invite if you’ve sent a save-the-date card. Even if you know the guests cannot attend, send the invitation, because not doing so implies that the guest is no longer invited.

Deadlines

  • It’s recommended that you send invitations about six to eight weeks prior to the wedding, but 10 weeks is becoming the norm in these busy times. You have to remember not to send invites too early, because people forget to RSVP. Sending invites too late doesn’t give you enough time to get responses to tell your caterer an official head count.
  • When putting an RSVP deadline on the card, give yourself a few extra days between the real date and the date you tell people. For example, you have to give your caterer a head count on June 1. Make the RSVP deadline on May 24, a full week earlier. If you have to spend time calling people, you won’t be so stressed. Giving people a short time to respond makes them take care of it quicker. You might even choose to move the date up even more.
  • Help your guests respond to invites with all the information that you require. You might be surprised how many people forget to write their names on the reply cards or just forget to respond at all. Discreetly number the reply cards to correspond to the list of guest names, or consider pre-printing a label for the reply card.

Making Your Wedding Invitations: Outside the Envelope

  • Don’t use address labels on the envelope. Hand write them yourself or ask your bridal party to help. If you’re concerned about making mistakes, just get a few extra envelopes. The hand-written address makes the invite feel more personal.
  • Get a glue stick to seal the envelopes without damaging the invites.
  • Be careful about the outside of the envelope. Use a dark-color ink to address the envelopes to make sure it can be read.
  • Check the correct the postage before you mail. Take one envelope with the reply cards inside to the post office and have it weighed and examined. To be sure that the clerk got it correct, mail an invite to yourself before you send out the others.

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