Adventures of Registering

I never knew what an ordeal making wedding gift regestries would be. We decided to start making ours early, before the holiday season, because we were already starting to get asked by our families for Christmas gift ideas. This way when they ask we can hand over the regsitry lists and say "here is a really big list, pick something from it."

Ryan and I made a game plan:

1. Start with Bed Bath and Beyond because that will be the biggest list
2. Go to Dillards second so we can pick out our china and crystal - that will be another involved task.
3. Go to Target and register for the leftover things - this should be the easiest.

Well we knew it was going to be a long and involved process when we spent 2 hours at Bed Bath and Beyond and didn't even make it through half the store. We had to leave because the store was closing. That was Day 1.

The next day we decided to finish BB&B and then head to our 2 other stores. Luckily the second half of the store didn't take as long so we headed to Dillards next. We were optimistic about Day 2

Dillards started off weird. First, we got the girl who had only been on the job for a couple of weeks so she wasn't sure of anything. Once we finally got in the system she then told us that she had to scan each item we picked herself. Can we say awkward? She was following us around like a puppy and listening to us rationalize every single thing. Ryan finally had the idea of telling her she was off duty while we went around the store, picked what we wanted and then she could go back through with us and scan everything in a few mintues.

We started with bedding and left that department after 30 mintues because we couldn't agree on anything. Next we went to China and stemware. I ended up standing in front of the shelf with dozens of china patters for 2 hours because I couldn't make up my mind. Finally Ryan reminded me that I didn't have to make a decision that day and pried me away.

We were in Dillards almost 3 hours and got maybe 10 items scanned. After that ordeal, we were exhausted. But we had to truck on to the third and final place. All registering had to be done today because it was going to be the last weekend until December that we had free to complete this task.

Target was our final spot and turned out to be ok. Ryan proclaimed that Target had the best scanner. I let him be the keeper of the scanner at all three locations. I had to do something to keep him interested.

Looking back on the registering weekend I have come up with a few insights.

1. It is ok to pick the things that aren't the cheapest brand. Both Ryan and I felt really odd making lists of things for people to buy us and on top of that picking out expensive things. After talking to several people, we took their advice to "get over it" and scanned what we actually wanted.

2. Thank goodness for online registering! By the end of store 3 we didn't have a clue what we scanned or what we might have missed. Being able to access it online is a life-saver! Ryan registered at Sears for a bunch of tools so he was able to do that online, without me and without going to the store. He said we should have done that for everything.

3. I have become a registering pro - if you have questions, ask me and I can probably answer your question.

4. Through this process I have been reminded of how truely blessed I am to have friends that want to shower us with gifts, families who are happily throwing us an amanzing wedding and for the man that I will call my husband in 8 months. God has blessed me beyond belief!!