wedding registry do's and don'ts with williams-sonoma

sometimes a store is just a store.  they sell goods, you find yourself in want of such goods, you go there, you find, you purchase, you leave.  your needs have been fulfilled.

other times, however, a store is more than a store.  it's a diversion, a tourist attraction, an entity whose value exists beyond its mere ability to provide a means to your ends.  it's a sort of museum for the consumer's senses, a place you find yourself off-handedly suggesting as a date night destination, a place where you accidentally find yourself caressing superfluous tabletop knick knacks after a double margarita saturday lunch.  it's ikea, it's restoration hardware, it's williams-sonoma.  it's the kind of place where i drag steve through the door only to find him deeply engrossed with a hammered-copper-compass-slash-clock-slash-sundial-slash-desk-lamp five minutes later.

case-in-point: it's the sort of place where your wedding registry can get completely out of control if you let yourself go wild.

registering for wedding gifts is both a fun and an insufferable process.  when i was contacted by williams-sonoma to do a blog post about wedding registry do's and don'ts, i immediately remembered all the things i wish someone had told me when it came time to register for our wedding gifts.  now that we've had a chance to put some of our haul to use, i present to you the key advice i wish i'd had a few months ago.

WHAT TO DO

DO...register for china.  i've heard all the excuses for not doing this.  why?  because i made them.  when you're 24 years old living in a 700 SF apartment and you do the math on the cost of a 10 piece china set it seems reasonable to say "forget the china."  after steve and i spent our first thanksgiving stuffing ourselves in style, i can honestly say wedding china is worth it.  it's hard to imagine i won't look back on our first thanksgiving with our incredible turkey, half-cooked apple pie, and hike on padre island every time we bust out the china for fun formal events.  and there's just something truly lavish feeling about setting your tiny driftwood table with crystal and salad plates.  check out my pick from williams-sonoma's china collections here.

DO...consider the return process.  i had a fun time registering at crate and barrel, because when else could i freely admit to wanting a hamsa hand shaped serving tray without having to pay for such a thing?  what i didn't anticipate was ending up with lots and lots of frivolous accents and lacking any sort of king-sized bedding for our mattress.  alas, when we shipped our returns to crate and barrel we neither received a commensurate refund nor did their inventory supply us with any bedding to buy with our store credit.  if you do register for lots of "fun extras," be sure the store they come from also stocks items of functional value should you need to get practical retroactively.  fortunately, williams-sonoma has you covered in the bedding department.

WHAT NOT TO DO

DON'T...expect a standing mixer or a roomba.  somehow it seems like a standing mixer has become a wedding registry staple, but at $300+ these pricey items are probably outside the spending range of most people who give physical gifts.  if you consider items like a roomba must-haves, it's likely you'll be buying them yourself with the help of your gift cards.

DON'T...overdo it with an amazon registry, honeymoon registry, or "alternative options."  those of us who grew up with the internet are very used to finding the perfect specific item to fit our wants and needs.  however, the fact of the matter is that the etiquette of wedding gifts remains a bit more old-fashioned.  while some of your younger guests might get a kick out of getting you exactly what you want like an ipad or an extra excursion on your honeymoon, others would prefer their gifts play a more traditional role in your wedding day and marriage.  try to accommodate your guests' generosity with traditional options as well.

for more tips and resources visit the williams-sonoma wedding registry resource page.
what do you think?  any advice of your own on wedding registries?