By SUSAN NIELSEN
The greatest day in a young couple’s life has come and gone. After seven toasters and a big headache from standing in gift return lines, they realize there must have been a better way around this.
It’s called the bridal gift registry.
Gift registry is for the convenience of the bride and groom and all who are interested in giving a gift.
Gift registry is the stay-out-of-long-lines-for-a free way of getting wedding gifts.
“The wonderful part of gift registry is that you get to pick what you want to get,” said Angela Davies, home fashion associate at Sears.
“With registry, the guess work is left out on what to get the bride and groom,” said Shannon Watts, Lead Bridal Registry Associate at ZCMI.
So the couple is not stuck with ceramic giraffe book ends.
Most department and specialty stores offer a bridal registry for free and it’s quite easy to do.
It’s usually done with a computer and a scanner gun. The couple scans what they want, and it is entered into their own account. From there, anyone who wants to buy them a gift refers to the computer program, and all of the gifts that the couples chose come up on a printout.
Amber Dudley, bridal registry consultant from Linen-n-Things said, “The computers offer an efficient way of knowing what has been purchased. The computers are updated every hour.”
“It mostly fun for people to daydream about what they hope they get,” said Davies.
“The most common things that brides register for are domestics for the home and china,” said Watts.
“But you can register for anything available in the store. One bride registered for lingerie and a razor,” said Watts.
The bride isn’t the only one who gets to benefit from the gift registry.
Recreational Equipment, Inc., offers an unusual gift registry for the outdoorsey types.
“Both guys and girls enjoy REI’s registry,” said an REI sales associate.
“The strangest thing that anyone has ever registered for was a ‘Fresh ‘et’ female camping toilet,” said the associate.
Most popular items for wedding registry are climbing gear, two-man tents and Marmot sleeping bags for two.
Speaking of the Craftsman registry, Davies said, “Guys love it! It’s more practical. No one ever uses china.”
“The best gift my husband and I received was a set of tools. We use them all of the time,” Davies said.
The guys also register for barbeque grills, sporting goods and luggage. “I’ve even had someone register for an ax,” Davies said. “Also flashlights and shovels are things that you need but never think about.”
