The Registry

If there's one part of wedding planning I thought would be easy, it was the shopping part. A registry is all about shopping for the things you need (and want, and can't live without) to start your new life together, or at least a new adventure (I know honeymoon registries are becoming more popular these days).

I decided to start old school, because I love all things "kitchen" and only own one frying pan. After many, many, many debates on where we should register (and by "we" I mean "I," because dear fiance did not have a preference), we landed on the makers of fine cookware, Sur La Table. They have a store in Las Vegas' Fashion Show Mall, they're similar to Williams-Sonoma (but I've seen almost every WS product already during my early 2000s Food Network phase), and "Sur La Table" is French (meaning "on the table"), which fits my Beauty and the Beast theme!

The registry will be rounded out with items from Target as well (a one-stop shopper's dream) since they don't sell bath towels and vacuum cleaners at a kitchen store, and because I want my guests to have options.

My first phase of research was visiting both the Sur La Table and Target websites to mark down items I thought I might need (or want, etc). I created a shopping cart instead of a registry, and printed it out for easy marking.

Phase 2 of the registry process was visiting the stores in person. As convenient as it is to create your entire registry online, you don't know how heavy those spoons are or how soft those towels will feel.

Upon entering the Sur La Table store I knew I'd chosen the right store for me. They had cookware. Bakeware. Flatware. All the wares. Matte metals and cream-colored ceramic. It was a paradise I could spend hours in, and did, because instead of just taking a few moments to gauge the weight of dinner forks, I caught the attention of a kind employee named Lindsey who explained that I didn't have to create my registry online. I could start it right here in store. With. A. Scanner. Gun.

Let's be clear--a scanner gun is power. Running around a dish shop armed with a barcode scanner is something I'd dreamed of since I was a kid and watched the engaged protagonist of a movie walk around a department store with one.

But with all great power comes great responsibility, and a kitchen sink's worth of questions, worries, and self-doubt. What do I really want? Will I use it? Is this too expensive? Is that too cheap? How long is my dining room table? Is it better to have more items or fewer? What if someone thinks a creme brulee torch is stupid? Am I good enough for Sur La Table?

We had arrived a little after noon. I finished a little after 2pm. I was exhausted, hungry for lunch, and yet satisfied. I had a start. It was progress. I needed that registry complete so I could put it on the wedding website that would be posted on Save the Date cards. Everything had to fall into place.

The stress was mounting.

After eating and returning home I logged into my registry online to discover some of my flatware was no longer available. No big deal, I just won't have matching serving forks and spoons. Unless the entire pattern is discontinued. Can they do that mid-registry?

To make up for the lost items, I proceeded to add in more forks, and then delete other items that ended up feeling redundant or unnecessary. With the same careful consideration I'd done in store, I reviewed all items all over again. I compared coffee makers, reading reviews and weighing pros and cons. This registry thing takes some time!

Ultimately, I discovered that creating a registry is draining. It's stressful. But in the end, it is fun, especially if you find your dream store and bring the right people along (not the fiance, I'm talking about Mom). Because shopping shouldn't be a chore. Starting your new home is an exciting new adventure in itself.

Now I just have to do it all over again with Target. Maybe I'll take a nap first.