Simply put, wedding planning is not necessarily always a walk in the park! While you are planning out your big day, you will likely be faced with more than a few decisions along the way! Everything from finding the venue that perfectly matches your dream wedding to picking out a theme for all of the decor will require decisions to be made! 

Something that falls in the middle of this all is your wedding registry. Last month, we covered all of the must-haves for compiling the perfect wedding registry. Included on this blog were tips for ensuring the entire process went seamlessly, as well as potential items to consider adding for different price points. However, this week, we’ll be approaching wedding registries from a slightly different angle. We will be analyzing a few blunders that seem to occur quite often when it comes to creating this wedding day wish list! 

Have a topic you would like to see covered in a future blog post? Let us know in the comments and we’ll make it happen! We are always all ears when it comes to this! For those new to the Madera Estates blog, we like to utilize the blog as a platform for not only providing tips on planning the perfect wedding, but also an inside look at other couples having their big day at Madera.

Mistake #1: Too Many or Too Few Items?

If this is your first time creating a wedding registry, you might have no idea where to even begin! (There’s plenty of resources and tips throughout the Internet as well! Be sure to check out The Knot for some more inspiration!) Having some general guidelines though will make the process go much smoother! With this said, our first mistake to avoid is either not having enough or conversely, having too many items on your registry. If you were to not have enough items at various price points, your guests might struggle to find something they like at the price they’re looking to spend. On the flip-side, too many items could very well end up in you not getting the items you want the most! 

A good rule of thumb is to shoot for approximately 1.5 to 2 gifts on the registry per invitation sent out. This will provide some flexibility in terms of pricing without having to include a million items!

Mistake #2: Waiting Too Long to Register

Considering wedding planning is such an extensive process, it can be challenging to have an understanding of what needs done when. A few of the items you’ll want to tackle shortly after your engagement should include touring wedding venues (this will impact many other decisions down the road), meeting with catering companies, getting your website live and setting up your wedding registry! 

Shortly after getting engaged, your friends and family are going to be eager to send you gifts! With this in mind, make sure to sync up your wedding website with the registry and you’ll be good to go!

Mistake #3: Not Enough Flexibility

This next mistake was a major topic of discussion in our previous blog on wedding registry must-haves. The best strategy you can implement with a wedding registry is flexibility in terms of price-points. While you will know your audience much better than we can predict from an outsider’s view, it’s important to keep in mind that one of your buddies from college likely won’t spend as much as someone in your immediate family. It’s as simple as that! Try to split up the gifts evenly between those under $50, $50-150 and $150+. This scale might shift one way or the other depending on your guests, but the general methodology holds true!

Mistake #4: Inconvenient Shopping

It’s 2020! Creating a wedding registry is clearly going to look a little different now than doing so 20 or 30 years ago! With that said, one characteristic you want to display is convenience. Make sure that the stores you’re registering with have a purchase program and will allow your guests to buy their gifts online. Obviously, you can have some items from places that don’t offer these, but remember to allow for plenty of options that can be purchased online. It shouldn’t be a difficult process for your guests to purchase gifts!

Mistake #5: Not Being a Combined Effort

Throughout the entire wedding planning process, it’s important to remember why you’re doing all of this! To celebrate the love between you and your soon-to-be spouse! As a result, wouldn’t it make sense if your wedding registry reflected items you both want and need? When you’re selecting your registry items, just take the time for you both to have a word on what gets included. Think of items you both could truly use to kick off your life together! Yes, this will require some compromising, but there’s plenty of room on a registry to include items you both want!

Mistake #6: Not Going Big Enough!

Going back to a statement made earlier in this blog, “You know your audience best.” You’ll have a pretty good idea of how much most guests will be looking to spend on wedding gifts. Just as we mentioned price point flexibility is important, it never hurts to dream a little big on your wedding registry. Trust us, your guests won’t feel like you’re being greedy if you have a big ticket item on there. The reason behind this is that it’s not completely uncommon for a bunch of friends to get together and buy a combined gift! The key caveat behind this mistake though is to not have too many big ticket items. If there’s more than a handful of these, then we would have to admit that it might raise a few eyebrows amongst your guests!

Mistake #7: Sending Out Timely Thank You’s

Our final wedding registry mistake actually takes place after the wedding day itself! After the “I Do’s” have been said and the reception is over, there are still a few more remaining tasks associated with your big day. Once you get back from your honeymoon, make sure sending out thank you letters is on your to-do list. Sending out thank you letters is at the basis of wedding planning etiquette. The biggest stipulation on this final mistake though is making sure they go out in a timely manner! You likely still have plenty of other things running through your head, but try to make a concerted effort to get those sent out in a reasonable time frame.

What’s Next?

If you’re able to get your registry finished and synced with your website while avoiding these common blunders, you’re in great shape! Now it’s time for you to get started on some more of the fun stuff! Sampling delicious food from catering companies, picking out beautiful decor, meeting with photographers and so much more!

For those that are still in the early stages and need to nail down a venue for your big day, you’ve come to the right place. Our venue, Madera Estates, is a luxury wedding venue in Conroe, Texas. Each and every year, we’re honored to have couples come from all over to let us join in on their celebration! If you’re curious whether Madera accurately matches your dream wedding backdrop, we encourage you to take a free champagne tour. You’ll be given the opportunity to meet with one of our wedding experts to discuss pricing and availability, as well as tour the entire venue! We look forward to seeing you!

Are you following us on social media? Be sure to check out Madera Estates on Facebook and Instagram! You’ll find everything from testimonial videos, live videos from real weddings at Madera, and of course, plenty of beautiful wedding day photos!