Registry Goodness
One of the parts of a contemporary wedding is signing up for a registry. There are two major retail chains in Canada that have registries, and we've signed up for both of them. There are some pros and cons to the process, as well as a few moral qualms.

There were almost some guilty pleasures as we went around the store scanning the bar codes of the items that we liked. Is it selfish to just ask for all this expensive stuff? Certainly the chance of having repeat gifts is reduced, and we get to express subtly what styles we prefer. I would feel guilty, except that I know that as a shopper of wedding gifts, I prefer to have some assistance. A registry aided gift is no less thoughtful, so compiling a registry can't be all that bad, but it's still tough to alleviate that guilt within me. To outright ask for all these things must certainly go against some part of my humble Mennonite upbringing.

Then, if making the registry wasn't hard enough, there's the issue of maintaining it. Occasionally we would get an email saying that a certain item was no longer in stock, so we would go in to replace that item. Ana is quite intent on checking regularly to see what kind of stuff we are getting. I prefer to go in from time to time to make sure that we are maintaining the various price point options, that is we still have items on the list for people no matter what their budget is. Some people see that as greedy. Is that really any more greedy than making the registry in the first place?

Another thing I like is going into the store to look at the registry, and finding other couples whose names are similar to ours. I think it'd be cool to talk to them to see how their planning is going. Do they want the same things we want? How much are they spending on everything? What if I bought something from their registry, and checked it off, so that they thought they'd get it, but then kept it for myself? What if we meet? Would we make that connection? Okay, that's enough of that. I'm just fascinated by those seemingly random relationships we have with people.

   [ posted by William @ 6:15 PM ]