Jason: "Freeze! Or you'll loose your retinas!"
So Jason & I experienced one of the joys of engagement this weekend--getting to shoot things in stores with guns, or in other words, beginning our wedding registry. :-) We decided that since the bridal magazines & websites were telling me that this was supposed to initially be done more than 5 months before the ceremony [kind of difficult to do since we got engaged 6 months before the ceremony, not that I listen to those sites half of the time anyway], but we also decided that it could be handy for when people asked what we wanted for Christmas.
I still carry an extreme guilt that registering seems like a very egotistical/selfish thing to do--but at the same time I know people appreciate knowing what you like, what you want/need, and knowing they won't get you your 6th toaster of the day. With this being said--we had a blast! :-)
It was fun doing things like finding the towels we both liked the best, figuring out what we wanted our master bedroom colors to be, etc. It was also fun shooting each other with the laser beam guns (I think Jason probably scanned the rear pocket on my jeans about 500 times yesterday), laughing at some of the crazy things in the stores, & laughing at the shocked look on the Keystone Bed, Bath, & Beyond Bridal Registry Associate when we informed her that we will not be registering for fine china. :-P
Between noon & 6:00pm we began our registries at Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBB), Target, and Sears. BBB & Target fulfill the household needs for when we combine our houses next spring, Sears fulfills some of the tool needs Jason will need when he goes to escape to the garage once we combine house-holds, or for when he has to fix the stuff I break. :-P Jason was cracking me up--on most of the stuff in BBB & Target, he would just defer to me & what I thought was best, but when he did have an objection or a preference between two items...he had Great reasoning & it was frequently something I hadn't thought about. We make a great pair ;-) I am a little frightened a lava lamp might have made it to the registry list--I need to verify if it did & remove it if he had scanned it :-P.
Our reviews of the registering experience--
Bed Bath & Beyond-- the customer service was the best of the 3 (especially at the Keystone at the Crossing location on the north side, but was still pretty good at the Avon location). The Keystone location treated us like rock stars, they kept checking in with us, asking us if we needed anything, etc. The laser gun was the 2nd best/most user friendly version. I obviously love the HUGE selection of home goods this store has--since I've been a loyal addict of this store for the past 5+ years. I also like their online registry management software--it is pretty on-par with the Target system.
Target-- has the BEST most user friendly laser gun. They have the option where you can scroll back & delete things you've added during that trip, without having to visit a kiosk or go home to your computer. It would be nice if all of the laser guns had this feature that was this easy to use. Their customer service was comparable to Target as a baseline--which is normally pretty good. Oddly--our first sweep through Target only yielded about 10 items--it's a little higher after our second sweep today...
Sears-- was Horrible. We were reminded why we usually don't shop at this store [and why they are struggling as a company]- unfortunately this was one of the few stores that you can register at that has a large tool/hardware section. We toughed it out--but none of the employees, minus one 16 year old kid, had ANY CLUE what was going on, what to do with the registry gun when we were done, etc. The registry gun was horrible--circa early '90's technology, that timed out every 5 minutes, didn't display prices on the things you scanned, etc. Overall, it was not a good experience...but at least Jason was able to register for some good Craftsman tools after suffering through picking out kitchen accessories with me all day :-).
We realize that as the months tick by, we will need to adjust the registries based on item availability & what-not...but it feels Really Good to have another item partially ticked off of our Wedding Checklist :-). It was also a really fun way to spend an afternoon, was another verification that we are in fact getting married, and was a fun way to make it all seem more "real"...since sometimes I wake up wondering if it is still just a dream :-).
All and all, it was an excellent weekend. Now we are preparing for the approaching Thanksgiving Holiday, and for the long holiday weekend :-). Happy Holidays everyone!! 
Me: "Look! It's the Swedish Chef!" (and a horrible picture, and ignore the really red eyes--I just got contacts for the first time ever on Friday...and my eyes are still trying to cope with the whole "intentional foreign objects" thing..I just can't resist putting on a chef hat though when I see one....)
