Altar Ego

The Best Part of Wedding Planning: Shopping for Your Own Gifts

BY JOSHUA SCHNEPS

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 11:42 AM EDT

Searching for venues, bands and everything else that goes along with a wedding is fun and exciting, but to be very honest, getting engagement gifts in the mail is the best! What other time in your life can you actually choose your very own gifts? Each time we receive a gift, Tracey announces, “We got another prize today!” It really does feel like you’ve won something, that’s for sure.

A few weeks after getting engaged, Tracey and I headed up to Bloomingdale’s on 59th Street in Manhattan to get to the business of building our registry (and it is a big business). The bridal registry has its own section on the floor with china, crystal, silverware, kitchen essentials, frames, luggage, and much more. You are greeted by a personal registry consultant who is the point person for providing guidance and advice to help you build your registry. We met with Charmane, who still emails Tracey frequently with updates and invitations to special store events. Charmane gave us a registry guide that included a checklist of everything you can imagine, from everyday items like plates to gadgets, to more exotic items, like panini makers. She also handed us the bar code scanner that we used to scan each of the items we wanted.

After going through the checklist and preparing to hit the showroom floor running, Charmane gave us a gift bag including his and hers catch-all’s from Juliska, a bridal magazine, information on honeymoons and other targeted promotional items for engaged couples.

We started off in the china and silverware section and then onto glasses and crystal. I told Tracey that we should register for sterling silver flatware. We registered for 12 place settings and the cost of the sterling was $875. Tracey looked at me like I was crazy, but I told her now was the chance to get it. I must say I’m not a very patient shopper. I’m used to knowing what I want, walking into a store, buying it and leaving. So I convinced Tracy after about an hour to take a “break.” We went up to the Le Train Bleu restaurant in Bloomingdale’s, set inside a subway car, and we toasted to our engagement and wedding planning.

After another couple of hours we were all set (at Bloomingdale’s that is). But when we got home Tracey started to worry about the sterling silverware. I told her that spending $875 for 12 place settings is not a big deal. After staring at me for a couple of seconds, she explained to me that it was $875 PER place setting. That silverware came off our list pretty quickly!

I give Tracey a lot of credit. She has great taste and did pretty much all the rest of the work organizing our registry and putting others together at Macy’s and Williams-Sonoma.

We have already received many gifts and are extremely thankful for everything, but I would like to share one special one with you. We are blessed at The Queens Courier with a team of talented people. Our editorial cartoonist Bill Kresse oozes with talent and has been drawing cartoons for decades, including his own nationally-syndicated cartoon strip. He was kind enough to take a headshot of Tracey and myself and transform it into the image you see in this article. Thank you Bill for your gift, time, and, most importantly, for making us look good!