Gifting My Favorite Ladies

I didn't want to post this prior to the wedding because I know that my girls follow me on the Bee and I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Shortly after I asked them to be a part of our wedding, I already had an idea of what I wanted to gift them for standing by my side.  I love Coach!  This is evident by my collection of bags that takes over a whole shelf in our guest room closet.  I wanted to share my love with my friends, who all love a good purse!  I had a budget in mind for what I wanted to spend total, and by going to the outlet in Allen and using an additional 30% off coupon I was able to get their gifts and only go over budget by $32 (we'll just chalk that up to tax).

I picked up similar bags for BM Philly, BM Cali and BM Aggie, but selected colors that I know they really like. Here's Mama E holding them up while we stand in line at the outlet.  Black for BM Cali, Grey for BM Philly and Gold for BM Aggie.

Another shot of the bags on the shelf

For MOH Navy, I ended up selecting a purse very similar to one I own (that she saw and loved during my shower/bachelorette weekend), just in a darker shade of blue.

Another short on the shelf while standing in line

For my cousin's wife who helped to keep those ushers in line and oversaw the programs & guestbook, I selected a passport cover.  She loves to travel and this goes perfectly with the overnight bag (or airplane carry on bag) that her husband gave her for her birthday.

I also picked up a couple wristlets for our readers.  I got a steal on these, because the sign was 50% (with an additional 20% for the holiday weekend) when it should have said 30%.  The manager was sweet enough to let us have it for the deeper discount before changing the sign for anyone after us.

Did you have fun picking out gifts for your friends that will stand by you on the big day?

My first adventure into registering

My mom received an email (probably as a result of using her email to get the $1 off coupon for the bridal show) from Crate & Barrel for a registering party. The invite indicated that the store would be open on Sunday for the private event, with free food and drink as well as friendly employees to help brides register without the normal everyday crowd. Chris had to work, but we figured we should try it out anyways (by the looks on the other guys that were in the store, I'm sure Chris didn't miss too much). But don't you worry, Chris will be there for the big registering trip at Bed Bath & Beyond!

Mom with the mimosas before we got down to business

We started off with some drinks and quiches and then walked through the furniture. As the store employees informed us, don't feel bad about registering for furniture even if you don't think anyone will buy it for you. Crate & Barrel will send the bride & groom a 10% off certificate after the wedding to buy anything off their registry that they did not receive. We found one dining room table that I liked, and that was really about it so we headed downstairs.

Using the fun scanner to add the table to our list

We ended up registering for about 20 items including silverware, wine glasses and pots & pans. When I went to the computer to set up our registry, I noticed that the only years available were 2008 (hello? hasn't that year passed?) 2009, and 2010. I asked the employee what I should do, and the only answer she could come up with was to use our date and the year 2010 and then later change it online when 2011 is available.

All in all it was a fun way to "dip our toes" into the whole registry process. I can't wait to do it again at Bed Bath & Beyond when it's a little bit closer to our wedding date.