Bridal Boutique
Source: Brides
Setting up your wedding registry is such a fun and exciting process. When else can you go on essentially a free shopping spree? It’s all too easy, though, to get caught up in the process and scan until the sun sets without thinking of perhaps the most important question—when will you actually use all this stuff? [Read more…] about 8 Wedding Registry Items You’ll Actually Use—Every Single Day!
Source: Brides
When your wedding is all said and done, you’ll hopefully be left with a handful of good memories, a couple hundred photos, and a pile of gifts. As you’re ripping off the wrapping paper and uncovering the items that your guests have given you, you might notice that some of those gifts will never be used, cared for, or looked at again.
So what should you do with the gifts that you’re most likely going to bury underneath a pile of things you never use in your garage or shoved in the back of a closet? You should try to return them to get money or get something else from the store that you’ll actually use instead.
Here’s how you can return your unwanted wedding gifts. The best part is, the people who gave you the gift never have to know.
Sort Through Gifts ASAP
When the wedding ends, you’re going to feel tempted to want to sit back and relax, taking time off to recover from all things wedding. But before you kick your feet up and catch up on your favorite TV shows, the very first thing you should do is rip open the wrapping paper on your wedding gifts. Start sorting the items you received into two piles: a keep pile and a return pile.
If you received a lot of registry gifts at your bridal shower, be sure to separate them into piles right after as well.
After you’ve made your piles, start taking action. Examine the gifts in your return pile. Do you have a gift receipt for them? Do you know where they were purchased? To meet most store’s return policies, you want to bring items back within the month they were gifted to you. That way, you have a better chance at getting money back or a store credit.
Look Up the Store’s Return Policy
If you have a receipt for the gift, look up to see how long you have until you can no longer return it. Some stores give money back within 30 days and then after that, give store credit.
If you find that you don’t have a receipt for the gift, but you know exactly where it was purchased, it’s worth taking the item to the store, asking to speak with a manager, and explaining that it was given to you as a wedding gift. Stores like Nordstrom, Macy’s, Target, and TJ Maxx, have a reputation for being great with returns or working with customers who don’t have a receipt. Usually, they can scan the barcode on the item, see when it was purchased, and give you the amount that the item is valued at now (if it was purchased months or even years ago).
Ask the Gift Giver for More Information
Sometimes, after your wedding ends, you find that you are left with a pile of gifts that you have no idea where they were bought. If they end up in your return pile, strike up a conversation with the gift giver to inquire about more information. Casually ask them where they bought it from so that you can investigate the return policy.
Swap It, Sell It, Store It to Regift
If you’re finding yourself eyeballing a dead end when trying to return a specific item that you just don’t want, you might want to resort to getting your money back or your money’s worth in other ways. If you’ve been given a gift card you know you’ll never use, you can swap it for another one using a website like Cardpool. You can also sell your gifts on Facebook Marketplace or using the website Tradsey. Or, if you’ve received a gift that you know you can’t use, but someone else would adore, you can store it away to regift for someone’s next birthday, holiday, or wedding gift.
Source: Martha Stewart Weddings
The anticipation when you start to open a wedding gift is high: Will the contents of the box be that deluxe coffeemaker that brews lattes and espressos you registered for, or could it hold the gorgeous stand mixer you loved the moment you saw it in the store? The box is open, the tissue paper unfolded, and you lift out the gift: It’s…an electric cheese grater. What? Why? You don’t come across as a person who needs voltage to grate her Parmesan. But bad gifts happen all the time, so be prepared for what lies ahead. Here are more presents that are generally unwelcome.
Anything that’s not on the registry.
Why veer off to the Land of Non-Registry Gifts, where the temptation to buy odd appliances and statues of farm animals is as strong as an ocean current? Buying a gift from the bride and groom’s registry is the way to go. It’s easy, it’s quick, and it’s a guaranteed winner. They picked out some items they really, really like, put together a list, and told people about it. Gift buying couldn’t be easier.
Something that suits the giver but not the couple.
Monogrammed towels are lovely but very traditional. So are crystal candlesticks and fine china. But if the couple has a very informal lifestyle where personal lettering and shiny things are of no interest, the gift giver is better off getting them the wind-surfing lessons they registered for instead.
Re-gifted items.
Oh yeah, it happens. There are brides and grooms who’ve found a “Merry Christmas, Judy” tag stuck to a box of napkin rings or a toaster in a yellowed box that looks like it’d been sitting in the basement for years. Everyone likes to save a buck but giving someone a gift you’ve rejected is just wrong.
“Cute” his-and-hers gifts.
If an engaged couple truly wanted matching aprons or bathrobes, they would’ve registered for them.
Artwork.
Surprised by this one? The reason it ranks as a worst gift is because no one is gifting a Matisse or Warhol—the newlyweds are more likely to get a kitschy painting of kittens dressed as pirates. Unless the gift-giver knows the taste of the couple extremely well, they need to step away from the wall art.
A bounced check.
This gift is just as embarrassing for the couple