Editor’s Notebook: Guest list, check. Cake, check. Registry?

With the help of my mother, my future mother-in-law and my bride-to-be, it looks like I’ve finally compiled a guest list. What I didn’t realize when I signed up for this job was that I would be slaving on this thing late into the night to perfect a list of close to 400 people — some of whom I don’t even know.
But it’s all good. The list is now complete. We can print labels (I learned how to mail-merge with Excel), and now the people with beautiful handwriting (Heather and Mom) get to start addressing all the envelopes for the invitations. My humble conclusion: If you read this and you haven’t received a “save-the-date” with your name on it, talk to the bride.
Guys, a random tip: Go taste your cake. We’re working on cupcakes with Starz! (the local experts), and Heather and I had a glorious hour tasting everything but the kitchen sink. Accompanied with a cup of milk, that was fun.
What’s not fun is dealing with consultants at department stores. We’ve registered for gifts at two stores. At both places, we were quickly ushered into a back room, where we were interrogated about our wedding before they would let us escape and actually start registering.
After the first experience, we learned to set up our registry online before going to the store, so that we would not have to listen to the consultants blab for half an hour before getting started with the wedding scanner (similar to a laser-tag gun).
Part of my grouchy demeanor is because I’m not much of a shopper, so I saw registering as a job. Going to the mall, for instance, is about getting the thing I went to get and leaving, without stopping at Starbucks and without popping into six other stores on the way out. I also like to be surprised, so the notion of choosing my gifts before getting them is kind of lame.
However, as someone at my church pointed out, it’s really a great thing when family and friends — essentially, a community — help a young married couple get started in life. So I’ve softened up a little bit on the registry thing. Thank you to all the kind souls who are helping us get started! I promise I will sign the thank-you card. And, yes, it will probably have a label on it.