A Wedding Registry At This Popular Store Can Save You So Much Money

Wedding planning can be exciting and inspiring — until the happy couple looks at their bank account. Balancing realistic wedding budgets with fantastic wedding expectations is no easy feat. Whether couples want to throw the most fabulous and self-centered wedding celebration, or a big party for all of their loved ones, the pressure is on to avoid expensive wedding after-party mistakes and follow the right wedding trends to save money. Of course, couples have one fun way to relieve some of the financial pressure on wedding planning: creating the wedding registry.

Once intended to set up young couples with certain material items they needed to start life on their own, wedding registries have evolved into personalized wedding gift wish lists. These days, the average couple gets married many years older than their past counterparts, and may feel already set when it comes to more old-school registry items. This doesn't meant that modern wedding registries are full of purely frivolous gift ideas, but the temptation to register for an $800 copper fondue pot, $300 engraved metal pet bowls, or even an $8,000 bidet might be strong.

Impossible as it may seem, couples can register for a wide price range of gifts people may actually buy and save money on items they want to purchase themselves. What's the trick? Skipping registering with the most expensive department store in town in order to register at a popular store they likely already shop: Target.

It's good wedding registry etiquette to list gift options across a wide price range. Perhaps the clearest perk of registering with Target is that the store carries a wide range of items at all price levels, from the very affordable to the big-ticket. By purchasing registered gifts through Target, gift-givers also get free two-day shipping to the couple's pre-selected address for orders over $35. Or, if preferred, loved ones can pick up their gift at their local Target themselves. This makes in-person gift pick-up less of a pain than it could be, in part due to the over 1,900 Target locations nationwide.

Registrants get up to a full year after their event date to make exchanges and returns of new and unopened items, not just the usual 90 or 120-day terms for most items, by using a return barcode generated through their Target Registry account. It might be a small savings on gas prices and time to make returns and exchanges with a regular Target run, rather than driving out of the way to a specialty store, but it's a savings all the same.

The biggest perk of registering at Target may just come in the form of a 15% registry completion coupon. The coupon gets mailed out the week of the event, and can be redeemed up to two times on qualifying purchases, for up to six months, either on so far not purchased registry items, or any qualifying Target shopping needs.

While a wedding registry is just one of the clever ways to save money at Target, being extra clever while making one will pay dividends. Target's registry offers a "smart checklist" that houses their product offerings under helpful headings like "kitchen," then subheadings like "pots and pans." These items get checked off as registry lists are built, showing couples where they might be forgetting something, and where they're all set.

Couples can also note most wanted items, so that they will also be at the top of gift-givers' minds, and not lost in a sea of bath towel options. Couples can keep track of who is purchasing what for them by logging onto their Target account online, and using their registry's Gift Tracker to pair present with purchaser name, and send a hearty "thank you" accordingly.

Couples should keep in mind that Target stock goes through regular periods of turnover, as well as periodic markdowns. This means some items may be gone before gift-givers can purchase them. Prepare for this possible bummer by accepting it as a possibility, and by registering for a variety of gift cards that Target stocks, so further gifts and supplies can be snatched up later. Those couples with a Target Red card can also get an additional 5% off when using the card to pay for their already 15%-off registry coupon savings. Combining coupons can be the first of many genius money tips to follow as a married couple.