A Gift To Those Planning a Wedding (John Lewis Wedding List)

Member Name: waterlilly

Product:	John Lewis Wedding List
Date:	17/07/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to set up, manage and receive as a bride/groom. Easy for guests as well.

Disadvantages: They want the items to be available at your local store rather than elsewhere in the country

General disclaimer to start things off: This is a review of a Gift List service. If the comments you are going to make all relate to how gift lists are tacky and horrible and you find it horribly gauche to receive them with your wedding invitation then don't read a review of a Gift List service. Go read about something you like. Why put yourself through it?

I'm sorry if that sounds a little harsh and it probably is a bit harsh because when I started wedding planning I had conflicted thoughts about gift lists and was actually a little horrified that in England you receive information about the gift list with the invite. I've never had that in Canada. Of course I also know of a friend who received no less than 15 silver photo frames and another couple that wound up with a rather impressive but not overly practical collection of tea pots. Since moving to England buying wedding presents for people has been much more fun (if no cheaper) as you can actually see what people want, get it for them and feel like you've told them you're happy for them in an appropriate way.

We did recently receive a wedding invite with no gift list information. The groom is a good friend of my husband but I barely know the bride. I figured that eventually I'd have to make my husband get in touch with the groom to find out if they wanted money for honeymoon or what we were supposed to do. Luckily we wound up socialising with both of them and the bride handed me their John Lewis gift list information a little sheepishly. She said she'd felt it was tacky to include gift list info with their invites but was now having to either hand it to people directly or post it on its own which seemed even tackier to her! Instead of saying "We want you to celebrate with us when we get married and if you want to give us something here's some help with what to buy." It wound up being "Gift List" all on its own.

We got married in the summer of 2008 which many brides will remember as the year that Wrap It went bust and their wedding gift list became a nightmare. Luckily I was spared such horrors as my husband had decided that the Wrap It centre in Norwich was weird and wanted to go to John Lewis where he was comfortable. As wedding season is once again upon us I have been interested to note that both weddings we are invited to next month have gone with John Lewis for their lists as well. This means I've now been on both sides of the equation when it comes to their Wedding Gift List service.

SETTING UP YOUR LIST

One of the reasons that we chose John Lewis is that they have branches almost everywhere, unlike a local Norwich department store that we considered. This means that for most folks looking to set up a gift list all you have to do is go to the store and follow the signs to the specially designated gift list department. We waited a few minutes for one of the gift list folks to be free and they sat us down at a computer and showed us how the process worked. Our person was very friendly and knowledgeable. Obviously they are trying to sell you on their list, but we didn't feel uncomfortably pressured.

If you decide you want to go through with setting up a list with John Lewis then both the bride and groom's details are taken as well as the wedding date. Generally the gift list goes live six weeks before the wedding but we requested a slightly earlier date because of the number of friends and family who were travelling over the summer. The usual process is for John Lewis to arrange for delivery of the gifts two to three weeks after your wedding but you could modify that as well if you wished. We were given a stack of cards that you send off with your invitations indicating that you have a gift list with John Lewis, the account number associated with your wedding and the date that the list will be accessible online and in store. One was filled out for us and I sat and did the rest at home later.

The details out of the way, the fun could begin. The helpful man demonstrated how the hand held scanner worked. It's most basic function, scanning in the item in front of you using its barcode is very straight forward. However there were some other options that I promptly forgot once I was on the store floor but luckily it's a gadget and my husband is a gadget person. Actually at times it was hard to get him to discuss the things right in front of us because he discovered that, upon scanning an item such as a milk jug, you could access a list of all other items in the same line. I don't think I actually got to hold the scanner the entire time we were in the store! Once we'd had enough for the day we simply returned the scanner to the gift list section.

When making up your list they do recommend putting a wide range of gifts at various prices. We knew that many of our friends are as broke as we are so really tried to keep that in mind. While we were setting up a home, the apartment was already furnished as we were already playing with the idea of emigrating to Canada at the time so we didn't have huge pieces that we wanted anyway. Some of our items were around £5. The majority were under £50. Your gift list information when sent to you or when access online will tell you how many of your gifts fall into various price categories. This can give you an idea if you're going a little overboard (ie if all of your gifts are over £75 some of your guests might struggle a little) We included some fun things like board games as we love playing them with our friends and I often by them as wedding presents anyway. Was pleased to see on a friend's list recently that they decided to do the same thing after buying Cranium for us!

For many people, such as ourselves, you want the gift list set up before you send out invites. While the wedding planning guide lines still suggest you send your invites out 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding, that's just not practical for most people in this day and age. We had to confirm the number of tables if not the exact numbers a couple of weeks before the wedding and the hotel wanted rooms reserved at least three weeks before the wedding or they would release them. Many people are now sending their invites out three or four months before the wedding. However, as far as the store is concerned, scanning your full gift list four months before the wedding is far too early. Goods are somewhat seasonal and you may find that the item you scanned in May has limited availability by August while new fun and exciting things are suddenly available to you. So they may suggest that you set up your list but return to scan things at a later date.

MANAGING YOUR LIST

Once you have gone home you are able to access your list online from the start. It is not available to guests yet but you can add and delete items via the internet. This means you have access to goods that are available on the John Lewis website that my not have been to hand in the store. John Lewis does insist on sending paper updates and information regarding your gift list for those who have less internet access or are less internet addicted. Ever conscious of the amount of paper and postage being used on our wedding we tried to decline this service but got the paper anyway!

This is where I have to bring up one of the problems, or at least annoyances, that I had with this service. Not long before our gift list went live I received an email from the gift list folks at our local branch telling me that there was limited availability on our silverware set and so they wanted us to switch it for something else. This doesn't sound like a big deal except that my husband and I had spent embarrassing amounts of time playing with every piece of silverware in the store and my husband was dedicated to this particular set. I was in love with its wooden box and we were both slightly devastated (it was wedding planning that really made us overly emotional but still) at this news. Then I went online and discovered that, while Norwich only had one set listed on their inventory, the London stores and Reading (where my in laws live so thought to check there) had upwards of 30 sets available between them. I called the store, pointed this out and asked if we were not able to get one of the sets at another location. The woman was polite, professional and said that as long as we didn't mind things being delivered separately if they had to be called in from other stores then they were happy to leave anything on our list that was available elsewhere.

Well, there goes our attempts at being environmentally friendly I guess, but we were happy to get the things we loved from elsewhere. It was an unneeded stress leading up to the wedding but I can see why they'd try to keep lorries off the road and deliver everything at once.

Anyway, once the list is available to guests they can access it online or by going into any John Lewis in the country. The account number included on your card is one way of quickly bringing up your list but they can also search by either the bride or groom's names. We did this recently for friends' wedding and it worked just as quickly. You can browse all gifts on the list or search by price bracket (ie under £50 etc) or by type of item (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom). If you buy the gift online you can leave a message for the couple then and there which is immediately available to them online. My husband and I loved watching our gift list and were just stunned by the generosity of people. We'd told all of our friends, who we know are young and just starting out and broke like we are, that we simply wanted them there for our day and not to worry about gifts and such and that we would arrange to put them up with local friends if need be. I mentioned before that we tried to keep our list reasonably priced. We found that people sometimes liked to buy a set of related items such as two pillows and the pillow cases, but no one felt forced to (I hope!).

Very important if you are a wedding guest who still likes to have the option of going into the store and picking up the item in person to remember to let the store know you are buying from a guest list!! We only had one set of guests bring a gift list item from a store, wrapped to the wedding. Opening it to see it was our wine glasses I didn't stop to think twice about whether they were the people whose name I'd seen with the wine glasses on the internet. When our delivery came later and I suddenly had wine glasses coming out of my ears I realised the people who'd gone into the store had not had their item crossed off the list!!

DELIVERY

The gift list remains active for about two weeks after the wedding. Sometimes people do decide to order your present later I guess but I think the real reason is to allow you to purchase things that guests didn't buy either using vouchers that you were given or your own money. Anyway, once the gift list is closed the items are delivered to you or you can arrange delivery earlier.

We arranged to have our items delivered the week after we got back from our honeymoon as I knew I'd have real flexibility with work that week. It was a relief to have a little time to sort out all of the wedding chaos at our apartment before having the presents all arrive. Our little apartment was so insane when we left for our honeymoon that my bridesmaid (who had a key in case of emergencies) went in and organised one day because she didn't want me coming back to a bomb site. If we'd had the gifts on top of that I might have had a break down.

I was recently at a wedding where they'd had a gift list but requested that everyone pick up the item and bring it with them (which was a bit of a pain quite honestly after ordering online any!). It was a military wedding that had about 100 for dinner but more like 200 in the evening. The next morning the bride, groom and their parents were found just staring at the pile of gifts plus all of the flowers and decorations in the middle of the hotel reception completely overwhelmed. I'm sure it made for a wonderful photo op but one that I could live without. You can decide for yourself whether or not you'd enjoy that!

Anyway, the day of the delivery was arranged and I believe I was given a general slot of time related to morning or afternoon. The pillowcases and duvet cover that had been found in another store arrived the day before and had their own separate delivery slips. The gift vouchers people had ordered online (some had bought theirs in person and put them in their wedding cards) were also delivered separately a few days before, which was no problem because they fit into our post box. All of the goods were delivered well packaged in boxes by a helpful man and left where I indicated. At the time I was given a full print out of the whole gift list, what had been ordered and what had not been purchased.

It was upon opening all of the boxes and sorting through everything that I discovered the wine glass duplication. I took one box of wine glasses and my gift list information back up to the gift list section of my local John Lewis. It was not a problem in the least. I was given vouchers to replace the extra wine glasses and the woman even apologised on behalf of the store. I don't think it was their fault that our guests hadn't crossed the item off of the gift list at the Reading branch, but nice of her all the same!


CONCLUSION

Over all we found the John Lewis staff helpful and friendly. I hope this is true at all branches but cannot say for sure. We found the process fairly easy and the addition of the scanner really did make the gift list a little more "groom" friendly. The presents are for the groom as well so it shouldn't be too painful for him but it did make finding matching pillow cases, sheets and duvet covers more exciting for him. Other than the annoyance at being informed an item had limited availability when there were lots in the country, I enjoyed monitoring our list. The delivery and follow up after the wedding was very straight forward. It's also nice to know that John Lewis is one of the more secure options in the current economic climate.

As a guest I've also found it very easy to use and enjoyed picking out something that I know my friends want to have. I know how excited I got when our list went live and so like to go on as soon as I can to find something fun to buy so others have the same exciting experience. I was pleased that they found it convenient enough when they were our guests to use the same service.

Summary: A convenient gift list