Locally-owned shops offer wedding registries with one-of-a-kind items

Cutlery, sheets and vacuum cleaners are great for your gift registry, but have you thought about how you and your sweetie will decorate your new place? In Cape Girardeau, many locally-owned boutiques offer wedding registries where you can pick out everything from antique lamps to monogrammed coasters.

"We have more unique, personalized items. They're more geared toward the couple, not just your typical towels and dishes," says Candi Winkler, owner of Sweet Designs Boutique in downtown Cape Girardeau. "They're personalized and tailored to the couple so they can keep it forever as a keepsake."

The best-selling registry item at Winkler's store is something that she makes herself: a 24-inch-long wood sign with the couple's last name and "established in 2013," or whichever year they're getting married. She also sells customized picture frames, platters with interchangeable parts and other home decor items.

Paula Haas, who has a wedding registry at Somewhere In Time Antiques, points out that many couples have lived on their own long enough to have plenty of kitchen gadgets and bathroom towels already.

"Couples nowadays are looking to make their apartment or home their own and unique to their style and personalities," she says. "They can find unique items here that they can't find anywhere else -- what speaks to the way they want to live and the way they want to decorate."

Once couples choose their favorite items in the store, Haas adds the registry to her website so out-of-town guests can view it, order an item or purchase a gift certificate.

When creating a registry, both Haas and Michaelyn Ross, owner of Bloom Studio & Gifts, recommend that couples aim high. Pick out anything that speaks to you, says Haas, regardless of price or whether you think someone will buy it for you. You want guests to have choices, and anything you don't receive you can put on layaway and buy for yourself later.

"Register for anything you would like," says Ross. "Don't let price stop you -- you never know if a couple wedding guests may want to go in on a larger gift for you."

Bloom is chock-full of unique items to personalize your new home, including bedding, pillows, aprons, ice buckets, coasters, doormats, koozies and more.

"We keep registries listed under both the bride and groom's names, so guests from either side can ask to view the registry when they come shop for the couple," says Ross. "Also, marriage is all about compromise, so take into account each other's style -- although we have found that the groom usually doesn't care as long as the bride likes it!"