This article, which appears in the February/March 2025 issue of Tableware Today, reveals when registrants open wedding registries.

What are most brides-to-be doing in January on a Monday at 3 p.m.? If you answered, opening a wedding registry, you’re right. January is the most popular month to start a registry, Monday the most popular day, and most registries are opened between 3 and 4 p.m. (Side note: While most twenty somethings have internet access 24/7 on their mobile phones, it’s interesting they prefer to set up their registry during traditional work hours. A win for WFH, aka work from home.)

If your store already offers an online registry service setup, you’ve likely seen this wedding registry wave in past springs. If you don’t have an online registry service setup, don’t worry. February is the second most popular month, followed by March, and you can quickly and easily offer local brides an online registry service. More on that in a bit. 

Our research extends to gift givers. Gift givers are most likely to give a wedding gift for $165 on Monday between 11 and noon. If you’re curious about what gift givers are giving (and what brides are registering for), you’re in luck. We track that and share it with you in each month’s Leaderboard. See the most recent month’s activity below. 

In last issue’s column, I shared why wedding registries are a surefire way to succeed online. Here I’m sharing that now is the time to act. If you don’t have an online wedding registry service, or need a better one, you’re invited to get your free software at my company’s website: shoplocal.org. 

In the coming issues, I’ll dedicate each column to an important part of improving your wedding registry service – from how you should set up your registry home page to how you can increase your checkout conversion. When you put all these pieces together, you’ll have your map to a successful and profitable wedding registry service. 

In 2025, your indie store can get oceans of new registrants and registry orders. Let’s catch the wedding registry wave together.