if you really don’t want to register, then you don’t have to. and don’t ask for stuff just for the sake of asking for it. then you’ll end up with a bunch of stuff you don’t really want or need. if you don’t think you’ll use china, then don’t ask for it. a lot of couples skip it. we preferred just having nice everyday dishes.
we registered at bed bath & beyond and macy’s.
bed bath & beyond was our main store and they are awesome! they have so many things, prices are reasonable, their customer service is great and returns are no problem.
macy’s was really good too. i heard their customer service wasn’t that great, but we had no problems at all.
i’ve heard target’s registry is a pain in the butt- items being discontinued often, items being deleted, etc. that’s why i chose not to go with them.
as far as going to to the store vs. doing it online, i recommend doing both. some items are online, but not in the store; some items are in the store, but not online. since you don’t want/need a whole lot, you may be fine with just looking online.
my husband and i needed pretty much everything, so we looked online first to see what each store had to offer, read product reviews, etc. and then we went to the stores to start building our registry. looking online first made it a little easier because we already had an idea of what we wanted (i had all my notes/lists with me), so we didn’t waste time trying to decide which toaster was better. i also took notes while we were in the stores, so i’d remember what things i might want to look into further or what colors to look for, etc…
it doesn’t cost anything to register, but it can take a lot of time (which is why a lot of people prefer doing it all online). some people do their registry a little bit at a time so it’s not so overwhelming. my husband and i did both stores in one day (we were long distance at the time, so we had to squeeze it all in during one of his visits) and we were so tired at the end of the day!
good luck! i hope that helps!