We have no plans to ever eat off of fine china, our towels are aok, and we already have a Waterford sandwich tray (don't ask). So the idea of a gift registry was really not for us. But we do like money.
Instead of registering for housewares, we thought we'd ask for money. Which would probably work out mostly fine, but as I investigated the issue a bit more and got an opinion from my bridesmaid who's known me the shortest amount of time and doesn't know better than to argue with me about things like this, wedding guests looooove a registry, and a lot of people will want to get something specific that also shows a bit of their personality.
Enter: Honeymoon registry.
allposters.com
Just kidding. We are really not tropical vacation people - in fact, our dislike for heat is a large part of why we're getting married in January. We've known for a very long time that our honeymoon would take us to Paris, with an option on London, and while we've got the wedding budget pretty well under control, the honeymoon will be held together with nothing but good wishes. Which is where the registry comes in.
via a-t-s.net
We love this idea because a) it helps us plan our trip ahead of time to come up with various activities that people can sponsor as a gift, b) we really don't need much in the way of house stuff, c) these sites accept credit cards for the ease of our guests (either attending in person or in spirit), and d) we can also add a line item to our registry so that guests can contribute to the house fund, rather than the honeymoon, if they desire.
We don't like this idea because a) so many of the sites that offer this service are tied to travel agencies, b) many of them have cheesy interfaces, and c) almost all of them charge a service fee on the guest's gift in the form of a percentage. Ew.
Enter: OffBeatBride
One of my favorite wedding sites, though many folks there are a bit more offbeat than I'm interested in being (for example, I happen to like taffeta). I have somewhat conventional tastes, but I'm a free thinker. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.
OBB pointed me to BuyOurHoneymoon.com where fiance and I will eventually register for every fun thing we can think of to do in Paris and also create a house fund to which guests can contribute. They are not affiliated with a travel agency, so don't try to hawk that to you. They charge a minor setup fee to the registrants, which I have no objection to, and then leave my guests' gifts unmolested. I had some functionality questions that I emailed to their customer service people who were responsive, knowledgeable, and very nice. The service itself is very flexible and there's nothing I want to do with it that would be any trouble at all. In case you're nervous about sending your guests to "buyourhoneymoon.com," they offer a selection of vanity urls that sound a bit more genteel, including the-gift-of-memories.com and our-honeymoon-registry.com.
Bonus: Putting the registry together will also be a fun activity for us and our attendants!
Anyone ever used a site like this before? Was it a lot of fun?
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