Gifts & registry

Hi,

I recently went to a bridal expo and they now have honeymoon registries where your guests can contribute to your honeymoon, was wondering what everyone thought about this? My partner and I have lived together for a while and have everything we need and as we are paying for the wedding ourselves, I was thinking that this might be a good idea as it will save us some money. What do people think? has anyone done this before? Or would a wishing well be better?

our weddig registry has a renovations/honeymoon/furniture voucher option.. like you we have many household items already and while i’m looking forward to upgrading our towels and kitchenware, i’m also looking forward to getting some extra special treats while i’m on the honeymoon which i can tell people they contributed to when i get back. i’m going through weddinggiftsdirect.com.au

Our honeymoon is going to be pretty expensive so we are VERY keen to do this as well! We’re only young and we’re planning on having a baby ASAP after the wedding, so this might be our only chance for a real luxury holiday for quite a while….

We are having a honeymoon registry because we really have no need for more household items and this seemed like a good idea.  One of my friends had a honeymoon wishing well – similar idea just without the travel agent being involved.

I say no (even though I know a hundred people will comment). It is considered rude to ask for cash which is what a honeymoon registry is. It is also kind of rude to ask guests to pay for your holiday. A wishing well also falls under this as well.

Also how can you plan a honeymoon when you do not know how much you will have to spend? Most bookings require you to pay for the holiday well before you take it. From reading a few some are very dodgy. Escape travels one for examples asks your guests to buy gift certificates or online vouchers. So if you only get them on your wedding day you will be stuck with these vouchers and the guest who thinks they have contributed to your honeymoon has not.

A lot of the online ones (not tarvel agent ones) take a cut of the money either from you or the guests and sometimes both. So your guest thinks they have given you $100 but you actually recieve $90.

A guest is not required to provide a gift (nor should they be expected to). Most will because they are polite.

Dont have a resgistry if you have everything you need and let you parents and bridal party know that you don’t need anything for the house. Your guests will get the picture that you want cash without you making the social faux pas of asking for it.

We are having a honeymoon registry as like you we have everything we need. I think that if I was a wedding guest I would prefer to give a gift which will be used, rather than something to sit in a box for the next two years unopened. Try to use wording which indicates that you are being helpful in suggesting ideas for gifts rather than directly only asking for a contribution. We are putting in not only the registry card from the travel agent but also another note from us to make it more personal.

Also, make sure you shop around and ask lots of questions before picking a Travel Agency to register with. You need to keep in mind questions about whether there is a minimum spend when you take your honeymoon and what will happen to funds not used on the holiday.

We are using an SA based agency who have been great. We get any unused funds put back into our bank account and there is no time limit on when we have to travel. Our rep has another couple who got married over a year ago but still havent decided on the right honeymoon.

If you are worried about asking for cash for your honeymoon (not such a big nono these days, but some grandma’s may be offended) then a good way to do it have the itinerary as the register. That way people are actually purchasing a travel gift, rather than giving money. People get excited about imagining you and your husband drinking the bottle of champage at sunset that they got you, or a scuba diving lesson, or a candle-lit dinner or a wine-tour. You will need to shop around though as only a few travel agnecies offer this.

I’m with J jaye on this too, whilst we’re actually considering not having a honeymoon or at least putting it off for a number of months after the expense of the wedding….I still wouldn’t consider asking my guests to contribute or pay for our honeymoon. I’ve heard horrendous things about travel registries, I think its Flight centre that do vouchers as J jaye said, but apparently lots of vendors don’t accept the vouchers and they have a short expiry so you have to try and use them immediately but if you’ve already paid for stuff up front then it makes it awkward. I also wouldn’t like the thought that I’m relying on receiving a certain amount from our guests to secure the honeymoon of our dreams… what if you don’t get as much as you expected & you have to downgrade? But that’s just me.

we have just found out that P & O do gift vouchers so we are going to put a small note in our engagement party invites – to do a “honeymoon” registry for wedding would be too late to use on the cruise as it needs to be paid about 6 weeks before hand.

I am having a honeymoon registry as a lot of my friends who are coming to the wedding have told us that they would much prefer to do it this way.

I went into Flight Centre the other week to enquire about it and it all seems pretty straight forward to me, they simply open an account for you and give you cards to include in your invitations or to hand out. Your guests can then call the number on the card and pay into the account. After the wedding, you and hubby go back into Flight Centre and they tell you how much money you have, you can then discuss where you want to go and how much extra you will need to contribute.

While I can understand that some people do not like these types of things, I think it is the couples personal choice as to what they do. IMHO I think in this day and age, where a lot of things are digital, a lot the younger generation expect to be able to pop online and pay for something rather than going in store to buy a present and I also think I am probably going to offend someone with something and my wedding, whether it be the fact that I am having a picture of FHs deceased mother up as a tribute (long story) or that Ia mnot having children paraded around for my benefit….it is my wedding and I will do it how I want.