How To Get The Wedding Gifts You Really Want

How To Get The Wedding Gifts You Really Want Article
by: Wendy Dessler of Honeyfund

We love weddings. We love the romance, the beauty, the hopes, and dreams of love. We shop for the perfect wedding, dress and the ideal venue, and create a perfect day.

But, there is one part of the wedding that is awkward and uncomfortable for the couple and their guests. The gifts.

Most couples today live together before marriage. If they don’t, they at least live on their own for a while. The days of getting married right out of high school are over. We are a new generation. By the time we get married, we pretty much have all of our household goods. Still, we find it awkward when our parents or grandparents ask what we would like for our wedding gift. Don’t even think about answering, “You don’t have to get us anything!” Do you remember the holidays when you ask your mother what she would like, and she said, “I have everything I need.” You know, and she knows, you are going to get her a gift. It would be so much easier if she could give you a clue about what she would like.

Honeymoon Registries
This is the very reason why you need a honeymoon registry. Honeyfund is the most popular honeymoon registry, and it is free. You can register with Honeyfund and create your own wedding site. Add pictures and messages to your family and friends.

Setting up your Honeyfund is easy. You can select your own designs, or you can use some of the popular choices that are already there. Many couples use their Honeyfund to pay for a Hawaiian honeymoon. Honeyfund has a pre-set Hawaiian Honeyfund package. You simply add the events/gifts you want. You guests click on the gift, use their debit or credit card to purchase it and it reduces the quantity on your list. It is just like a store registry. If you are asking for 3 nights in a hotel and your brother selects this option as his gift to you, the Honeyfund will reduce it to 2 nights in a hotel.

Honeymoon Registry Etiquette
There are some things you simply do not do. Let’s go through the basics.
1.   Do not mention your honeymoon registry anywhere on your wedding invitation.

• A gift should never be expected.

2.  There are three ways to let your guests know about your Honeyfund.

• Honeyfund provides a printable card that can be inserted in the wedding shower invitations. It will read; “The bride is registered at Honeyfund.com, Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and Target” (these are examples)
• Use of technology - send out a group message announcing your wedding website (You can use your Honeyfund site or create a separate one.) Post t on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter
• Word of mouth​--Ask family and friends to pass the word.​

3.   Be reasonable with your gifts.

• Your gifts should be within the $50 to $100 range. Don’t list airline tickets for two - $2500.00. Instead, break it up into airline miles. Example:
  --500 airline miles - $50.00/ Quantity needed - 50
  --Hawaiian Stargazing tour package $100.00/ Quantity needed - 4
          *Note to guest: the price of the package is $200.00 per person

​The Modern Wedding Shower
Send out invitations to an un-shower. Ask the guests to gather at a place and time for drinks and snacks to celebrate the wedding. Be sure to write on the shower cards, “Do not bring gifts.” Set up some laptops and pull up your wedding website. Enjoy a glass of wine while you click on the waterfalls, volcanoes, and resort you are planning to spend your honeymoon. You are sharing your dreams, not presenting a sales pitch. At the end of the evening, present your guests with small, potted plants (herbs work great.) Place a card in the soil that reads, “Thank you for helping us grow our dreams.”

Your great-aunt Martha may not go for that ‘Technology mumbo-jumbo.” That is okay. You can always use an extra set of guests towels. But, most people will. Today’s generation is using technology for everything from ordering dinner to arranging a car repair. This will just make things easier for you and for your guests. So, take a chance and step into the modern way of getting the wedding gifts that you really want.  

Photo Credit: XSiGHT

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