7 Wedding Registry Tips for the Modern Couple
You’re engaged — congrats!
Now you might be fielding LOTS of questions, including but not limited to, “Where are you registered?”. After all, your wonderful friends and family want to shower you with a gift that they KNOW you’ll love.
But with more couples living together before tying the knot than ever before, wedding registries have evolved quite a bit over the years. There are online and alternative options to help you build a registry that truly reflects your modern relationship.
Photo by Hoffer Photography of Shannon and Aakash’s wedding at River House at Odette’s
Tip 1: Look at what you already have that can use some updating or upgrading
Combined households often lead to a mismatch of things like bath towels, pots and pans, dishes, and more. Your wedding is a great time to get rid of your older items and upgrade to a more “adult” and cohesive style.
Assess the pans you’ve been moving around to see if it’s time for a new set. Or consider a plush bath towel set with extras for guests.
Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to include some bigger items on your registry
Bigger items work well for guests who want to go in on a big gift together. Think new mattresses, fancy vacuums, espresso machines, Roombas, luggage, or maybe workout equipment. Items that you’d love to have, but may feel like “a lot” coming from one person, are the PERFECT “let’s go in on this together” for groups of friends, cousins, co-workers, or neighbors.
Some of my favorite big-item additions to your wedding registry?
A Dyson – because you’re officially adulting now, you might as well enjoy cleaning.
Or consider registering for the infamous Roomba, so it can vacuum for you.
Prefer coffee? This espresso machine is perfect for channeling your inner barista for a cozy morning at home, or post-dinner espresso.
If you’re a couple that loves to travel, maybe a luggage upgrade is the perfect registry addition for you.
Or, if you’re a gym-loving couple that wants to have a home gym, you could add a stationary bike for all your at-home spin workouts.
Tip 3: Setup a cash fund for your honeymoon or other experiences
That’s right — it’s no longer taboo to ask for cash as a gift. It’s more in “how” you do it.
Your registry is an easy way to create a simple way for people to gift you cash. But, some guests may want to feel like they’re still giving you a thoughtful gift. Be sure to share with them what you’re looking to save towards.
If it’s money for your honeymoon, I recommend Honeyfund to break down your honeymoon into smaller ticket “gifts” that guests can choose to contribute from. (I appreciate that they have sample destination registries to give you some ideas of where to start planning your honeymoon.)
You can select from popular honeymoon destinations, and Honeyfund shows you a list of popular cash fund listings, from airfare to a massage for two, dinner at a popular restaurant at your destination, and other activities you might be interested in. The descriptions are really interesting, and allow guests to feel like they’re a part of your honeymoon planning.
For cash, Zola allows you to separate the cash funds into different listings — like a house down payment fund.
I love that you can also think outside the box here, and list experiences that you’d love to share.
For example, you could set up a listing for a Netflix subscription so that your at-home movie nights are covered. Cooking classes, dance lessons, concerts, and tickets for sporting events are other fun and outside the box ideas that help guests contribute to some incredible date nights to start your marriage with.
Tip 4: Avoid seasonal items
If your engagement will be longer than a few months, avoid registering for anything seasonal that will come and go before your guests are able to purchase it for you.
For example, cozy winter items are great but the ornaments you have your eye on might be sold out or unavailable by the time your guests go to purchase them for you, and likewise for summer grilling items.
Make everyone’s lives easier by avoiding anything too seasonal on your registry.
Photo by Hoffer Photography of Shannon and Aakash’s wedding at River House at Odette’s
Tip 5: Review and update your wedding registry before sending your invitations
If you’ve already had your shower, it’s best to give your registry a review and update BEFORE sending your invites.
This is when most guests will view it and decide whether they want to get you something from it.
This way, you can make sure that you still have plenty of items left for guests to purchase. And you can prioritize the items you and your partner would truly love to have.
Tip 6: Never include registry information on your wedding invitations
Speaking of invites, you should never include your registry information on your wedding invitations. (Shower invites hosted by another person are a different story and is considered totally okay)
But there are still ways to easily share your wedding registry information with your guests. The best way to do this is to include your wedding website link. If you’ve been following along here for some time, you already know that your wedding website is a great spot to include your registry links.
Wondering about what the heck else to put on your wedding website? I have your ultimate wedding website guide here to help you out.
Tip 7: Consider having guests donate instead
Truly have everything you could possibly need? That’s fair.
Consider setting up a way for guests to donate to a specific cause or organization that means something to you.
If your charitable organization of choice doesn’t have a preferred way to set up a direct donation, JustGiving allows you to set up a separate charitable registry that sends funds directly to your charity and allows you to customize the page to share why this cause or organization is close to your heart, if you’d like.
What a great way to make an impact with your community of friends and family members.
Snag More Tips
Want to hear more tips about building your wedding registry?
Check out Episode 67 of the Put A Ring On It podcast, where my co-host buddy, Dan, and I talk more about some tips and super-unique ideas for wedding registries.
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