Gift Registry 101, Part II: Gift Registry Ideas

In a post earlier this week we discussed how the rules of etiquette apply to gift registry, but now it is time for some fun.

If you are new to the gift wedding industry-yes, it is an industry now-you might not be aware of all of the fun, new, exciting options available to couples. So, I’ll help you out.

Here are three types of wedding registries, with tips to help you decide which registry is right for you.


Traditional Gift Registries
Traditional registries include major department stores and boutique stores where couples choose items, aka-gifts, they’d like to have in their home. The Internet is full of websites that offer suggestions on what to register for, but it is important for couples to keep the following things in mind when registering for gifts.

- Your Couple Style
You may love pink satin sheets, while your soon-to-be spouse is more into camo. Well, unless you can find pink camo-and I do think I’ve seen it somewhere before-you’re gonna need to agree. This might be one of the first opportunities you’ve had as a couple to test your compromising skills and it is a great chance for you to talk about how you'd like to decorate your home.

- Your Needs
As couples continue to put off marriage until later in life, fewer newlyweds will find themselves in need of everything on that registry list. Don’t register for something just because it is on the list. Decide what you really need and select items accordingly.

- Your Guests’ Budgets
As with all of these registries, it is important to remember that your guests all have different budgets. Choose a range of items in varying amounts so everyone will be able to afford a suitable gift.


Honeymoon Registries
Honeymoon registries have taken off in recent years and more and more couples-especially those who already have set up a home-are utilizing these services. What is it? Well, it is just what it sounds like.

Couples choose a company or website to purchase their honeymoon from and make selections, just as they would with a traditional gift registry. More information regarding Honeymoon Registries can be found here.

Items many couples select include dinners, river cruises, excursions, carriage rides and accommodations ... molto romantico!

I like to see couples who choose Honeymoon Registries show their appreciation for the gift by taking a photo of them either at the restaurant or attraction holding a "Thank You" sign. The photo can then be converted to a Thank You card and mailed to the guest post-honeymoon.


Charity Registries
Are you one of those couples who has it all? If so, a charity registry might be perfect for you … here is how it works.

The couple selects a charity through an organization such as the I Do Foundation. When guests ask where you are registered, you and your friends direct them to the I Do Foundation website, where, in lieu of gifts, they can make a tax-deductible donation to your chosen charity.

It is important to keep in mind that conservative guests might prefer to go to a store and purchase a gift. For this reason, I recommend that couples who choose either the Honeymoon or Charity registry, also make a small selection at a traditional store. That being said-you know your guests and you can likely anticipate the types of gifts they’d prefer to give you. If you and your fiancé feel a non-traditional registry is right for you, then give it a go!

And remember … gifts *are* a fun part of getting married, but they aren’t everything. In 1, 5, 10 years time, you won’t even remember who gave you what, but the memory of who was there and how you felt on your Special Day will last forever.

Photos courtesy of lechampiondumonde, Carlo Nicora and Daveblog

Three Perfect Gifts for Your Almost-Perfect Groom

If you have made it to the gift-buying stage of your wedding planning, you’ve already scoured through piles of notes, gone through check list after check list and revised your budget form more often than you care to admit.

Yet, one seemingly small thing or another always seems to creep up and add itself to your to-do list. That one thing for me was the groom gift.

See … I’m not really into bride-giving-the-groom a wedding present-and for the record … the vice versa. I think this dates back to the days when the bride’s parents footed the bill and the happy couple had little to do with their extra income than splurge on extravagant gifts for each other. But times have changed. With most couples paying, at least in part, for their wedding expenses, this tradition seems like overkill.

It is one more thing you, as a bride, have to do.

It is one more decision you, as a bride, have to make.

It is one more place you, as a bride, have to spend your money.

Yet, people still do it.

If you have your heart set on buying a romantic present for you betrothed, then by all means-please do.

If you are like me and would rather spend that dough on something else, then I suggest you have a heart-to-heart with your fiancé. (Well, if you are really like me, then you are marrying someone from another country who didn’t know about this American tradition, so you’d have to tell him about it, then tell him you’d prefer not to do it.)

But the bottom line is to talk to him, discuss your budget options and either agree to forgo the gift-giving or agree to set a spending limit.

That being said, there are some great groom gifts out there and if you and your honey decide you do want to be gift-givers, then here are three perfect gifts for your almost-perfect groom.

Image by mstephens7 via Flickr

For the Sensitive and Romantic Groom

Custom Photo Book

Sure you will take a load of wedding pictures-and likely pre-wedding, engagement-style pictures-but compile some of your favorite photos from when you first met, your first date or your favorite vacation and create a customized photo book-just for him! At Photoworks.com you can select your choice of sizes, cover, fonts and pages and design a book tailor-made for your main squeeze.

I suggest adding a few text-only pages, of a cherished love letter, favorite poem or the lyrics to “your song” and a personal note about how you feel to be marrying him.

For the Life of the Party Groom

Personalized Lounge Signs

There is no better way to start your life together than with a personalized (with YOUR soon-to-be new last name) sign welcoming your friends to your new home bar. This gift is perfect for the groom who likes to entertain and will be a prominent reminder of your wedding day.

For the Intellectual Groom

Theme-related Bookends

If your future hubby would prefer to get caught up in a good book, then consider giving him a set of bookends for his office or home library. They can be displayed year-round and will be a constant reminder of your wedding day nuptials.

Are you and your fiancé exchanging wedding presents? What are you considering buying for him?

Wedding Gift Registry

I was at a wedding shower the other day and everyone was griping that the bride hadn't registered for enough items or at enough places. There had been a number of wedding showers for the couple and the lists she had were already exhausted - and the wedding was still several weeks away.

For engaged couples, a wedding gift registry service provides an opportunity to identify items that they would enjoy receiving as gifts. It also eliminates duplicate gifts in most cases and ends buyer's remorse, too!

Although traditional etiquette dictates that it isn't proper to announce gift preferences, most modern couples not only register at department and specialty stores, but indicate that they have done so. They often mention the stores' wedding gift registry websites on their wedding invitations. They do not, however, ever mention what gifts they want or prefer on the invitations - just where they are registered.

Many couples create their wedding gift registries and take them to the stores or list them online almost as soon as they get engaged - and even before the wedding date is set! Others wait until it is time for the engagement party (if there is one) or just before the wedding shower.

Most wedding registration lists are maintained via computer, so that as soon as family members and friends access the gift list - either at the store or at its online equivalent - and purchase an item, the computer removes those selections or announces them fulfilled. The registry is therefore current and the possibility of receiving multiple cheese knives is eliminated. Of course, if the buyer doesn't inform the registry of his or her purchase, the update is incomplete and the couple could receive several sets of cheese knives!

Most retailers still provide a personal shopper to accompany the couple as they determine what they would like on their wedding registry. I saw one bride gleefully walking around with a scanner in hand and a personal shopper trailing her as she scanned in practically an entire kitchen department for her registry.

One of the jobs that my mother undertook when my cousin got married was to check the registries and determine what was there. She kept a wedding and shower gift list of what was fulfilled on the wedding registry. Then, when she felt that my cousin needed to supplement her registry, she called and let her know. This way my cousin knew that she needed to let friends and family know what else she needed and wanted.

A wedding gift registry makes it so much easier for the wedding couple, for the families and for the friends! Sign up now!

Unique Wedding Gifts

I just spent a frustrating couple of hours trying to buy a wedding gift for Friday. The bride isn’t registered anywhere. The couple is combining two households and starting a third one, so in some ways they are getting rid of "stuff." That is all very nice, but doesn’t help someone like me who is trying to buy them a nice gift!

I decided that getting them a practical or traditional wedding gift was not quite what was needed. So I headed over to Pier 1 Imports and decided on a piece of decorative glass, artistically designed. It can sit on a wall or on a table and, if necessary, serves as a nice platter for hors d’oeuvres. With a nice, personalized printable wedding card expressing my sentiments, it will do nicely as a gift.

Just think, if I hadn’t procrastinated, what a really unique wedding gift I could have gotten the couple. Besides money, there is a whole host of gifts that you can give a couple who have everything!

One of the nicest, most altruistic gifts is giving to a charity in the couple’s name. Sites like Changing the Present™ offer you the opportunity to give gifts that promote worthy causes like planting trees, educating a child or adopting a tiger to stop illegal poaching. Not just the couple will remember your thoughtful gift, but the causes they help will remember the gift too!

If that sort of gift is too esoteric for you, consider other unique wedding gifts, from a cubist picture frame to a personal bath caddy or hall gallery wall frame. Other gifts can be a gift certificate to an upscale restaurant or a night at a nearby bed and breakfast.

Print out a wedding moneyholder card and instead of money enclose "coupons" for services or promises of work to be done for the couple’s new home – painting, lawn mowing, planting, laying tiles, etc.

Give a "Wine of the Month" or "Fruit of the Month" club or some other monthly variety membership for 3 months to a year. These are gifts that keep on giving for months after the main event and remind the couple of your thoughtfulness.

If you put a little thought into it, you can come up with some terrific gifts that will make what you give the bride and groom something that they can appreciate for years to come.