Hey Hey! Hope you’re keeping well! Wedding planning has been going extremely well, no major hiccups so far and can’t wait to share my 3rd month’s progress in a couple of weeks time (be sure to catch my wedding planning task list from the last couple of months). Today, I want to chat a little bit about the topic of selecting a wedding gift registry. We haven’t done so ourselves yet, but I’ve came across a few options and wanted to see what you all thought!
The first question to ask is: Do we even need a Wedding Gift Registry?
I’ve talked to many couples, and many have opposing views. Couples that are about to wed and moving into their new home together for the first time find that a gift registry is a must to help them get their home furnishing started. Whereas, other couples (like Kyle and I), who have been living together for quite some time and have established a fully furnished home, feel that a gift registry is not too necessary. Therefore, the bottom line here is really depends on the individual couple.
I personally think that having a limited wedding gift registry is still a great option, especially for the bridal shower and for some guests who really prefer to send a physical gift. The good news is, there are some pretty unique wedding gift registry options today, there ought to be one suitable for any couple.
1. Traditional Gifts Registry
For the couple that are starting a new home together, a traditional wedding gifts registry is a great option. There are many brick and mortar stores that provide a wedding registry service. Ideally, 6 months prior to your big day, you should schedule a meeting with the store and flex those bar code scanning muscles! Now, we’ve not quite decided what option we are headed just yet, but here are a few stores we’re considering if we do choose to start a traditional wedding registry:
- The Hudson’s Bay
- Home Outfitters
- Crate and Barrel
- William Ashley
- Maison Birks
- Pottery Barn
- William Sonoma
2. Custom Build Registry
I’m loving the idea of a custom build registry. I came across Zola, a site enabling you to create your own registry online combining gifts from their collection, a funds option and well as any product from any other store you are able to purchase from online. Creating a Zola online wedding registry is completely free and the steps are super simple. Once you’ve created an account, add gifts from Zola’s store collection, cash fund requests or products from any online store. Zola also gives you the ability to customize your registry by adding notes for your guests and uploading your own photos. They also provide some pretty awesome options such as group gifting and streamlining gift arrivals based on your preferred date of receipt.
Though I’m loving Zola, the downside to this is it is only available to my friends south of the Canadian border. Currently, Zola is only shipping to US shipping addresses. If you’re pretty tech savvy, you can pretty much accomplish this same concept by adding some of these options via your own wedding website … this may just be something I’ll consider giving a try!
3. Experience Gifts Registry
Are you the couple that’s pretty much got everything you need at home? Or perhaps you two want to celebrate your marriage by sharing some fun, adventurous memories together? If so, check out Better Ever After, the “Experience Wedding Gifts Registry“. Put some fun back into your wedding registry by adding any fun and unique experiences to your wedding registry. Once you’ve made your selections, share your unique link with guests on your wedding website or via email. When your experiences have been gifted, all you need to do is plan a date night and have some fun!
Better Ever After currently offers a variety of experiences in Toronto and New York City (you can also request your own city). The experiences available range from Ballroom Dancing Lessons, Brew Your Own Beer, Introductory Sailing Lessons, to Food Tours. This is such a great way to spend to day together and celebrate your upcoming marriage.
Hope this gives you a better idea of what type of registry you may want for your upcoming wedding!
1 comment
Great post, Natalie. I like the idea of experience gift registries and nearly registered with one. But then I heard about Envelope Registry and ended up creating my registry there because I loved the concept. It’s basically a cash registry but you can add items and experiences which your guests can contribute towards. Once you close your registry, Envelope transfers the total amount to your bank account. I really liked the idea as I’m free to use the money however I want to – I can either choose to spend in on the same experiences I listed or just save it for a rainy day.