Thursday, September 23, 2010

How We're Doing It - The Registry & The Website


This one was a little tricky, as people have varying views on giving gifts, and we really wanted to try to respect that.

That said, Mike and I have been together for over 7 years (most of you know that story), and by the time we got engaged we had already purchased much of the stuff needed for our home - wherever that wound up being. When we did get engaged, the questions about our registry started pouring in, so we knew it was definitely something we needed to take care of FAST (not that we expected gifts that early in the game).

I started doing research. What did we really need? Around the house, not a heck of a lot, although we could upgrade any number of things. But we didn't need anything - and with our new, charitable mindset, "need" is a driving force.

I also knew that the ultimate in charitable giving would be to either donate our entire registry to a charitable cause, or have loved ones donate in our names. While beyond noble - and maybe someday I'll be in a place where I can do such a thing - we felt like this was too much for us to do. This is probably the one time in our lives where we can be a little bit - what? selfish, I guess? - and there was one thing we did feel like we needed.

We needed help with the honeymoon. Straight up. Because this is what we planned on doing: going back to New Zealand as man and wife. Some of you know our love story, but for those of you that don't - Mike and I, after putzing around for a couple of years, finally fell in love in New Zealand. I was living there at the time, he came out to visit me, and he absolutely, positively, left with my heart. The place, the people, and the experience are a huge thing for us, and it was the first thing we both thought of when the question of a honeymoon came up.

New Zealand is a long way away, and it's an honestly expensive undertaking. We actually couldn't even allow ourselves to entertain it as a possibility at first. But as we thought about registry options, I remembered my good friend Jan and his husband set up a honeymoon registry when they got married. So, to make myself feel better, I did a little homework.

I read reviews. I compared prices. At the same time we decided to look into a website where our guests could find all the information they needed about us and the wedding. There are a butt-load out there, but there's one (at least) called the "I Do Foundation" through which you can build a website and link your registries. The tagline on their website is "Celebrate Generously", so the charitable part of my brain perked up. This site is AWESOME. It provides all the templates for a website, plus walks you through providing schedules, travel information, accommodation, and - the kicker - registry information. Here's the best thing: The I Do Foundation partners with various organizations to create registries that donate percentages to charity. So you set up a registry with one of their partners and, if accessed through your I Do Foundation website, they will donate anything from 3-10% of the gift to charity WITHOUT ANY ADDITIONAL COST TO THE GIVER.

Better still, they have a long list of participating charities, so you can choose the charity or charities that you feel strongest about - from world hnger to the environment to women's health to your local community.

What can we say? We signed up and built our website.

And the honeymoon registry? Happily, the I Do Foundation partners with Traveler's Joy. The beauty of a Traveler's Joy registry is that you can set it up similarly to a traditional registry. You can break the trip down into increments of individual gifts: $100 towards airfare to NZ, $50 towards swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura, $25 towards sailing around Milford Sound, etc. That way, people are giving us experiences, rather than money. And, if done through our I Do Foundation website, each gift gives a percentage to charity.

The site also gives you an opportunity to tell your story, which is really important when you're asking people to help you go on a glorified vacation. Hopefully, however, our friends and family can see why this is such an important trip for us.

*We also realized that some folks may not be comfortable giving a dollar amount as a gift, and would rather give a household item, so we set up a more traditional registry at Bed Bath and Beyond.

1 comment:

Grant said...

Thanks for the post, and congratulations on your wedding!