The wedding registry is a great way to allow wedding guests to pool their resources towards a more meaningful, and desirable set of gifts. If you decide to use one for your wedding and honeymoon, make sure to offer a wide range of choices on your wish list, and also make sure that all guests know about the registry, and that they are able to access it. If you convey your wishes clearly, and make reasonable requests, the guests are more likely to be able to make a gift choice that will benefit you.

Why Consider a Honeymoon Registry?

A honeymoon registry is similar to a wedding registry, although instead of helping people choose wedding gifts, a honeymoon registry would request that the guests contribute to the cost of the honeymoon. The idea is a very good one, and can be very useful in helping newlyweds have the honeymoon they have always dreamed of, but there are a few problems with the system.

It will require an early notice to all the guests, i.e. some three months in advance. This means that the guests would have to be invited about three months in advance, which will in turn mean that all the arrangements (at least the majority of them) be finalized and printed in a card some three months in advance as well.

In spite of the long advance notice, sometimes even several weeks after the wedding not all the guests will have joined the honeymoon registry. In that case it would be difficult for you (unless you can complement the rest of the finances) to really take up the honeymoon plan, which could be extremely frustrating.

The honeymoon registry takes a lot of effort and planning to set up – if it works, it can be a massive help in allowing you to have the honeymoon of a lifetime, but if it is not successful then you may find yourself rushing to make alternate plans, and disappointment is not the ideal start to a marriage.

Warnings and pessimism aside, there are some good reasons to try a honeymoon registry. If your guests like the idea, then it can be a very nice way to pay for your honeymoon without stressing your finances even more than they already are by the wedding itself.

Instead of getting five toasters, three juicers, and unending sets of china tea sets, you will be able to make your wishes clear about what you need from your guests. The guests could decide whether they want to join the honeymoon registry or not, based upon their financial capacity and commitments.

Should the honeymoon registry not manage to pay for the entire honeymoon, you will still be able to use it as a source of cash – if you treat it as a subsidy for the honeymoon expenses, instead of a way to pay for the entire trip, then anything that you do get through the honeymoon registry is a bonus.

Remember that you can use money deposited into the honeymoon registry for anything you wish – you do not have to go to a specific place, or even travel at all for that matter – you can use the money for any purpose, so if you pay for the honeymoon some other way, then the honeymoon registry could be used to help you set up home together, for example.