The best items for your wedding registry

Wedding Gifts – The best items to ask for on your wedding registry

So, you’re getting married. A huge congrats to you both. Here’s hoping your wedding planning has run smoothly so far. It’s time to start thinking about the gifts friends and family are going to shower you with. Yep, I hear you. You don’t want 5 toasters.

And what’s more. You might have been living together and have a ton of household “stuff” already. So how you do tactfully, politely ask for gifts that are going to add value to your lives as a newly married couple? I’m so glad you asked.

Here’s the Hey Lovers guide to Wedding Gifts and Gift Registries. It contains all the tips, hints and expert ideas you need to ensure your family and friends feel all the feels when they purchase you something special to celebrate the two of you.

Wedding Gift Giving circa 1975

A generation ago, wedding gift giving was a little different to today. Most couples would have a close friend or parent inform your guests where you held your wedding registry and your guests would head along to the store, choose something from the wedding registry list, then get it marked off the list so other guests wouldn’t purchase the same thing for the happy couple.

Once upon a time, you and your life partner to be, needed to head into a bricks and mortar store, fill out a clunky form and then wait to speak with a Wedding Registry staff member to slowly add each of those items to their equally slow system. Nope, it wasn’t great! And yes, fast forward to today and wedding gift registry processes have improved dramatically.

Wedding Gift Giving today

Fast forward to today and wedding gift giving lists look VERY different. For a start, many couples choose to have multiple gift registries with department stores or even online stores like AMAZON. Alternatively, you can ditch the gift registry idea altogether.

Instead of a formal wedding gift registry, many couples choose to set up honeymoon funds, house funds, art funds or holiday funds that their guests can contribute to. Others still choose to use store gift registries but the process for setting them up has become far more efficient and WAY less painful.

Another alternative is to ask family and friends to contribute to a favourite charity, special theatre or restaurant experiences or travel vouchers.

The point is, you should choose gifts that mean something to you both. Leaning on tradition and having a silverware set gather dust in your cupboard that you NEVER, EVER use, is not a fab idea. Choosing wedding gifts that you’ll use, consume or experience are the only way to go.

Wedding Registry options

The sky is absolutely the limit when it comes to wedding registries these days. That’s because most department stores and chains have digital systems which make it easy for couples to sign up and stock their gift registry with items galore.

Grab a drink or two one night and sit down on the couch to do a little research. You’ll discover homeware stores, department stores and online stores of all shapes and sizes that have gift registries you might love.

For lovers in Australia, here’s some gift registries to check out and get you started:

How to ask for wedding presents

Asking for gifts makes any couple (OK…most couples) feel a tad uncomfortable. But just as you’d never head to a wedding empty handed, neither will your family and friends.

That’s why it’s important not to keep your gift ideas one giant secret. You need to let your guests know what you’d like if you don’t want 4 air fryers. Yep, the air fryer is the modern day toaster example!

There are a few ways you can let family and friends know what you’d love:

When you send your wedding invitation, send a separate note about your wedding registry or wishing well
If you’re going digital with your wedding invitations, add a Gift Registry tab with links to your directories or account details if you’re seeking a contribution to your honeymoon fund or something similar
Let your parents or wedding party know what you’d LOVE. That way, they’ll spread the word to your wedding guests

Transporting gifts and cards from your venue to home

Getting gifts and cards back home after your wedding celebration is actually trickier than you might first think.

Firstly, you need to decide who’s going to help with this task. You don’t want to leave your wedding celebration with bags of gifts or cards in your hands. Not only is it tacky, it’s simply not practical.

So have your parents, a friend or your wedding planner (yep someone like me!) to bundle up your gifts and cards so a trusted friend or relative can take them home and keep them safe until you’re both ready to open them.

A quick tip – when wedding cards get separated from wedding gifts

A common issue that couples encounter is finding that cards have separated from gifts by the time they come to open those gifts. Sticky tape is great, but sometimes not that great.

Sooooo, get if you are the lucky ducks who get loads of gifts, consider having someone take photos on their phone of cards on presents BEFORE they leave the venue. That way you’ll know which card belongs to which gift even if the cards and presents get separated.

If you have asked your guests to contribute funds towards a honeymoon or experiences, you’ll likely receive loads of wedding cards from your guests. It’s a great idea to have some sort of wishing well, box or similar so that guests can leave their well wishes and cards easily.

Getting wedding funds into your bank account

If you have asked your wedding guests to contribute to your honeymoon or something similar, you can set up a bank account so that guests can transfer money directly.

Uncomfortable with this idea? How about having your wedding guests put money or a cheque inside a wedding card and pop it on your Gifts and Cards table at your wedding. If this is the case, and the money is designed to be used on your honeymoon, decide how that money is going to get into your bank account.

If you are heading away on your honeymoon the day after your wedding, consider asking a family member to deposit the money gifted to you into your account on the first business day after your wedding. That way, you’ll have access to your honeymoon fund straight away! Hello indulgent dinners and exotic cocktails by the pool.

Wedding Thank you cards

The wedding is over and it’s time to open wedding presents. Take your time and really enjoy this process. If you’re tired in the days after your wedding, consider putting this task off until you can really enjoy it.

Grab a drink, pop on some music you love and really take the time to read people’s messages of love and support.

On a practical front, have a note pad and pen with you or your phone if you’re a digital nomad, and note down what you got from whom. You’ll thank me for this tip when you sit down to write your thank you cards.

How quickly do you need to send thank you cards?

If you are heading off on your honeymoon, guests will understand if your thank you card takes a little time to arrive.

And I know that many couples find writing thank you cards kinda tedious. But it’s an important way to acknowledge those who spent your celebration with you. Kind words from the two of you will mean the world to those who love most.

Typically I would suggest sending thanking cards within 4-6 weeks of your wedding.

Some more wedding present experience ideas

Receiving experiences as wedding gifts can be super awesome. Here are some unique experiences that you might consider adding to your wedding gift list:

Cooking classes
Restaurant brunches, lunches or dinners
Romantic weekends away
Spa and Massage vouchers
Extreme sport experiences
Travel vouchers – Accommodation and Airfares
VIP Concert or Theatre Experiences
Gallery Tours or Memberships
A puppy or a kitten or another fury friend! (OK so this one is actually an experience AND a thing)
Animal/wildlife experiences
Learn to (insert your favourite hobby) classes

Need a hand getting ready for your wedding day? Hey Lovers can help. Get in touch and let’s get planning.

Alternatively, if you’re happy to go it alone but could do with some easy to use planning tools, head to the Hey Lovers Etsy store and plan your wedding day like a pro.