Call Kurtis: Honeymoon Registries: A Better Way to Give and Get Gifts?
If you've ever struggled with what to give someone as a wedding gift, a new trend may give you an easier option. Honeymoon registries allow guests to chip-in for the bride and groom's dream trip. But before signing up, couples need to explore all the options.
Newlyweds Emily and Devin Hurley lived it up for 10 days in Maui last summer for their dream honeymoon.
"The breakfast by the water was the best," recalls Devin.
Their wedding guests helped pay for the trip.
"People were so much more generous than I thought they would be," said Emily.
Living together before the wedding, they already had all the housewares they needed. So, they opted for a honeymoon registry instead of a traditional one.
"All of our guests... they're like, 'What a cool idea! We had so much fun picking out what we wanted to give you guys. A luau night or a sunset cruise,'" said Emily.
A number of honeymoon registry sites have sprouted up in the past few years. They let guests pay for everything from flights and hotel stays to activities.
"It is a real convenience factor," said Wendy Sipple, editor and publisher of Real Weddings Magazine.
Although, Sipple points out some of these sites charge fees, as much as 10 percent.
"But there are a few that I've seen that are completely free as well. Those sites make their money on different revenue streams," said Sipple.
Some of the free sites have ads on your page, while others require guests to pay through PayPal, which charges the couple a 3 percent fee. Emily and Devin used Traveler's Joy, which charged 7.5 percent.
"It was such a small percentage that it didn't really bother us," said Emily.
And they enjoyed honeymoon gifts they say were much more personal than cash.
"I think people feel like they were kind of involved in our honeymoon," said Devin.
Some honeymoon registry sites make you book through their travel agent, which means you will have to pay their prices. The sites like the one Emily and Devin used gave them the money raised. It was then up to them how to spend it.