If you’ve attended weddings for friends and family members over the last five years, then you’ve probably noticed the growing popularity of honeymoon registries. Now that you’re engaged yourself, it’s time to strat thinking about why you might add one to your wedding website and how to build one that fits your needs.
Here’s everything you need to know about how to create your own honeymoon fund registry in three easy steps and make it look easy.
What is a honeymoon registry?
A honeymoon registry, also called a honeymoon fund website, operates just like a wedding registry that you would find at a big-box store. But instead of registering for toasters, vacuums and sheet sets, you and your partner will register for experiences related to your honeymoon, such as a romantic dinner for two or a fun excursion.
Honeymoon fund websites have become exceedingly popular among engaged couples because of their versatility. You aren’t confined to what the store has for sale or where you want to go on your honeymoon. You can design a registry that’s perfectly tailored to meet your exact needs, and you have all the freedom in the world to make changes and adjustments as you go along.
How do wedding guests use a honeymoon fund website?
As mentioned, honeymoon fund websites work about the same as a traditional registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond or Target, but there are a few minor differences.
Once a guest selects a gift from your honeymoon registry, they don’t actually go through the process of making you a reservation at a restaurant or booking a city tour for you. Instead, they’ll send you the money, and then you’ll go through the process of booking tours and hotel rooms. They can pay for your gift using a credit card or other common forms of payment.
How honeymoon funds fit into wedding etiquette
This solves one of the major etiquette headaches that many couples face these days: How to ask for money as a wedding present without offending any guests.
You know, of course, that you should never directly ask for cash as a wedding present. It’s considered rude and tacky, and it’s likely to make guests feel as if they’re only invited to your wedding so that they can give you a present. Making your guests feel welcome and respected should always be your biggest priority, so you and your partner should go out of your way to make all guests feel welcome and respected, no matter what gift they choose to bring.
But at the same time, let’s be honest: You might really want money as a wedding present. And that’s completely okay.
If you’re like many couples today, then you probably don’t need a lot of home goods as wedding presents. You and your partner might be a bit older, maybe in your later 20s or early 30s, and you’ve already ditched those uni hand-me-downs for nice dining sets and decor that matches your taste. You two might also be living together already, which means with your duel incomes there isn’t much that you want that you couldn’t buy for yourself.
That being said, you might also have some major expenses coming your way or you may be trying to save for a big purchase. Perhaps you’re paying for your own wedding and need help paying for the honeymoon as well or you want to save enough money for a down payment on a house soon after your wedding. If this sounds like you, then it makes perfect sense why you’d want to receive money as a wedding gift instead of those pots and pans that you really don’t need.
That’s where a honeymoon registry comes in. Instead of buying gifts that you don’t really need, guests can help you by buying experience-based gifts that will go towards your honeymoon. Imagine having your favorite aunt and uncle send you two off on a zip lining tour or having your close friends go in on a spa package so you two can get some much-needed rest.
How to build a honeymoon fund website in 3 easy steps
Now that you know what a honeymoon fund website actually is and how it can help you ask for money without offending your guests, it’s time to start creating your dream website.
A good honeymoon fund website expresses your individuality while making it fun and inclusive to purchase a wedding present. When guests come to your honeymoon fund website, they should feel as if you designed everything about it, and they should recognize your unique voice in the introduction and gift texts.
Going through the process of building the honeymoon fund website can also be a great bonding time for couples. With so much going on, it can be difficult for the two of you to sit down and really start planning your honeymoon. But if you have to create gifts for your big trip, then you two will have to start choosing hotels and looking for activities to do. You don’t have to book anything just yet, but having hotels chosen and a rough outline of what you’ll do on each day can make you feel confident about what you’ll be doing and what your expenses will look like. If you’re also paying for your wedding, then this alone can be a major benefit.
If you’re using Hitchd, then you’ll have access to tons of perks and benefits that you won’t find with other honeymoon fund websites. You’ll have cool features to make your website stand out, and you’ll have access to our many payment perks so all guests will have payment options that fit their lifestyles.
Ready to get started? Here’s how to build the perfect honeymoon fund website from the ground up.
Step 1: Set up an account
This is the easy part. Most honeymoon fund websites will ask for your name, your partner’s name, an email address and password.
That’s it. Some websites might require more information, but that’s all Hitchd needs to get started. Once you have that information in, it’s time to build your dream honeymoon fund website.
Step 2: Add your introduction and gifts
There are two parts to every honeymoon registry: the introduction and the gifts themselves.
Here’s how to add them both
The introduction
The introduction to your honeymoon fund website should accomplish two objectives:
- Welcome guests to your website and thank them for visiting.
- Assure them that they have the correct honeymoon registry.
A lot of guests worry that they’ve mixed up your honeymoon registry with someone else’s, especially if you and your partner have common names. That’s why it’s important to make it very clear who you are in your introduction. You don’t have to give away highly personal information, but you should include your names, a few defining references such as your hometown, your parents’ names or a pet’s name and some key information related to the wedding, such as the date, time and location. Guests can compare this with what’s on your invitation and feel confident that they have the correct honeymoon fund website.
You can also help assuage their fears by including a photo at the top of the two of you, but if you don’t have any good photos handy, then you can always use Hitchd’s stock photo library, which offers thousands of free photos to be used as you build your honeymoon registry.
Your introduction is also an extra opportunity to thank guests for coming to your wedding and any gifts they might choose to give. You can also invite them to browse your honeymoon registry gifts to get an idea of what you have planned for your big trip. Seeing your plans can help guests connect with your registry and make them feel excited to give a gift.
Not sure what to write? If you’re using Hitchd, then you’ll have access to our introduction templates, which you can use as is or rework to fit your story. These templates will save you time and help you put your gratitude and feelings into words.
The gifts
Now comes the fun part, adding gifts to your honeymoon registry!
As you add gifts, each one should have the following:
- A distinct title
- A thoughtful description
- A photo
The title doesn’t have to be complex, but it should make it clear exactly what the gift will be. Instead of titling a gift “tours,” be more descriptive by calling it a “Boat tour” or “Zip lining tour.” This shows more attention to detail on your part, and it gives guests a good idea of what the gift will be.
Gift descriptions give couples their best opportunities to make their honeymoon registries shine. This is your chance to tell your guests why you want to do this activity or stay at this place and then highlight what you’ll be doing or any other important details. If this activity means something personal to you two - maybe you met while rock climbing and plan to do that while on your honeymoon - then bring that out in the gift description. Doing so helps guests see why you chose certain activities and why they are particularly meaningful to you both. It gives them a connection to you and helps them see the gift not as a monetary gift but as an experience-based one, a gift that will create a lifelong memory for the two of you.
That’s a lot of pressure for a gift description, right? Just like with introductions, Hitchd also provides couples with gift templates to make writing easier. You can use the templates as is or rework them to include some of your own personal details.
To finish off each gift, don’t forget a photo. Hitchd has thousands of free stock photos to brighten up your gifts if you don’t have any of your own to use.
So how many gifts do you need? That mostly depends on your honeymoon, but in general, Hitchd data shows that having at least seven gifts is best. Of course, you’ll have more than just seven guests at your wedding, and some of your gifts, like airfare and accommodations, will likely be too expensive for any one person to give you. With Hitchd, you can break down expensive gifts into smaller amounts, so a $1,000 hotel bill could be ten $100 gifts instead. That means ten people can give $100 or five people could give you $200 each. This is an easy way to build more gifts into your wedding registry without having to create 50 unique gifts.
Optional: consider the cash fund
Some couples would rather not create a honeymoon registry at all and create just a cash fund or honeymoon fund instead. This means that rather than have a traditional wedding registry-look, you’d have just a cash fund where guests can contribute any amount of money that feels right for them. Hitchd users can easily build one of these honeymoon funds into their registries.
But having just a honeymoon fund can make your wedding feel more like a cash grab than a thoughtful, meaningful event. Having a fund without any individual gifts shows guests that you’re asking for only money as a wedding present, and they may feel offended by this. Guests like options, and having just a cash fund is not providing many options.
All that said, adding a cash fund to a honeymoon registry is perfectly acceptable and may be helpful to wedding guests. A fund can be great for those who give gifts too late after many other guests have already bought many of the items on your registry. If the only remaining gifts are outside of your guests’ budgets, then having a cash fund allows them to still give a gift but at an amount that feels good for them.
Cash funds can also be helpful for well-wishers who aren’t invited to your wedding but still want to acknowledge your big day. If you have coworkers who you’re close with or old family friends who you rarely see, then they may want to give a small gift so you know they’re thinking about you. Cash funds let them give any amount that feels right and doesn’t make them feel guilty for not giving a certain amount.
You can even give your cash fund a specific purpose to help wedding guests connect with it. Some couples create cash funds for down payments so they can buy a house or baby funds if they want to start a family right away.
Step 3: Choose payments and finalise your account
You’re almost done.
With Hitchd, you can choose from a variety of payment options for guests to choose from when buying your gift. A credit card is always an option, as are debit cards if guests feel comfortable connecting to their bank account. Credit card companies do charge small fees per transaction, and Hitchd does collect a fee for these charges. The money, however, does not go to Hitchd. It goes straight to the credit card company.
But there are plenty more options available to minimize those fees, such as PayPal and other money payment apps, cheques and even bitcoins. Don’t feel like you have to force anyone to use a credit card or expose their bank account when they don’t want to.
For couples, we recommend creating an account through Stripe so all of your gift money goes to their secure account where you can always access it. You’ll have your own unique bank account, separate from your regular checking account, and you’ll feel confident your money will be safely guarded.
Once you’re ready to launch your honeymoon registry, all that’s left to do with Hitchd is pay the on-time fee to use our services.
Almost all wedding websites charge some kind of fee for their services (and if they don’t, don’t trust then). Some use a per-transaction fee, which is a small percentage charged with each gift. Some couples pay this fee themselves, or they pass it on to their guests. At Hitchd, users pay once when they launch their sites, but they never have to worry about fees with each gift they receive.
You can ready more about these payment structures here, but know that with Hitchd, you’ll know your guests won’t pay an extra fee just to give you a gift.
As soon as you’ve finalised your account, your honeymoon registry will launch.
Building your own honeymoon registry can seem daunting, but when you sit down to do the work, you’d be surprised how fast time flies. Plus, you and your partner will get to dream big for your future trip and start building excitement for that night on the town or that deep sea scuba trip. When you combine a honeymoon registry with your wedding website, you set yourself up for a successful wedding and a stress-free experience for your guests.
Ready to go? Get started with Hitchd here.
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