Honeymoon Registries

For couples doing a destination wedding or just a standard honeymoon, a resort registry can make a lot of sense. It works like this ? you register, friends and family give money to the overall honeymoon or to specific activities.

This concept has been around for a while and we looked into it for our own destination wedding. We briefly considered this approach but, at the time of our wedding, thought it wasn?t as sophisticated as we were going for.

There are two kinds of registries ? a general registry and a specific registry. General registries, such as the numerous websites all over the Internet, don?t provide services for specific businesses/locations. They charge fees (some are pretty hefty at 9%) for the opportunity and then commit you to working with their ?partner companies? (presumably they get a kickback from the partner companies as well). It just feels kind of cheap. And be extra weary, as some of these companies spam your guest list with repeated pleas to pony up cash (very obnoxious!).

The other kind of registry is specific to a business. Companies like Starwood, Marriott and Hyatt all have specific registries that help couples offset aspects of their honeymoon or destination wedding experience. And over the last 5 years or so, these registries have evolved into fairly classy affairs. One that we like is the Hyatt Registry because it is well run, professional and classy. It gives friends and relatives an opportunity to offset activities you might not otherwise do, but it doesn?t have a high-pressure sales pitch feel.

Regardless of whether you do a registry or not, or what kind of registry you do, you should thoroughly research it. These registries work well to offset your existing plans. You could ultimately wind up paying more if you committed to something just because of the registry. So be smart and ask some key questions to ask: Do you need to pay for the honeymoon upfront? What kind of fees do they charge? Does it lock you into working with specific vendors? How flexible are they? Does the gift expire after a certain period of time (if you don?t use it all on your honeymoon)?



Copyright 2007-2009 Ulimate Destination Weddings.Original source is http://ultimatedestinationweddings.blogspot.com

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