Q. My fiancé and I already have the domestic necessities that fill most wedding registries. We’ve heard about honeymoon registries, but are afraid it will be complicated and confusing for our guests. What are your favorite easy-to-use honeymoon registries?
A. Thehoneymoon.com, started by a Minneapolis businessman who helped build Northwest Airlines’ Web site, is user-friendly and makes it easy for your guests to get excited about helping out with your honeymoon. “People have been collecting money for their honeymoons for years, but it can come off as kind of crass when people are just sending you checks or shoving envelopes of money your way,” says Scott Ellingboe, co-founder and CEO. “We launched this site with the goal of making it feel like the guests are doing something really special for the couple.”
Whether you and your fiancé know where you’d like to go or are seeking ideas, thehoneymoon.com offers couples a library with more than 90 sample registries. Cristina Grant knew she and her fiancé wanted to go to Hawaii, but relied on a sample registry to start planning. “We got lots of ideas from the site,” Grant says. Want to be greeted with flowers and champagne in your hotel room? Love parasailing? Surfing lessons? Guided hikes to volcanoes? A romantic picnic basket dinner on the beach? Put it on your registry.
Guests can also leave a personalized message when they purchase part of your honeymoon, so old-fashioned Aunt Sally can tell you all about why she snatched up a romantic catamaran ride. “So many of our guests were Web-savvy that buying us experiences for our honeymoon online wasn’t a big to-do,” Grant says. “I had lots of people comment about how cool a service it was, and how they were going to use the site when they got married.”