Registry Facts
What is a Wedding Registry?
A wedding registry, also referred to as bridal registry, is a wedding gift registry. Registries are a way to coordinate gifts in order to avoid unwanted or duplicate gifts.
History of Bridal Registries
Chicago department store Marshall Field introduced the first bridal registry in 1924. This in-store-display presented household items the bride and groom had selected – like china, glassware and appliances for wedding guests to examine and chose from when making wedding gifts for the bridal couples’ new home.
The modern form of wedding registry was introduced in 1993 by the US department store Targets. This first electronic wedding registry was (and still is) based on a self-service terminal within Target chain stores across the United States.
Since the internet has become the communication media of our generation the options of managing bridal registries have been enlarged. Due to the internet’s worldwide accessibility wedding guests are able to access a bridal couple’s gift registry from all over the world.
European companies started to provide wedding registries in many different languages as a result of the increasing amount of weddings with international wedding guests.
Types of Registries
Retail Wedding Registry
Specialized retailers or department stores provide proprietary wedding registries which are usually free of charge. But bridal couples have to select items from the store’s product portfolio for their wedding registry.
Universal Wedding Registry
Today the so called universal wedding registry becomes more popular than proprietary wedding registries. A universal registry is normally provided by an independent internet service provider and odders a nearly unlimited number of products. Thus, bridal couples can include any gift in their registry they could possibly wish for. Universal wedding registries either charge a service fee or work with a network of retailers from which they earn commissions on gifts sold.
Alternative Wedding Registry
Due to the fact that people get married later in life the alternative wedding registry becomes more popular these days. There are different types of alternative wedding registries:
Cash Gift Registry
Most alternative wedding registries are a cash gift registry. Bridal couples receive the cash amount of wedding gifts and usually pay a flat service fee for this service or commission based on the value of the gifts made.
Honeymoon Registry
Due to fact that honeymoons are becoming more popular and also more expensive, many bridal couples have the wish to finance their honeymoon by using wedding gifts. A honeymoon registry is a specialized gift list that displays individual parts of the bridal couple’s honeymoon for wedding guests to select as wedding gifts. As with universal wedding registries, honeymoon registries usually charge a service fee.
Charity Registry
We live in a world where many people have neither a home nor good living conditions. Thus, it becomes more and more important to take responsibility. With a charity registry bridal couples are able to include charitable projects to their wish list.
We encourage our users to set up their honeywish registry as a charity registry
Due to the fact that many people need help we encourage our users to set up their honeywish registry as a charity registry or to include charitable gift in their regular honeymoon or cash gift registry.