The wedding gift industry is as booming as ever: A whopping $19 billion is spent annually on wedding registries, and the average gift costs somewhere between $70 and $90. With so many options out there, how do you know which are the best wedding registry websites?
The average bride has a minimum of four registries. As retail has shifted more and more towards e-commerce, the days of registry guns are quickly passing, and in are the days of “add to favorites” and “add to wishlist.” Of course, some traditional stores (including a few of our favorites) still enable brides-to-be to register in person, but often the technology is outdated and the outcome is less than ideal, as a majority of guests would rather purchase a gift online and in-store inventory does not always match online inventory. For gift givers and brides-to-be, it’s much easier to search and add items from the comfort of your home than bother with in-store dealings.
Additionally, nowadays brides don’t have to register for just physical goods – they can ask their guests to help fund the honeymoon, chip in on a down payment on a house, pay for the first-anniversary dinner or all of the above (and more). Plus, wedding registry websites are no longer just about the registry and can help couples with everything from creating a personalized wedding website to reminding them to send thank you notes.
With so many wedding websites out there, it can be hard to narrow them down. Here’s our roundup of the best wedding registry websites in 2018:
5.) Traveler’s Joy
Traveler’s Joy enables couples to register for honeymoon experiences.
Would you rather a new china pattern or a trip to China? If the latter, you should consider registering with Traveler’s Joy, a relatively new site that enables couples to register for honeymoon experiences. In our opinion, this is one of the best wedding websites (if not the best) for travel junkies.
As couples are moving away from traditional registries and gifts, many are turning to websites that enable them to ask for experiences. While cash is always a great and much-appreciated gift, couples often feel funny asking for it, and the gift giver feels awkward giving it. How much do you give? Will the couple use it for something celebratory, or just put it in the bank? While the later is certainly good, gift givers often like to see their gifts in action and see the couple enjoying it.
Traveler’s Joy not only helps couples plan their honeymoons but enables their guests to contribute to it. You can create the entire trip itinerary: the flight, the hotels, a tour of the Great Wall, even the restaurants you’d like to try, and guests can select which part of the trip they would like to contribute to. Couples have been surprised with how generous their guests are when contributing to honeymoons vs. just cash.
Because Traveler’s Joy is a registry service and not a travel agency, you’re not tied to any specific airline or hotel chain and can still select the most cost-effective deals. The site is perfect for both novice travelers as well as experienced, thus is one of the best wedding websites for those seeking an amazing honeymoon but perhaps lack the funds. If you know exactly where you want to go and what you want to do, you can create your registry around that. However, if you know you want to go to the beach but don’t know where. the Instant Registries feature can aid in the process. Based on themes such as mountain or beach, as well as destinations such as Rome, Bali or London, you can have a preset base and recommendations and then add or remove any experiences.
