Three Modern Wedding Registry Alternatives

Serious question — what do you put on a wedding registry when you’ve already lived together for years? You could use your registry to upgrade homewares you already have (new coffee maker, new blender, new bedding) or ask for items for your shared hobbies (camping supplies, fitness equipment). But if the thought of adding more clutter to your life makes you itch, we love these modern wedding registry alternatives that let you dedicate funds that would normally be spent on physical gifts to the things that matter most to you and your partner.

 

Wedding Registry Alternatives From Nearlywed

The Good Beginning

The Good Beginning is a charitable gift registry that streamlines the giving process for you and your guests. Founded by Beth Helmstetter, an event planner and designer specializing in destination weddings, The Good Beginning allows you to choose up to three organizations that are important to you, then provides an interface for giving and tracking gifts all in one place, making it easy to thank your guests for their contributions. From Black Lives Matter and the ACLU to the Animal Welfare Institute and the Environmental Defense Fund, there are so many incredible charitable organizations to choose from. But if a cause close to your heart isn’t already on the site, you can add them and The Good Beginning will do all the legwork to set them up to receive donations.

“We simply believe starting your marriage off with the ritual of generosity is a good thing,” Helmstetter said in a recent interview. “The couples who work with The Good Beginning love the idea of doing something good with their wedding day and are the type of individuals that believe generosity is needed now more than ever.”

Learn more and set up your registry here.

 

Feather the Nest

Feather the Nest is a registry service that allows your wedding guests to be part of achieving your home goals, whether that’s a down payment on your first home purchase, renovating your kitchen, or adding a nursery. Each registry, called a Nest, works similar to a fundraising campaign. You and your partner will create a webpage with details about your plans and fundraising goals. Include the link with your invitations and on your wedding website, and as gifts are received, Feather the Nest sends you a notification and creates a log of all the gifts received on your profile, making thank you’s a breeze.

“Feather the Nest ensures that the gifts you receive add real value and functionality to your home,” founder Lindsay Oparowski said when the site launched in 2014. “Regardless of what your home improvement aspiration may be, Feather the Nest gives your loved ones the satisfaction of gifting you with something that they know will not just sit in a corner collecting dust.”

Learn more and set up your registry here.

Hitchd Honeymoon Fund

Hitchd is a modern, beautifully designed registry that lets you fund your honeymoon by registering for gifts and experiences — think Airbnb rentals, flights, hot air balloon tours, couple’s massages, and more — that wedding guests can contribute towards. You can personalize your registry to match your wedding aesthetic with photos, designer fonts, and flexible registry layouts. Guests can choose from multiple payment options, include credit card, Venmo, bank transfers, and more, so you’ll receive contributions conveniently and seamlessly. Once you’ve received a gift, you can even send personalized digital or physical thank-you cards.

Hitchd was created when co-founder Ollie Rozdarz was planning his own wedding in 2015 and wanted to create a way for his guests to fund honeymoon activities and experiences instead of receiving traditional gifts. “Using Hitchd, not only did my wife and I manage to fund our entire honeymoon, but more importantly, it meant we didn’t go into financial debt,” Rozdarz said in an interview. “In what is typically one of the most expensive times of your life, this opened our eyes as the most defining factor as to why someone would want to choose a honeymoon registry over receiving traditional gifts.”

Learn more and set up your registry here.

What’s on your wedding registry alternative? We want to know! Post your photos on Instagram and tag us.