Wedding Registry Help!

[tracynicole21]

So my fiancée and I registered through the Disney Honeymoon Registry and I was excited to send the link to our friends and family for our May wedding. Today, I realized Disney takes a fee out of all the money you get, and we basically need every penny we can get because we have a tight budget, so I decided not to send the link with the wedding invitations. I'm now wondering if there are any other alternatives to a honeymoon registry without coming right out and asking for money, which I don't want to do.

I have seen people say that most guests will bring money if they choose to give us a gift, and others say that we should still register somewhere in case someone wants to bring an actual boxed gift. I'm okay with that, but the only thing we want/need is stuff for our trip (money, gift cards, luggage, etc) things to make our trip more exciting and less stressful. I would have loved to register at the Disney store, but since that isn't possible I'm not sure where else to look. Maybe Target? Somewhere that Disney stuff is sold for sure. Any ideas?

The other issue I'm having is deciding what to include in the invitation to really drive the point home. For example, I was going to send a Disney postcard in each invitation with a handwritten note on the back saying something like if they decided to give a gift, we'd love honeymoon donations. After the honeymoon, I would send thank you notes with details about what that specific donation allowed us to do during our trip.

Does that sound okay, or is it tacky? Any other suggestions?

 

[lurkyloo]

First, I have to let you know that it is considered extremely rude to send registry information inside an invitation because it is like telling guests that they have to bring you a gift in order to come to the wedding. Historically, wedding guests have asked the mother of the bride (or someone else close to the couple) where they were registered. In the modern era, it is socially acceptable to put wedding registry info on the wedding website and then put the website address inside the invitation.

As to the Disney Honeymoon Registry, yes! The company that runs that registry (Honeymoon Wishes) takes a large bite out of all contributions, and I generally recommend pretty much any other registry if you want to get the most value. All of them charge the standard bank fee for credit card transactions only (usually about 3%), but many of them don't have an additional percentage on top of that the way the Disney-branded registry does.

• Zola (https://www.zola.com/) charges just a 2.7% credit card transaction fee, which you can choose to have deducted from your gifts or charged to gift-givers.
  
• Honeyfund (https://www.honeyfund.com) is free for a basic registry and check or cash payments. You only pay PayPal’s standard 2.8% + 30-cent fee if you choose to receive funds that way.
  
• Wanderable (https://www.wanderable.com/honeymoon-registry) charges 2.5% only on gifts made by credit card, and the couple can opt to pay it instead of guests. Purchases made from Wanderable’s experience providers have no other fees, but if guests give you money, you pay another 2.5% service fee.
• Traveler’s Joy (http://www.travelersjoy.com) charges no fees on gifts made by check or cash. The 5.9% transaction fee on gifts made by credit card can be charged entirely to you, entirely to your guests, or split 50/50. Guests always pay a 99-cent fee on checkout.

 

[tracynicole21]

Thank you for your reply! I haven't been to a ton of weddings and it's my first time doing this, so I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. I will look into those other sites and decide which one is right for us! Thank you again!

 

[rachel09985]

I did disney's registry and I am sooo mad that I did because I didn't know they took that much out! I was so mad I did it.

I would just make a website and include that link on her invite.

 

[tracynicole21]

I did disney's registry and I am sooo mad that I did because I didn't know they took that much out! I was so mad I did it.

I would just make a website and include that link on her invite.

I know! It's crazy… I mean you create the registry FOR your Disney honeymoon, it's very rare that someone would create a Disney honeymoon registry if they actually intended to spend their vacation in, say, New York City. All the money is going right to them in the long run.

Still not sure what I'll do, probably just send wedding invites and hope I have some generous friends and family!

 

[dduncan6er]

What percentage do they take for the Disney registry? I thought it was 3% but obviously after reading this it's much more.

 

[tracynicole21]

What percentage do they take for the Disney registry? I thought it was 3% but obviously after reading this it's much more.

They take 7%

 

[Clifton Tesh]

They take 7%

Yep, and I could not find that info anywhere on the site when I set up the registry.

Oh well, wedding is Saturday and ain't much I can do to change it now. I knew there would be a fee attached, but it would of been really nice of them to tell us it was 7%!

 

[epcotcenter1982]

Yep...I've received 3 wedding invitations which mention a cash preference (no registries at all...just cash) ...but unless you are from certain cultures it is considered VERY rude...
One was very poorly phrased putting it in the rude category I thought...but the other 2 were incredibly subtle...and given the cultural setting it was lovely.

I used the Disney one because it was fascinating and unique to my friends so some were absolutely thrilled to be giving to it and loved learning about the Disney locations. The huge chunk hits but for me I put it quite simply on my wedding website with zero expectations of getting ANYTHING. I only put it there as I knew there were two work friends who would want to give something and I wanted an option there without them asking.

I'd not recommend it given the fees...but it has a time and place so it really depends on your personal situation...