In our new regular feature, I'm talking to the industry experts about their businesses and their predictions for the hottest wedding trends. In our first installment, I've got together with Shelley from Buy Our Honeymoon to find out more about their honeymoon gift registry. I first met Shelley last year at The National Wedding Show were she was wowing visitors with the idea of swapping out a traditional gift list for a bespoke honeymoon and I'm really delighted she's taken the time to answer a few of my questions.
Hi Shelley! Tell us about Buy Our Honeymoon - what's the concept?
This is an alternative wedding gift list service for those couples who already have or don’t need yet more homewares. It’s an opportunity to create your own wedding list where you can add anything you want!
Most couples use us as a registry of special treats for their honeymoon, such as carriage rides or scuba diving, candlelit dinners, anything! Their guests then give them the funds to do the activities.
You aren’t limited to honeymoon activities. Many people add items from shops too. This is a great way to get the best bargains and not force people to pay for overpriced items. This isn’t simply asking for cash, which can feel very impersonal. By choosing specific activities and honeymoon experiences, it’s an opportunity for your guests to start you out on your married life on a once-in-a-lifetime high and creating a gift of memories.
Is the traditional gift list something that couples are moving away from? Why is that?
I think there will always be a place for the traditional department store wedding list — there will always be young couples who are just starting out but increasingly there is more diversity: older couples, re-marrying couples, same sex couples. It is very common for people who have lived together for many years to find it very wasteful to replace all their perfectly lovely kitchen appliances.
I think in these difficult economic times, couples are even more conscious of not wanting to be wasteful, making them more able to be honest about what they really want. And as weddings have become more expensive, it puts even more pressure on honeymoon funds!
Tell us about some of the things on offer through the site. What requests particularly wowed you?
Some couples are amazingly creative and their personalities shine through the list, I love that! One Canadian couple asked for sock yarn to do some knitting on the beach and some liver snapps for their little dog Emmy Lou, who wasn’t able to go on the honeymoon with them. I just thought that was so wonderful. Their list was extremely popular and you could see why: their guests could understand how person and individual it was to them.
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