Weddingbee Blog

Mr. Veggie and I have been a bit slow boarding the registration train. Well, let me re-phrase that. I have been aboard the train for ages now, not only aboard, but driving the train full-speed ahead. Presents? For me? Oh Yeah! Mr. Veggie has been standing in front of the train, chained to the tracks like any good protester, both hands extended, trying with all his might to stop the train from moving.

There are a few (very legitimate) reasons for Mr. Veggie’s protest.

Numero Uno: We live in NZ. Our guests live in the US. We don’t want to have to pay to ship things that are heavy, bulky, or easily obtainable here in NZ. Numero Dos: We need money, not stuff. Numero Tres: We are stating a non-profit and need funds… so I guess that’s the same as number two: we need money. Numero Cuatro: We don’t want to support consumerism simply for the sake of buying some doohickey on our behalf, especially if that doohickey has a huge ecological or social footprint. Mr. Veggie’s thought was that if we really wanted money only, than we were sending a mixed message by creating a registry.

I shared all of his concerns whole-heartedly. We definitely would prefer cash, and of course we would prefer our gifts to be ecologically and socially responsible and easy to ship. But instead of looking at the registry as way of promoting reckless behavior, I saw it as a way of promoting appropriate behavior (kind of like sex education in schools, “no glove no love”). If we only registered for items that we really needed, that were easily transportable, that we both thought were reasonable, wouldn’t that encourage our guests to avoid any legendary wedding presents bound for re-gifting?

Mr. Veggie wasn’t sold, but eventually my charming nature and wit won him over and he agreed that a registry would be OK, as long as we both agreed on the items. But then the question remained, where would we register? Oh yeah, and what would we register for?

Several friends gave us suggestions for “green” registries. We checked out 3R, Gaiam, and a few others that I can’t remember off the top of my head. They all looked great, and had a few things each that we might register for. Then I had an idea. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a registry where we could choose things from all different stores, and add our non profit to it, and ask for things like airline gift certificates?”

Apparently someone else thought it was a good idea, too.

Enter Wishpot. The answer to our prayers (well prayers might be a bit dramatic - let’s go with desires). We have added it to our wedding website with a note.

And guess what? People have already started buying us stuff! Presents! Green, small, light, presents! All for us! Woo hoo!

Did you have a non-traditional approach to your registry? What route did you go?