How to plan a long distance registry

If you're not having a shower you can probably get away with not doing a registry at all, people would get the hint and gift you with cash you can use on anything you might need. If you do have a shower then whoever is hosting can insert a separate note in the invites suggesting large gifts be sent to your home (think vacuum cleaners, heavy dishes, etc). We've done this before and just printed a picture of what it was in the card. Makes attending showers super weird since the bride didn't open any gifts... but it is what it is.

If you have older guests who are the physical "gift" types then do a small registry and supply your shipping information for the wedding. There's not a whole lot you can do if someone shows up with a physical gift to your wedding. You can try spreading by word-of-mouth that you'd prefer any physical gifts shipped to your home so you don't have to worry about flying with them, shipping them yourselves, or running around trying to return things before flying home.

We are in the same boat and set up our registry on Zola. That way the gifts can be sent to us. We are also going to add in the wedding details to please refrain from bringing gifts aside from cards to the wedding due to not being able to bring them back or having to ship them before heading home. We are leaving the Sunday after the wedding so there truly would be no way for us to ship them unless a friend shipped them for us.