Lots of gifts vs hoping for cash??

If you have a very small registry or none at all, most people will just give cash. If that's what you're hoping for, maybe skip the shower!

I registered for a total of 70 items between two places. Our guest list was 225 people total, and the bridal shower had 12 people. Even though stores try to encourage you to register for “2 gifts per guest to give everyone options,” you really don’t need to do that. Register for some items that you would actually need/use (toaster, silverware, plates, etc) and maybe a few random fun items that you wouldn’t normally buy yourself (we registered for a chocolate fondue kit - we never would have bought it, but it’s been really fun to have!) and that’s it. Once the registry items “run out,” don’t add more. Most people will figure out if your registry has limited items that you prefer cash.

If you really want cash, decline a shower and put together just a tiny registry for those who prefer to give physical gifts at your wedding. You could even include tools on it! 😊

Good luck with the renos. My husband and I gutted our house, took down walls, did almost everything ourselves and they say if you can make it through a renovation together, you can make it through anything!

I would definitely make a registry. There will always be people who will want to give you tangible gifts. And trust me, you would think that if you don't register then people will take the hint and give you cash, right? Well, people don't take hints lol. You will get a billion texts asking "where are you registered?!" and you can't exactly answer by saying "we aren't, please give us money!"

Also, you'll get people who see no registry, don't ask, and just pick something out themselves. Then you're stuck with things you don't want.

My advice is to have a small registry with things you actually want. Even if you'd prefer the money (who wouldn't!) then you'll at least get some useful things. The more home items that you get from your registry, the more money you guys will be able to save for your home and your repairs!

Also consider a honeymoon fund! While flat out asking for money is tacky, I feel like honeymoon funds are kind of the way out! We used Traveler's Joy and "registered" for different items on our honeymoon.... "swimming with dolphins" "snorkeling adventure" "dinner by the ocean" "cocktails by the pool" "cabana rental" "balcony room upgrade" etc. Of course, in order to NOT be rude about this, you have to make sure these are things that you'll actually do, and that you'll take photos and send them to the gift-givers! We've gotten over $1000 on our honeymoon registry so far... people have told us they loved that they got to treat us to an experience rather than treating us to a toaster or a blender or something. Of course, if you do have a honeymoon fund, I would still also have a small registry on another site with tangible items because again, there will always be guests who are traditional and REALLY want to get you that toaster! Lol.

I am in the same boat as you

You can also register at home Depot or Lowe's I think

We also didn't really see a need for 'gifts' so we had a very small registry (about 13 items). I didn't want any, but was talked into it for more traditional people. Which is funny since we only registered on Amazon... which isn't exactly 'tradition'! Anyways... our wedding party was a bit conflicted about the bridal shower and wanted to know what we actually wanted. We told them that we didn't really want 'stuff' they spread the message. We definitely didn't really get gifts (only from like 3 ppl who weren't really in contact with the wedding party).

It definitely works! But it's best if the message is also sent word of mouth.

Where I'm from, everyone (almost everyone) gives cash for wedding gifts. Showers are for physical gifts. FH owns our home. When my aunt made our bridal shower invitations, she also put on there that we appreciate lowes giftcards. We had registries at Target and Macy's. My mom invited maybe 29 people to my shower. I think we had about 25 attendees. Some people who didn't come sent gifts too. I think we got like 650 dollars in lowes gift cards! Plus a lot of gifts and a few hundred dollars in cash. Everyone was really generous. If you feel weird directing people towards cash you could ask for giftcards towards home improvement. We haven't had our wedding yet.

We bought a house after we got engaged too, and have been renovating it ever since while wedding planning! We have an Amazon registry. It was perfect for us, we put normal stuff but then things like light fixtures, outlets, faucets, etc. for our home renovation. We put 90 gifts and invited 223 people (around 100+ households). That included my shower gifts. I thought it was enough to please traditional gift givers and everyone else can gift cash.

In my culture most people give cash. But I created a honeymoon fund for my honeymoon which is super common now. But I did it also because I had already gotten all the possible home goods I would need. however when creating my registry I did see options for a cash fund for anything. I have seen someone even do one for a fund towards their dream home/renovations. A lot of people do tend to gift cash if there is not much on the registry.

View Quoted Comment Does Travelers Joy work for all honeymoons? I'm asking because were going on a cruise, the day after the wedding, and bc we already live together, we literally have everything. EVERYTHING! We both had like 1.5 households and combined them almost 2 yrs ago. I still made a small registry for those tangible gifts, but would love to be able to do like y'all are!

I'm also from a culture where most guests will provide cash to help you start on your new life together. But not all of our guests are from our culture! I also understand it's awkward asking people for cash, but the truth is, it's more useful.

On our wedding website, at the Gift tab, we wrote "If you would like to give us a monetary gift, please make checks payable to ____. We are not registered at any retailer. Thank you so much!" It may sound tacky to some, but we have seen another couple use a similar phrase and many (if not all) of the guests brought envelopes to the wedding and had a little mailbox setup for them!

We are asking for whatever amount they would spend on a gift, as a gift card to menards or lowes. As well as money towards our honeymoon. I have a little mock card written up that I am sending with std or invitations that's a very classy, nice way of asking for this instead of gifts as we have lived together, and been remodelling our home, for 3 years. I don't get why so many people say it's rude. There is a rude way to ask and a nice way.... It's a friggen wedding, yes, people expect gifts. 🤷

You can register on blueprint and receive cash. People can donate any amount they would like and also donate to a New home fund in lieu of actual gifts. You can also register on honeyfund

We did a good sized registry for the upgrades we needed (towels, an instant pot, etc) and only mentioned it on the shower invite. If anyone asked we let them know we were registered on Amazon but very few did. We came home with way more cash than anticipated!

We skipped the registry all together. Most people gave us gift cards to Lowe's and Home Depot.

Yay! Welcome to stress! We started the homebuying process 2 days after we got engaged. So stressful! I'd say register for a small number of items and hope people take the hint.

Even if family members get you a gift for your shower typically they will still give you cash for the wedding. Traditionally family are the ones who would give you the most money. I am not concerned with this at all and I put tons of kitchen upgrades and appliances on mine. A bridal shower and the wedding are separate. If a friend group couple is invited and the female gets you a $40 shower gift you think they are done giving a gift? I wouldn't be, to me that's not enough. Now if your friend spends $200 on your shower gift, they're probably done lol. You could pick specific stores for home renovating gifts/gift cards.

I'm going to a bridal shower this weekend, & the bride did something that I thought was really cool. They want gifts for their EU trip - instead of just doing a honeyfund for the EU trip, she actually broke down the funds to different things. Like dinner in France, or airfare, or a museum tour, or a pasta making class in Italy. It was nice, because I felt like I was gifting towards a more tangible thing than simply the trip.

We had around 150 things on our registry. Everything was purchased before the wedding and at the wedding we received nothing but cash and checks. In our experience everyone bought multiple gifts for the shower.