The definitive guide to honeymoon registries.

Every year, wedding season brings a flurry of invitations and save-the-date cards to guests' mailboxes. In addition to the date, time and location, many invitations now include another line of information — how to access the couple's honeymoon registry.

Over the last few years, the concept of a honeymoon registry (or honeymoon fund has) has drastically grown among engaged couples. While at first it was mostly millennial couples seeing the light, older generations are now seeing the benefits of honeymoon funds and are finding their own ways to personalize them.

As times change, many newly engaged couples are turning away from traditional wedding registries and looking for a more creative way to fund their honeymoons. But while traditional wedding registries have been the mainstay for decades, the honeymoon registry is a little different. There's no store to schedule an appointment with, and most couples build their own honeymoon funds from the ground up.

Not sure what a honeymoon registry is or how to build one? Hitchd has the answers. Here is everything that today's engaged couples need to know about honeymoon funds, how to build them, and how to make them a success.

What is a honeymoon registry?

A honeymoon registry is a type of wedding registry that allows couples to ask for honeymoon-related gifts, such as airfare, accommodation, and activities. Rather than asking for your traditional toasters or blenders, a honeymoon registry asks guests to put money towards experiences and costs related to your honeymoon.

Honeymoon registries are more than just lists of wishes. They're housed on a personalized website that the couple creates. Most websites can include:

• A short biography, or introduction, of the couple's time together, including how they met, what they like to do and where they plan to go for their honeymoon.
• Key wedding information such as wedding date, time, and location.
• An RSVP section that allows guests to RSVP without sending in a card.
• The honeymoon registry itself, complete with details about the gifts and experiences.

In short, honeymoon registries are a polite way to ask for money as a wedding gift without making guests feel as if they're getting a shakedown. When guests know more about how their gifts and how they will be spent, they feel more appreciated and excited to send the happy couple on this very cool experience, whether it's a night at a beautiful resort or a zipline tour.

Honeymoon registries like Hitchd offer couples plenty of advantages. For one thing, they live online, which means guests can access them at any time and on their own time. No more cards to be lost, just a simple website where guests can get everything they need.

Couples also prefer honeymoon registries because they allow couples to focus on the trip that often gets overshadowed by wedding costs. As more and more couples pay for their weddings, funds tend to go to the wedding day itself, and there's less left over for the honeymoon. A honeymoon registry helps couples raise money for the big trip while still allowing them to focus on wedding expenses.

Get started with your own honeymoon registry. Start your registry

The Difference: a honeymoon registry vs a traditional wedding registry

A honeymoon registry differs from a traditional wedding registry, one most couples would usually create through a store such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, or Amazon.

Traditional wedding registries are usually made up of items for the home and yard. Most couples set up an appointment with the department or home goods store, and a consultant guide explains how the registry works and provides a guided tour through the store so couples can scan items for their registry.

Most couples use their traditional wedding registries to ask for things they'll need for their new home. Many ask for sheets, dishes, pots, small appliances and other home goods they'll need to help set up their first home together, whether that's a house or an apartment.

Traditional wedding registries, however, do have their drawbacks. Couples are confined to the items that the store carries, which can be limiting for some. No matter what store the couples choose, there will likely be a few guests who don't live near that store, and while online shopping is always an option, it usually means that guests have to pay for shipping costs. Not all store consultants are interested in the needs of the couple, and some can be pushy about scanning expensive items or items that the couple does not need or want.

Couples build their own honeymoon registries from the ground up, and while there won't be a consultant to offer guidance, many couples find more freedom is asking for exactly what they want. When selecting flights, hotels and activities, couples can write detailed descriptions about where and when they'll be traveling and include links to hotel and tour company websites. This helps wedding guests better visualize what they'll be giving to the couple, and it helps make them feel more involved.

What kinds of couples use honeymoon registries?

The great thing about honeymoon registries is that they can meet the needs of just about any couple.

Here are a few types of couples that build honeymoon registries through Hitchd:

Traditional couples

Hitchd sees a lot of traditional couples on its site. These couples don't live together before getting married, and they often still live with their parents. After getting married, they might live with one set of parents for a year or so while they save money for their own homes.

Honeymoon registries help send traditional couples on romantic trips where they can spend time together away from their families. These couples don't need home goods just yet because they'll be living in a parent's home for some time, so traditional wedding registries feel unnecessary at this point.

Modern couples

These couples are usually young and a few years out of school, whether that's high school or uni, and they've both been working for several years. These couples usually live together already, though it's unlikely that they own a home or apartment. Since they've been living together for some time, modern couples usually have the staples of a home already, but some of these goods are from uni and need to be replaced or upgraded.

Modern couples often like to create hybrid honeymoon registries, which means they create their own honeymoon registries, but they also register at one or two stores. These traditional registries are small, allowing couples to ask for just the items they want to be replaced or upgraded, and they provide an outlet for guests who prefer to give physical gifts. The honeymoon registry itself, however, is bigger and more robust, but more than anything, the hybrid model allows for plenty of options. Guests never feel as if they're forced to give money or buy a physical gift.

Mature couples

Mature couples are usually older than modern couples, often in their late 30s or older, but they're not mature exclusively because of their age. These couples have established their lifestyles and are therefore not in need of traditional wedding registry staples such as blenders and vacuums. Some mature couples have been married before. Others already have kids. Some mature couples live together before getting married while others do not, and if they do need to replace or upgrade some goods, they're in a good financial place to do so on their own time.

Rather than receive home goods as gifts, these couples would prefer to go on a fantastic honeymoon together. A honeymoon registry allows them to share the details of their upcoming trip with their guests and get guests as excited about the trip as they are.

Eco-friendly couples

Eco-friendly couples design their weddings with the environment in mind. They opt for non-disposable dishes and look for locally grown flowers for their arrangements. They search for caterers that work with local producers to plan menus, and they choose locations that are centrally located so guests do not have to travel far.

These couples are also concerned about the packaging waste created through traditional wedding registries, and they don't want to register for items they know they'll never use. Instead, they'd prefer to enjoy some quality time together in a place they've never been. Honeymoon registries help eco-friendly couples save money for their trips and build a honeymoon that minimizes harm to the environment.

Experience-driven couples

You know these couples. It seems like every other weekend they're off on an adventure, whether that's hiking or biking in a cool location or indulging in a more extreme hobby such as rock climbing or scuba diving. If you are this couple, then your phones are packed with photos of your latest excursion, and your family and friends always ask, “What's next?” when they see you.

Couples who thrive on going places together love honeymoon registries because they often save one of their biggest bucket-list items for their honeymoons. That could mean hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the United States or scuba diving along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Wherever these couples want to go, they use their honeymoon funds to help pay for that next grand adventure.

Create your honeymoon registry today. Get started

How do I set up a honeymoon registry?

Setting up a honeymoon registry can be a fun experience for couples, and they're relatively easy to build. If you can manage your personal social media account or build an engaging LinkedIn profile, then you should have no problem building a honeymoon registry. In fact, many couples build them together.

Here's how to set up a Hitchd honeymoon registry:

Step 1: Create an account

All you need to set up a honeymoon registry is an email address. You will need to add a bank account so that the funds have somewhere to go when a guest gives you a gift, but for now, you just need an email address and a password.

Step 2: Build your dream honeymoon

The great thing about Hitchd is that it gives couples the ultimate freedom to register for absolutely anything on their honeymoons. This includes the big-ticket items such as airfare or car rentals as well as minor excursions poolside drinks or taxis around town.

Many couples choose a less traditional route. Some book Airbnbs rather than resorts or hotels. They choose tours that take them rock climbing, snorkeling or kayaking through regions they never thought they'd visit. Having this freedom helps couples make real plans for their honeymoon and lets them look for activities that they really want to see and do.

Most honeymoon registry gifts include the following:

• A descriptive (Las Vegas Airbnb) or catchy (Seaside sips) name.
• A thorough description of what the gift is, which could include details such as how long you plan to stay at your Airbnb, why you chose a certain activity and what will make it special.
• A website link to your destination or activity to allow guests to explore for themselves.

Couples can add as many gifts as they'd like to their honeymoon funds, but the most successful honeymoon funds offer a good variety of price points. This makes the honeymoon fund feel welcoming and accessible to all of your guests, no matter where they are in life. Your grandparents and parents may feel comfortable contributing to big-ticket gifts such as hotels, but your friends working on their graduate degrees may only be able to afford to chip in for dinner or poolside drinks.

Couples need to be mindful of all their guests, so many find it helpful to break down expensive activities into smaller amounts. For example, if it costs $200 for a day-long kayaking trip, break it down into $50 gifts. This will provide variation in your gift amounts, and you won't have to create a long list of gifts to fit in different price points.

Step 3: Fine-tune the details

Before the honeymoon registry can launch, couples will need to add in their personal details. This includes a bank account so that the funds have somewhere to go and the currency to be used.

Some couples want to add a layer of security to their honeymoon funds by adding a password, which is usually sent out to guests on invitations and save-the-dates. This protects your honeymoon fund and ensures that anyone buying gifts is invited to your wedding. It is, of course, optional, so don't add it if you don't think you need it.

Step 4: Launch the honeymoon registry

Once the honeymoon fund is live, guests can log on and start picking out gifts. After purchasing gifts, the money will be held on Hitchd until the couple decides to schedule a payout.

Couples can include the link to their honeymoon funds on their wedding and shower invitations, and they can also share the link with friends and family members on social media and email. Some couples find it helpful to share the link with parents and bridal party members specifically because other wedding guests often come to these people with questions about weddings. If parents and bridal party members have the link handy, they can send it off to guests.

The nice thing about this structure is that guests can access the funds before their honeymoon, which means couples can begin making reservations and paying off credit cards. With so many expenses surrounding the wedding and honeymoon, having access to these funds can be a lifesaver for many couples.

Start your honeymoon registry today. Learn how it works

Thank your guests

After the honeymoon, it's time to write out those thank-yous. While some honeymoon fund sites differ on this, Hitchd tracks who bought which gifts and can help couples write better, more personalized thank-yous.

A thank-you provides couples with the perfect opportunity to tell their guests exactly how their gift was spent and appreciated. Couples should include when the gift was spent and what the experience was like. Through Hitchd, you can share photos of your trip, which can feel especially personal to guests who got excited about the honeymoon just by reading about it.

A word of caution: While writing thank-yous through Hitchd can be meaningful, it's still recommended that couples send hand-written thank-you cards as well. Not every guest checks their email regularly, and there's always the chance that an email can end up in a spam folder. More traditional guests will feel slighted receiving an emailed thank-you, even if you write out something sweet and personal. You don't want your guests to feel unappreciated, so to make sure no one misses out, send a physical thank-you card as well.

How can I make my honeymoon registry more personal?

The most successful honeymoon funds are the ones that tell the couple's story and engage the readers. No single wedding guest knows everything about each partner, and a honeymoon registry offers a cool way for guests to get to know different sides of the couple and what they love so much about each other.

That's why Hitchd always recommends that each entry, from airfare to dinner, should be written by the couple and include a few insights to what life is like together. Airfare, for example, can be a pretty boring gift compared to white water rafting, but couples can make it more interesting by including details about how they will spend their time in airports, who's more prone to running late and how they'll spend time between layovers.

It's also important that couples fill in their personal story. Many guests will know one half of the couple better than the other, so for those guests, a personal story can better signify how much this honeymoon would mean to the couple. All couples should include how they met, how long they've been together, any milestones that they've crossed together and what they plan to do after they get married. Many couples also include details about what they like to do together because those common interests are often highlighted in honeymoon activities.

Hitchd allows for a little extra customisation by letting couples choose their own gift and cover photos as well as wedding hashtags, URLs and welcome messages. Custom URLs make finding the correct honeymoon fund a little easier for guests, and a good, personalized greeting makes guests feel welcome.

Couples can also upload their own photos, so there's no need to rely on stock photos. For those guests who don't use social media, this is a great way for the couple to share the highlights of their time together thus far.

Can I use my honeymoon registry for big expenses like buying a home?

Yes, absolutely! Honeymoon funds offer unparalleled versatility, which means couples can style their registries in whatever way best suits their needs. Rather than saving for a honeymoon, couples can put the money towards buying or renovating a home.

For young couples starting out, a home is needed before toasters and sheets can be purchased. Some prefer to focus first on buying a home, especially because they don't know exactly what they'll need for their new home until they buy it.

Honeymoon funds can also be used by couples who want to renovate their homes. Some couples intentionally buy older homes and plan to fix them up. They get the freedom to design their dream homes, and the funds from their honeymoon registry help them pay for paint, plumbing fixtures and new appliances.

Any couple that wants to turn a honeymoon fund into a home-buying or home-restoration fund should follow the same guidelines as building a honeymoon fund. Personalisation matters, so take the time to write out detailed descriptions of each gift and include photos of homes you're looking at or rooms you plan to renovate. Of course, thank-yous matter here as well, so couples should still plan on sending thoughtful thank-yous.

At the end of the day, a honeymoon registry is what every couple wants it to be. For some, it's about saving for the trip of a lifetime. For others, it's about moving past physical gifts and focusing on spending quality time together. Whatever the need or reason, honeymoon funds offer customisation that cannot be matched by a traditional wedding registry.

Honeymoon funds like Hitchd put couples and their needs first. The sky's the limit when it comes to customisation, and just as each couple is unique in their own way, so too are their honeymoon registries.

Create your honeymoon registry now. Start your registry