If you’ve already set up home a traditional list might not fit the bill – could your interests provide the inspiration?
1. Viva la vino
With wedding gifts, there’s always a chance you’ll get carried away selecting products and end up with stuff you’ll never use (obviously not your teppanyaki grill though – you’ll have that out every Sunday). This will literally never happen with a wine gift registry. Whether you’re sharing a special red that’s been secreted away on your anniversary, or you’re sneakily rooting around for another bottle at a house party, it’ll be enjoyed regularly and used to the last drop. Corney & Barrow’s extensive selection can be wrestled down into a wine gift list that’ll have your cellars looking very healthy!
2. Wife imitating art
If you’d rather burn down your house than have a mass-produced Ikea print on your wall, use your big day as an opportunity to upgrade your art. Macgregor Fine Art carefully curates work from international artists and home-grown heroes to showcase an eclectic selection at its Glasgow gallery. Create a tailored wedding list by browsing the collection of paintings and sculptures and your guests can purchase individual pieces or club in together for some serious heirloom items.
3. Leaving on a jetplane
It’s all too easy to let your honeymoon slip down your list of priorities. When the wedding is on the horizon, you don’t put much thought into life afterwards – possibly why you thought it was prudent to put a pair of cream Jimmy Choos on your credit card – you just want to make it through the day and back into the black before thinking about a big extravagant holiday. Asking for money from your guests has become de rigueur, and honeymoons top the list for reasons why. With Virgin Holidays, you book the honeymoon before setting up your gift list, so your guests can feel part of your trip when making contributions.
4. A gift fromage heaven
Even the thought of cheese make you smile? Flip the script on the traditional gift list set-up and ask your guests for a monthly subscription box with Pong, who’ll deliver a yummy box of cheese every month. Not only will it prolong the wedding present excitement for a whole year, it’ll make your dinner parties the stuff of legend. Each monthly selection is designed to work together on a cheese board, so normally comprises a soft, hard, blue and washed rind variant.
5. Dig deep and do your bit
More than one invite has hit our doormats this year with the sentiment ‘your presence is your present’, but it’s a rare breed of guest that will actually show up empty-handed. If you genuinely aren’t secretly hoping for mountains of presents, or worse, don’t want to end up with endless wedding tat, consider asking your guests for a charitable donation. Larger charities may already offer a wedding gift service – Oxfam have even broken its offering down into ‘presents’ like a flock of chickens – but we love the idea of supporting a local charity, who will be much more touched by a big day fund. JustGiving is one of the more widely used websites for compiling donations, but MyDonate takes less commission, so your chosen charity walks away with more cash.
6. The sky’s the limit
Take a quality over quantity approach with your wedding presents by asking your guests to contribute to one big purchase that’ll make a big impact on your lives. It might be an item for your home you could never afford, like that pink AGA you’ve been drooling over, or it might be an bucket list experience you’ll never forget, like upgrading to first class for your honeymoon flights. Patchwork is a web-based service you can direct your guests to chip in their contribution, rather than leaving envelopes stuffed with cash around your venue. Let’s face it, with The Crystal Maze back on our screens soon you don’t want your best man tipping out the cash in the lift and grabbing a couple of hairdryers to recreate the final round.