I guess, most of us know what a Bridal Registry is, so it must
follow that we should know what a Honeymoon Registry is. Right?
Wrong!
We all know that when a bride and groom register with a Bridal
Registry what they’re doing is registering for the gifts that
they would like to receive. A shop, or shops, keep a list of these
preferred gifts and when a guest selects one they wrap it and send
it to the bridal couple’s nominated address.
But how does that work in the case of a Honeymoon, when there
are no actual gifts involved? And with whom exactly does a bride
and groom register? Considering that Honeymoons are mostly
associated with travel, would it be a travel agent?
For a moment we need to stop thinking about the Honeymoon in
connection with travel, and return to the original concept of
Registry as a place where a bride and groom register a list of
their preferred gifts. Even in the case of the Honeymoon, it is
still a question of gifts. But now, the Honeymoon itself is the
gift. And, instead of selecting a cup and saucer, or a kettle, as
a guest would in the case of the traditional Bridal Registry, a
guest will give the bridal couple a sliver of the Honeymoon.
To most of us, the newness of Honeymoon Registries makes the
process seem a great deal more complicated than the Bridal
Registries, until we realize that even Bridal Registries, familiar
as they are to us, are not necessarily exactly the same. A young
couple, starting almost with nothing, will have a vastly different
list of preferred gifts than a couple who have everything,
including their own home and half a dozen children.
One could almost say, that the Honeymoon Registry is just
another facet of the Bridal Registry, trying to accommodate a need,
that in the past was always considered the responsibility of the
couple concerned, rather than their relatives and friends.