Original Ideas for Registering

Whether online or in the store, almost 98 percent of today's couples will register for gifts at some point, and some brides and grooms are moving from boring to hot, adding electronics, travel packages, mortgage money, and stock purchases to their wish lists.

Cash
It's no secret that most couples usually count on receiving some cash as wedding gifts, which they often use to pay for their honeymoon or a down payment on a house, but it has always been considered bad etiquette to come right out and ask for money instead of appliances, or to ask for any gifts for that matter. However, the registry is simply meant as a list of suggestions for those guests who should be so generous as to buy one. Registering for such cash-specific gifts as stocks and mortgage assistance is the perfect way for the couple to get exactly what they want and need and for guests to know how their cash contributions will be used. Investing in the bride and groom's future is like giving them a beautifully wrapped present every day.

Travel
Help the happy couple with their honeymoon plans by contributing travel certificates, airline tickets, or accommodation upgrades to their gift registry. Couples can actually sign up for specific packages, be it whitewater rafting, a luxury spa, or a relaxing cruise. Even if the newlyweds have their honeymoon covered, travel prep ideas and accessories such as scuba diving lessons, language tapes,  new suitcases, camping gear, and a travel alarm clock or journal will be helpful and much appreciated.

Top Basics
After money, couples most desire brand-new dishes and cooking equipment with which to furnish their new home. Top-of-the-line pots and pans are still a staple of most registries, as are the 8 to 12 place settings of fine china. And to fill the home entertainment corner, televisions, stereo systems, cameras, even computer hardware and software, are all making their registry appearances with increasing popularity, even big-ticket items make perfect group gifts from the bridal party or an entire family. For those happy couples setting up their first home together, the basics are hard to beat.

Gifts that Give
Registering for gifts that give back, to the environment, to medical research, to youth organizations, to whatever the couple's favorite charitable or nonprofit organization may be. The bride and groom simply set up an account with a specific group and guests make donations in the couple's name. Whether it's to save some trees, protect the coral reef, fight against breast cancer, or send a kid to camp, newlyweds and guests alike will feel good about spreading the wealth in the name of wedding romance.