Stephanie & Zack

When my husband and I got engaged, we were in an extreme long distance relationship — I was in Germany and he was in the United States. We knew that we would both be moving to New York City after two years apart, and decided to get married there as soon as we were back together. As a result, our wedding planning process was hectic, confusing, and accomplished via e-mail, Skype, and sporadic trips across the Atlantic. Creating a registry with SimpleRegistry was one of the easiest - and best - decisions we made during that time.

When we first set up our SimpleRegistry, we were still living on separate continents. We had never lived together, and a lot of our stuff was in temporary storage, making it hard to know what we would or wouldn’t need when we began our new life together. Since we were months away from even signing a lease on a new apartment, the thought of picking out any specific gifts from a traditional registry - with no fixed address to send them to - was just overwhelming.

We knew that we didn’t want to register with any specific store, we didn’t want the hassle of moving around wedding gifts before we had a place to put them, and we loved the idea of registering for non-traditional items, like large gifts and experiences.

When I came across SimpleRegistry, I knew it was perfect for us. Being able to pick varied contribution amounts for virtually any type of gift was exactly what we needed. We set up an account immediately!

Even though we didn’t go with a traditional registry, SimpleRegistry allowed us to ask for the traditional stuff. We registered for a gorgeous new stand mixer, high-quality wine glasses, and a brand new set of kitchenware for when we had an apartment. But we didn’t know exactly what we needed, and SimpleRegistry gave us the option to ask for a type of gift (e.g. cookware) without having to commit to a particular item. I loved being able to make those decisions - like whether to get a 11” or 13” cast iron pan — after the craziness of moving and the wedding had subsided.

We also loved that we were able to break down big gifts — like a couch for our new place — into smaller contributions. Ten of our friends, most of whom live scattered around the country, ended up contributing to the couch. Now they all have a special connection to our first apartment together!

But the best part about SimpleRegistry was that it allowed us to combine those traditional items with gifts like contributions to our honeymoon in the Great Smoky Mountains.

A lot of other experience registries I’ve seen make you pick certain experiences or nail down exactly what you want before you ask for it. But when I was finishing a masters degree, applying for jobs, planning a wedding, and moving halfway across the world, the last thing on my mind was planning a precise itinerary for my honeymoon. We wanted the trip to be carefree and relaxing, and stressing out about it was not on the agenda.

With SimpleRegistry, we were able to create a generic “honeymoon” gift option, allowing us to decide how to spend the money once we were in Tennessee - whether on a nice dinner out in the small town of Gatlinburg, on two tickets to ride the coasters, or to hear the Southern Gospel Music Festival at Dollywood.

Our wedding guests, friends, and family members also loved the fact that they were able to contribute so meaningfully to our new life together. We received so much positive feedback about SimpleRegistry. Everyone that used it loved how easy it was to use and that they were able to give us the things we really wanted and needed as a new couple - rather than a new toaster we probably wouldn’t have had room for anyway.

And after the wedding, SimpleRegistry made the process of writing thank you cards incredibly seamless, matching up the addresses and gifts of everyone that gave us something in one simple list.

I don’t plan on getting married again, but I can’t wait to use SimpleRegistry for a baby shower someday, and I will definitely be recommending it to all of my friends!