Many couples receive gifts that they don’t necessarily need such as three blenders or twenty different mixing bowls. Wedding guests usually want to give a gift to celebrate the marriage. Couples can use this time to encourage their friends and family members to make the world a better place.
Compiling the Registry
A couple can select a few of their favorite charities and list them on a website like JustGive. This allows the couple to pick more than one charity, and the wedding guests can feel like they are making a decision in the giving process. At the end, the couple receives an e-mail confirming the gift.
Through the website, Changing The Present, couples can make a list of specific good works. Couples can put together a list that includes feeding a child for two months, building a shelter, and funding half an hour of breast cancer research. Couples can decide together what kind of good deeds they want to list on their registry. Wedding guests can decide specific item they want to fund.
Engaged couples can also make a list of good deeds that better the world on their wedding websites. If a wedding guest asks the couple what they would like, the couple can encourage the guest to complete one of the tasks listed on the website. Following is a list of good deeds that one could list:
- Bake cookies for a neighbor.
- Volunteer in the local library.
- Send a care package to troops overseas.
- Volunteer at a dog shelter.
- Donate diapers to a maternity ward.
- Read a book to young person.
- Give blood.
- Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
- Take get well cards to a children’s hospital.
Spread the Word
Many couples wonder how they should spread the word about their registries. Couples should have family members tell other guests about the registry options and couples can inform guests that ask directly. Couples should not include the information in their wedding invitations and should not offer the information if they haven’t been asked.
Model Good Deeds
Couples can model the idea of giving by choosing a feel good gift for the wedding favors. Wedding favors can quickly add up in cost. A couple could choose to make a donation in the name of each guest and put a card at each guest’s place setting to tell them that a donation has been made in his/her name. A donation of one or two dollars for each wedding guest can make a difference, and couples don’t need to include the amount of the donation on the cards. Using one's wedding day to increase good will is a great way to start a marriage.
