License & Registration, please

Ok, so maybe we don't quite have our marriage license yet - one thing at a time.

We are, however, diligently working on our registry!

There are obviously a million and one ways to make your registry, and even more things to put on the registry. Ever the joker, Mr. Cubbie intro'd our registry as follows:

"Hi! When we're not out galavanting around the universe, we have realized that we need a few basic things for our house/life. Things like sea kayaks and industrial grade baking supplies. Here is a short list of things we would really appreciate."

Like many couples, we really don't need the basics anymore. We have plates (from college), we have a couch, we have linens (from college)... what else is normal for a bride & groom to get? The only things we don't have are the things we don't really need. Like a two person sea kayak. And a sweet kitchenaid stand mixer. Mr. Cubbie wants the kitchenaid almost as much as I do!

The other little snafu is geography. How the hell are we going to get all the crap from the wedding down to Chile? And if we don't bring it to Chile, where are we going to store it (really!?) for another two years?

When we move back to Oregon in a few years, we both plan on going back to school. It would be such a shame if all the money we diligently saved in Chile was bled into rent!

Realistically, what we need is help buying a house.

source

So that's what we're going to do - we're going to register for a house.

My super-cool friend whose wedding I showed you earlier told me an awesome way to register for (basically) money without paying The Man a dime. You do it all in google.

First - open up a google doc, but make it a FORM

Title it whatever you want, but "Mr. & Miss's registry" usually helps.

Add questions that are checkboxes, and fill in the blanks with what you want people to "buy" for you.

Here, we've made different "questions" be rooms in the house. Our guests can buy us the kitchen sink, a wall, the left burner on the stove - anything your consumeristic imagination could want!

My favorite item on our "registry" is in the Living Room - the window Jr. is going to break with a baseball, for a mere $100! I can't wait to see tha

t bought off the registry! ;)

On the bottom of the page you're working on is a link that says "you can publish this form here". This is the URL of your registry. All you need to do is give your guests this URL, and they see this:

When a guest decides to "buy" an item off your registry, they click the checkbox. This sends you an automatic email saying something like "Great Auntie Jo clicked such and such". You don't get an automatic deposit for said item. It's more like a pledge to give you a check. Worried about collecting? Don't. My friend said that this way worked really well. She said only one person flaked on paying, but they were older and didn't quite get that you were supposed to pay for the thing you clicked. We plan on including instructions for this alternative registry on our wedding website.

Realistically, we don't expect for our guests to buy us a house, but a good chunk towards the downpayment will definitely help.

Are you and your fiancé using a normal registry? Or are you having to deal with other factors (like geography) that will make your registry more unique? What's been your favorite alternative registry site?