In this day and age, giving wedding gifts has moved beyond the traditional Bridal registry at the department store. Most couples already live together and generally have everything they need for their home, so a traditional registry is not as useful as it once was. It’s more than likely that couples would appreciate contributions to a honeymoon, house renovations or the mortgage rather than household gifts, but how do you ask guests for cash when it is a social taboo? Introducing, Melbourne-based start up, Envelope, who have recently launched a beautifully integrated online wedding registry that solves the social taboo of asking for cash contributions when tying the knot.
Founded by Simon Baldwin and Tom Holt, Envelope aims to take the ‘ickiness’ out of asking for money on your wedding day. Couples create tailored items through the online platform that can range from miles of a road trip, snorkelling in the Maldives, Japanese homewares or a brand new barbie. Once set-up, couples invite their guests via the online registry to choose the items that they’d like to contribute to.
Instead of a conventional wishing well, Envelope ensures couples get what they wish for and in turn, their guests give something both personal and meaningful.
“It’s life’s moments that should be celebrated and remembered,” explains co-founder and General Manger, Simon. “We want to shift the culture of gifting by focusing on the memories that these gifts create.”
Simon first came up with the idea for Envelope when he was planning his own wedding. “My wife and I had everything we needed for our home, so a traditional registry seemed unnecessary. After spending so much money on our wedding, we wanted to find a nice way to ask our guests contribute to a honeymoon in Europe.”
Co-founder and designer Tom explains, “The difference with our platform is that we designed Envelope to maximise the experience of both the giver and receiver. Envelope isn’t an e-commerce website, we don’t sell things; we provide an elegant way to give and receive money.”
Envelope offers couples tips on how to curate a dream registry – from how much to ask for, to how many and what specific items to select. If a couple can’t find what they’re looking for through the online registry, Envelope will swiftly create customised items for you.
“We’ve helped one couple build a new kitchen, another hang art on their walls and plant trees in their yard, but my favourite is the couple who we helped to fund their marriage visa,” says Tom.
To celebrate its launch, Envelope is offering one lucky couple the chance to double their registry. To enter simply create a registry at enveloperegistry.com and you’ll go into the running to win. Terms and conditions can be found at enveloperegistry.com/terms.
Just discovered this site, so beautiful! My partner and I created a registry already, so many cool things to choose from!
This looks amazing – i just saw on their Instagram site that they are launching in the USA “soon”. Do you have any idea one exactly when it will be available, our wedding is in August and we want to send our invites out soon. Thx Jane
Hi Couturing,
Thanks for the beautiful article, I just wanted to let your US based readers know that we have just launched in America and they can now create their own beautiful Envelope registry in a few easy steps. If you are in the UK, we will be coming to you in about a week
Cheers Simon (Co-founder of Envelope)
Perfect case of stumbling upon the right article at the right time. Thanks! Checked out the site and created a registry immediately. Envelope is the perfect solution for desperate brides like me looking to go beyond the traditional wedding registry. Kudos to the brains behind the creation of envelope registry!
I’d say envelope registry is definitely up there on the cool scale. Definitely one of the best sites I’ve come across in my research of cash registries for my own wedding.
Envelope registry is definitely up there on the cool scale. One of the best sites I’ve come across in my research of cash registries for my own wedding.
Thanks for sharing this. We instantly fell in love with everything about envelope registry…from the gorgeous layout to the fabulous features.