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.
