Choosing a Registry
Every registry platform will tell you it's the easy one. They're broadly similar to use. They are not similar in what they cost you, and that's the comparison nobody puts in front of you.
The five questions that actually separate them
Work through these before you look at a single screenshot of anyone's interface.
1. Who pays the fee on cash gifts?
This is the big one. Cash and honeymoon funds carry a processing fee, usually a few percent. Platforms handle it three ways:
- Deducted from you. A guest gives $200, you receive less.
- Offered to the guest at checkout. They can choose to cover it. Most do.
- Absorbed by the platform. Rare, and usually funded some other way.
If you expect meaningful cash gifts, this single answer is worth more than every design feature combined. Ask it first, and get the answer from the platform's own fee page, not from a review site.
2. Can guests shop from anywhere, or only from one store?
Two models. Universal registries let you add items from any retailer into one list. Store registries keep you inside one shop's catalogue.
Universal gives you range and one link to share. Store registries usually give better returns, better completion discounts, and someone to call when something arrives broken. Plenty of couples run one of each and link both.
3. What's the return window, and when does it start?
Registry returns are often more generous than standard retail, but check whether the clock starts at purchase or at the wedding date. A gift bought eight months early against a 90-day purchase-dated window is already unreturnable when you open it.
4. Is there a completion discount?
Many store registries offer a discount on whatever is left unbought, usually after the wedding. On a large registry that's real money, and it's easy to miss the window.
5. Where do things ship, and when?
Some ship as each gift is bought. Some hold and ship together. If you're moving house around the wedding (and a lot of couples are), this matters more than it sounds.
Which type suits which couple
- You want mostly cash toward a honeymoon or a house Prioritise the fee structure above everything. Look for a platform that presents the fee to the guest at checkout rather than deducting it from you.
- You're setting up a first home together A store registry earns its keep here. Completion discounts and straightforward returns matter when you're buying a lot of physical things at once.
- You already live together and need very little A universal registry, weighted toward experiences, charity, and a small number of things you genuinely want to replace.
- Your guests aren't especially online Choose the one with the simplest guest-facing checkout, not the one with the best planning dashboard. Your guests will never see the dashboard.
- You're having a destination wedding Shipping timing and holding options become the deciding factor.
A note on how this page will change. We don't name specific platforms yet, because doing it properly means checking each one's current fee schedule rather than repeating what other sites claim. Fee structures change quietly and often. When named comparisons appear here, they'll cite the platform's own fee page and carry the date checked, and if any of them are paid links, you'll see that said plainly above the links.
Two things worth doing whichever you choose
- Add items across a wide price range. See what guests actually spend before you set the spread.
- Test your own registry link from a phone, logged out, as a guest would see it. Broken registry links are common and nobody tells you.