Wedding groom gift australia

When family and friends invited to the Lanier wedding started shopping for presents, they got a chuckle. The couple had registered at the Bombay Co., a small furniture store where the groom assistant manager.

For the Laniers and other couples, traditional wedding gifts such as dishes and silverware are less in demand. Many are wedding later in life or working on their second or third marriages, notes Doris Nixon, director of education services for the National Bridal Service in Richmond, which advises couples and merchants about current trends within the bridal industry.

Buying wedding gifts today definitely requires more savvy than in years past, when purchasing a pair of crystal candlesticks would suffice. "Every store on the block - the hardware store, the antique store - they all have bridal registries," says Nixon.

Typically, consumers spend $50 to $200 on a wedding present. But that money is wasted if the bride and groom can't or won't use the gift, says Lucenda Daniel, a wedding consultant who has advised couples on wedding etiquette at her shop in Washington for more than 30 years. Nontraditional bridal registries have been popular for a long time, but because couples tend to rely on the advice of friends and family to plan their weddings, it has taken longer for the alternative-gift trend to surface, says Daniel.

Mirrors, frames, plant stands - they're all chic in today's wedding market. So are kayaks, sleeping bags and camping lanterns, according to retailers who have sold the items as wedding presents in recent months." A lot of couples who are really active win register here," says Eric Reeves, a customer-service representative with Recreational Equipment Inc., or REI, an outdoors-equipment chain headquartered in Kent, Wash. One Virginia couple last fall registered almost entirely for camping equipment - they planned to spend the six months following their wedding backpacking through Australia, Asia and Europe - but REI has been offering registries since 1987. Within five years, the company took the registry on-line, so wedding lists can be accessed at any of the chain's 44 stores nationwide.

Some couples hope their guests think the sky's the limit - literally. Enterprising travel agencies even have established separate divisions that specialize in honeymoon travel. McGregor Travel Service of Washington not only offers a bridal registry, but also prints elegant business-size cards that conveniently slip into wedding invitations or engagement announcements. The cards carry a toll-free number that guests can call and use credit cards to pay for whatever portion of the honeymoon package they wish. So far, the bridal registry has been extremely popular. "This was very rare five years ago," says Francine Beifeld, manager of the downtown travel agency. "I can't believe how prevalent it is now."