Travel Agents Gift List

Hello K, me old mucker!

We too are asking for money for our honeymoon as a gift. Even though we'vepaid for it and it's all inclusive, we have paid for any trips etc. We have wrote the following on our information sheet:

'Do you Have A Gift List?

We already have a beautiful home together but if you would still like to give something, US Dollors would help us on our honeymoon of a lifetime.'

We're only sending it to our day guests, most of whom have alreadyasked what we want and are more than fine with US Dollars..

Hiya

Never thought about asking for money in the local currency.... thats worth another route to go down perhaps..

We wanted to do it that way too KBS, but found all the honeymoon/travel agent ones take at least 9% of the total amount and can only be used if honeymoon came to something like 3k or over. So that is one huge percentage! We are now going to book direct as we are lucky enough to be able to include the honeymoon costs within the budget we're saving for.

OH is all in favour of setting up a specific paypal account and linking it to our wedding website. The website gives us the option of asking for money via paypal, traditional gift list, honeymoon experiences, flights, and also bringing money on the day.

It does seem more awkward to ask for cash, but since you can afford your own honeymoon anyway, why not put a line saying you would like contributions to honeymoon plans, and also have a traditional gift list too for those that do not feel comfortable giving money? That way if you get some dosh great, and if not you will get some nice gifts and not offend guests.

You know your guests and if you say they definitely want to know what to get you, then I would write something such as 'We do not expect any gifts but should you wish to contribute to our honeymoon fund please visit our post box on the day/website ***@********.*** or we have set up a gift list at xyz places.'

I like that idea mooey! We were thinking of adding a line on our information card to say something alone the lines of "your presence is present enough on our special day. However if you would like to get us a gift a monetary donation to our honeymoon would be most appreciated" or something like that.

How about asking for vouchers from the travel agent you've booked through. You could pay the balance of your honeymoon with them (if you're able to do that) and if you have more than needed, you could use them to book a mini-break somewhere later down the line.

Would it be legal for a travel agent to keep your money??? Not that we're having one but any honeymoon list for us would be free if charge and any overpayments returned to us as cash (Kuoni).

I really dont know the legalities of it all but the woman did say that any overpayment made would not be given back to us due to money laundering issues...

We booked our honeymoon with Blue Bay Travel (Tropical Warehouse) and our guests had the option of buying us Kuoni vouchers towards the cost. We just had to collect them up and them send them off to Kuoni to get a cheque refund to the value of the vouchers.

I have heard a lot of travel agents say that they can't give the cash back, but will instead give you vouchers towards your next holiday - this to me is just their way of keeping your money.

You can have an independent honeymoon gist list but these vary between charging a set up fee of anything from £25 to £80 or a % of your guest's gift from 5% to 15%!!!

Currency is easier and would be handy when you get there, we got a few envelopes with small change dollar bills which were really useful for tipping when we arrived somewhere.

Money laundering is such a big topic at the moment: as previously mentioned, I guess this is why (or a handy excuse) for them keeping your money, or only allowing it to be used for another holiday. I wouldn't be happy with this though.

However, I think I may be old fashioned in this, (and indeed you know your guests best) but I would never give money as a wedding present, even if it was asked for. It simple doesn't feel right to me. I can just about force myself to do vouchers if there is no other option!

We'll have the honeymoon bought and paid for by the time we send out invites, but with each one we are going to include a little poem card which we found on eBay...

'The most important gift to us is to have you share our day.
But should you wish to contribute in some other way,
then to help us on our honeymoon, in our chosen paradise,
a little extra spending money would be really nice!'

At first I was a little unsure about asking for money. But we really don't need anything else, and we're not inviting anyone who we wouldn't feel comfortable receiving cash donations from anyway. Infact, we're so stretched on budget that their contributions will probably mean the difference between eating in or eating out on our honeymoon. Though either way it's still going to be amazing! ❤️

I think asking for currency is a great idea btw!

I can and do appreciate that not everyone will like the idea of giving money (including some of my guests perhaps) and in that case I would expect to receive either nothing at all (which is absolutely fine) or indeed an obligatory cheap bottle of "champagne" that will most likely end up as a raffle prize somewhere down the line..

Its not that we dont appreciate a "bottle" as a gift but we like fine wines/champagne and just cant drink "vinegar" lol..

Some of my guests/friends have said that they have received a money poem in their invites from other friends/family member weddings and think they are a great idea... however, reading some of the threads on here, the majority "vote" is that they are twee or naff etc so I dont know how to approach it..

Oh yeah, it's definitely a little bit naff, but at the moment I can't really see another way of asking without feeling rude. Unless everyone asks us directly what we want it's hard to figure out a nice way to broach the subject!

If anyone has any ideas on how to avoid the poems it would be a huge help!

We wrote this at the very end of our extra info part...

Do you have a gift list?

We have already set up a beautiful home together and so we have gift vouchers available from our travel agent which will go towards our honeymoon of a lifetime! Gift vouchers are available by calling xxxxx xxx xxx and quoting our reference number xxxxxxx.

...It was so subtle that a lot of people missed it and ended up calling our mums anyway!

Can't you use the paragraph I used in the second post?

Sorry to sound dumb, but what's an 'extra info' part? ?

Yeah, I think I will be doing as I did like that!!

We're undecided what we're gonna do re-a gift list, however travel vouchers would be more than useful. I came across this poem.....

Please find within this poem
Information just for you,
With some rules and regulations
That we both insist you do.

Save the date of .............
Is the first thing to say
To share the love and happiness
On our wedding day.

The second one is vital
If you're to be our guest,
To eat, drink and be merry
Or do your very best.

The third one is an order
So don't bring two left feet,
As when the evening comes around
You MUST dance to the beat.

The fourth rule can be broken
We really do not mind,
But if you choose to follow it
Thank you for being kind.

We've been together for a few years
And have a lovely home,
There are not too many items now
We don't already own.

So if your thoughts were on a gift
Your presence will suffice,
But if you really feel the need
Then travel vouchers would be nice.

The choice is really up to you
And we would like to say
We hope you come, enjoy yourselves
And have a lovely day.

In our invitations (pocketfolds) we had the main invitation, a map, an extra info insert and an RSVP card... the extra info was all about directions, parking, hotels, confetti, kids etc.

Have you already booked your honeymoon KBS ? If not I know for a fact that First Choice and Thomas Cook both give you back any money that you may receive over and above the cost/balance of your honeymoon as this is what we were going to do and checked this before we booked. TC refund it back in the same way as you paid your deposit, so you pay cash, you get cash back, pay your deposit on a card and it gets credited to that same card.

However, on reflection we felt a little uncomfortable asking for money in the invites so we have sent them out with nothing about gifts in them at all, and our thoughts were that if someone asked us what we wanted then they were obviously planning on getting us something but we were not assuming that they would beforehand. At the point of people asking we have said that there are a number of 'larger' items we would like for our home, like a new tv and washing machine etc and therefore we would appreciate some money towards that but that some of it would also go towards some of the more expensive things on our honeymoon, like excursions, spa treatments etc.

I just posted on another thread - have you booked your honeymoon? We went with trailfinders and you can set up a fund so people go online and contribute - ther dont take any commission. If you go over what your honeymoon is though you get it back in vouchers -but as said in the other thread we've asked our parents to give us the money direct from them which should give us a little bumper.

Not booked it yet but will be on 5th May when the dates/prices come out for next year... However, it was First Choice who told me that they won't refund any overpayments now due to money laundering issues... We will still go with them as we always go with either First Choice/Thomsons (same company anyway I know) as their service has always been brilliant..