We originally created this page to provide our guests ideas for our alternatives to wedding gifts. Now that the wedding is over, we have decided to use this page as a resource to help other couples divert the generosity of their friends and family to make the world a better place.
(Friends and guests can see some pictures of our own wedding here.)
Guests at weddings seem to be naturally generous, so rather than just indicating "no gifts please," we thought it would be nice to redirect our guests' generosity toward something that would make us happy but not fill up our apartment to the rafters. And to us, that meant getting people involved in helping others.
And so, we embarked upon the Grand Experiment which we share with you, our reader. We hope that others might find it a good idea and follow our suggestions (and tell us about it).
"Change the world before someone else does it for you."
-- J. Michael Straczynski
We called up 3 local organizations (two of which we had already been involved with, one which we recently heard about and thought would be greatly appropriate for this) and needless to say, it came as quite a surprise to them that we were interested in registering with them! Once the shock wore off, they were all very creative in suggesting ways that our guests could get involved.
Registering essentially requires that they understand that people may be contacting them to make a donation or involvement on behalf of your wedding. Such organizations generally keep track of who contributes, so it shouldn't be a problem if they are told that a contribution is made on somebody else's behalf. You may want to discuss with them how your friends can help out -- are there any particular needs (such as office equipment or materials) that could be donated? Do they accept volunteers or memberships? Cash contributions? There are often many ways that people can contribute.
We also informed our immediate family members about what we were doing, since traditionally guests can find out where a couple is registered by checking with those close to the couple.
A Note
As we mark the beginning of our new life together, we hope it will be made even more special by your presence at our wedding. Of course, to mark a wedding day, many people like to give presents as well as their presence. But we would like to offer an alternative. Now that we have each other, we really do have everything we need. But there are many in the world that do not, and we hope that you would like to help us make the world a better place by directing any wedding-inspired generosity toward one of our favorite local charies/community organizations, with which we have "registered," or get involved as a donor or volunteer with the organization of your choice.If you cruse the information super-duper, you can find out lots of details on our page at http://www.gigliwood.com/wedding/ -- or just chat with us for ideas.
Dan and Lucy
So set up a gift table at your wedding anyhow. (We were somewhat taken aback, and had to improvise!)
Depending on how creative your friends are, you may find that not many actually took advantage of the organizations with which you registered. From our experience, actually very few people took advantage of the listings. It was fun to find out what people did choose; they generally gave us a card which mentioned what they had done.
Contact Us
What follows is the page that we originally created to let others know about our desires and our register with community organizations. (These are great organizations, so feel free to register with them as well!)
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This page lists a few Bay Area non-profit, community organizations with which we have "registered" for our wedding.
Yes, it's an unusual idea, but since we really have everything we need, we are hoping that you will take interest in
diverting any wedding-inspired generosity to helping others.
If you are inspired to help any of these, please mention when you contact them (or sign up) that you found out about them from "the wedding registry of Lucy Gigli and Dan Wood." That way, we and they will be able to know how great our friends are! Of course, these are just three among thousands of great organizations around the country that would benefit from your time or generosity. If you have a favorite community organization which you plan on helping, that's wonderful -- just be sure to let us know that you are helping another group, so we can properly thank you!
Naturally, your donations to these and any other registered nonprofit organizations are tax-deductible, but we hope that's not the only reason you're helping them out! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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