Wedding in the U.S. but living in England - Where to register?

stefmonge

My fiance and I will be getting married in the U.S. in January, but we're moving back to England after the wedding. Guests have already started asking about gifts. We obviously don't want to ship gifts back, so we're thinking about registering in England. However, most of our guests are American and paying in GBPs will make the gifts more expensive because it's a much stronger currency. 

Anyone have any thoughts on or experience with a similar situation? Thanks!

Avion22

Not only are thing more expensive in pounds, but a lot of UK websites won't accept US credit cards because they can't accept a card with a non-UK billing address.  You could check with some of the major stores and see if they will accept US cards.  If they do, then this might be your best bet.

Unofortunately, cash ins't a great gift either because if they give you dollars you'll have to get those changed into pounds when you get back, and if they give you pounds then they'll get a horrible exchange rate in the states.  I don't even want to think about how hard it might be to cash a check that's written in Dollars.

How much time between the wedding and your move?   

hoffse

I would register with an american store if most of your guests are american.  I know a number of places will ship internationally, like Macy's and Bloomingdale's.  I'm not sure about the exact rates, but I've heard it's not all that bad because those stores have a contract with an international carrier (sort of like how Amazon has a contract with UPS, which lets them ship for lower rates).  So it would be less expensive than if you shipped everything back yourself.

PP is right: usually stores require a domestic billing address, so a British store wouldn't be able to accommodate your american guests.

udream05

I know there's an UK version of amazon..maybe look into that?

Avion22

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_wedding-in-the-us-but-living-in-england-where-to-register?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:34Discussion:9d4216f5-394d-4817-bcf9-a13d3997fbd3Post:c5d4fbe8-fecd-4aa1-affc-4ba18564630d">Re: Wedding in the U.S. but living in England - Where to register?</a>:
[QUOTE]I know there's an UK version of amazon..maybe look into that?
Posted by udream05[/QUOTE]



That's actually a really good call. Amazon.co.uk DOES take American credit cards!!!!

stefmonge

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_wedding-in-the-us-but-living-in-england-where-to-register?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:9d4216f5-394d-4817-bcf9-a13d3997fbd3Post:22c91ff8-abcf-4dd4-b26c-8d74ac018e83">Re: Wedding in the U.S. but living in England - Where to register?</a>:
[QUOTE]Not only are thing more expensive in pounds, but a lot of UK websites won't accept US credit cards because they can't accept a card with a non-UK billing address.  You could check with some of the major stores and see if they will accept US cards.  If they do, then this might be your best bet. Unofortunately, cash ins't a great gift either because if they give you dollars you'll have to get those changed into pounds when you get back, and if they give you pounds then they'll get a horrible exchange rate in the states.  I don't even want to think about how hard it might be to cash a check that's written in Dollars. How much time between the wedding and your move?   
Posted by Avion22[/QUOTE]

<div>I didn't even think about UK stores not accepting US credit cards. Thanks for that! There's about a month in between the wedding and our move. </div>

stefmonge

Thanks everyone. This was really helpful!

Marina Ova

The only international registry I've heard of is Zankyou. They have offices in the US and in the UK and plus you will get cash instead of the gifts so you don't have to lug anything overseas. It's really perfect if you have guests coming from both countries as well. Go to http://www.zankyou.com and you can find out more about them.