What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng???

neeke816

Hi,


I used to live in the USA, but moved to Australia last year. I and my finace will marry in his hometown, Iowa next year, then move to Australia to live, and everything seems fine, but we are not sure what to do with our wedding gift registry. I can't bring USA appliacne or nice china to Australia, i'm afraid.
 
Australia use 240v instead 110v for electronic appliance, and I think bringing nice tea cups and china to Australia via airplain by myself and my fiance could be quite risky as well. We've been keep thinking our options:


1) Have wedding registry in Australia department store, and send a detailed information to our guests how to buy wedding gifts from Australia department store website, then I will pick it up fromt the store after the wedding.


2) Ask our guest donate money for our honeymoon.



We really don't know what to do for our wedding registry!!!! Asking our guests to buy things from Australian online shop sounds quite a burden to my guests, and asking money donation sounds somewhat bit awkward....


Anyone has a great idea???

Avion22

Don't ask guests to donate money to your honeymoon.  First of all, it's not a "donation", it's a gift.  And second of all, it's really rude to ask people to give you money.

People will understand that you are moving, and will likely refrain from giving you big, bulky, or fragile gifts.

We live overseas (in the UK), and got married in the US...here are a few points to take away from our experience:

1) A lof of electronics from the US will work in other countries.  Most TVs, DVD players, game systems, computers, etc will work on anything from 110V - 240V.   You'll need a plug converter from a US plug to an Austrailan plug, but those aren't very expensive.  Next to the plug there is usually a tag or a marking that will tell you voltage the item was designed to work with.

2)  You don't have to carry everything with you on the plane.  You can mail a lot of things, and it's not terribly expensive.    The USPS makes flat-rate international shipping boxes that are awesome.

3)  People who know you well enough to be invited to your wedding will know and understand your situation.    They will probably ask if/where you are registered.  It's okay to say something like, "Due to our upcoming move to Australia, we haven't registered for anything (or have a really small registry at XXXX), but we're saving up for YYYYYYY (honeymoon, downpayment on a house, home repairs, etc).    

4)  Cash is actually more of a pain in the butt than gifts are.  Chance are your guests will give you money in US Dollars.  The easiest way to spend this money is to depost it into your US bank account, then use a credit card or debit card to make purchases -- this will give you the best exchange rate, but you may have to pay an international transaction fee.   Otherwise, you can cash the checks (which might not be possible depending on who they are made out to and whether or not you are changing your name), then take the cash with you to Austrailia (you would want to check how much cash you can legally bring to the country without paying duty on it), then change it for Australian Dollars, though you would get a worse exchange rate.  

neeke816

Thank you very much!!!


I was keep thinking and thinking about it, since I have to send out our invitation soon and have to send registry information, and we couldn't make any decision!!! Sending everything to Australia sounded too much moving, and asking donating or money gift bit rude and awkward, so we felt so trapped!!!!
 

I didn't know that there is a flat rate international delivery USPS option!!!! So, that means I can send any numbers of item to Australia at a same flat rate, right??? It makes me feel much better!!!! I seriously worry how to carry all those wedding gifts from America to Australia without ruining or losing them!!!!


Once again, thank you very much for your wisdom!!! I will get my gift registery from the American stores when I go to USA this summer!!!

n Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_what-if-you-are-moving-to-overseas-after-the-wedidng?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:34Discussion:a1e9cfde-b665-4e48-ac80-ba460e5b97e5Post:71aeee5d-a28a-48f0-a720-cefb0a49bb6b">Re: What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng???</a>:
[QUOTE]Don't ask guests to donate money to your honeymoon.  First of all, it's not a "donation", it's a gift.  And second of all, it's really rude to ask people to give you money. People will understand that you are moving, and will likely refrain from giving you big, bulky, or fragile gifts. We live overseas (in the UK), and got married in the US...here are a few points to take away from our experience: 1) A lof of electronics from the US will work in other countries.  Most TVs, DVD players, game systems, computers, etc will work on anything from 110V - 240V.   You'll need a plug converter from a US plug to an Austrailan plug, but those aren't very expensive.  Next to the plug there is usually a tag or a marking that will tell you voltage the item was designed to work with. 2)  You don't have to carry everything with you on the plane.  You can mail a lot of things, and it's not terribly expensive.    The USPS makes flat-rate international shipping boxes that are awesome. 3)  People who know you well enough to be invited to your wedding will know and understand your situation.    They will probably ask if/where you are registered.  It's okay to say something like, "Due to our upcoming move to Australia, we haven't registered for anything (or have a really small registry at XXXX), but we're saving up for YYYYYYY (honeymoon, downpayment on a house, home repairs, etc).     4)  Cash is actually more of a pain in the butt than gifts are.  Chance are your guests will give you money in US Dollars.  The easiest way to spend this money is to depost it into your US bank account, then use a credit card or debit card to make purchases -- this will give you the best exchange rate, but you may have to pay an international transaction fee.   Otherwise, you can cash the checks (which might not be possible depending on who they are made out to and whether or not you are changing your name), then take the cash with you to Austrailia (you would want to check how much cash you can legally bring to the country without paying duty on it), then change it for Australian Dollars, though you would get a worse exchange rate.  
Posted by Avion22[/QUOTE]

hoffse

If you want china, you can probably have it shipped to australia, though I would worry about it breaking.  If you don't decide to just buy it yourself (and a lot of people don't because it's expensive), look into registering for a Lenox pattern.  They have a system where you register the items you get with them, and if the items break they charge you half price to replace them.  It's not a perfect solution but it's a lot better than being stuck with dishes that you have to replace at full price.  Also keep in mind that china does get shipped all over the world - people sort of forget sometimes that it doesn't just appear in stores.  I've ordered china off of amazon a few times (a lenox pattern which is how I know about their program), and I've never had an issue, even when I watched the UPS guy drop the box on the pavement.  I winced, but the packing was so good that there wasn't even a scratch.  If you mark boxes as fragile, they won't have huge loads placed on top of them.

All of that said, it might be safer to register for some kitchen gadgets, linens, etc... things that are unbreakable you won't have to worry about at all.

ceh789

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_what-if-you-are-moving-to-overseas-after-the-wedidng?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:a1e9cfde-b665-4e48-ac80-ba460e5b97e5Post:836023da-1440-489a-8f9e-a2c4bd391b84">Re: What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng???</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you very much!!! I was keep thinking and thinking about it, <strong>since I have to send out our invitation soon and have to send registry information,</strong> and we couldn't make any decision!!! Sending everything to Australia sounded too much moving, and asking donating or money gift bit rude and awkward, so we felt so trapped!!!!   I didn't know that there is a flat rate international delivery USPS option!!!! So, that means I can send any numbers of item to Australia at a same flat rate, right??? It makes me feel much better!!!! I seriously worry how to carry all those wedding gifts from America to Australia without ruining or losing them!!!! Once again, thank you very much for your wisdom!!! I will get my gift registery from the American stores when I go to USA this summer!!! n Response to Re: What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng??? :
Posted by neeke816[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>This sounds like you're intending to include registry information with your invitations.  Please don't, that's extremely rude.  People will google or ask.

</div>

MNVegas

You do know you are not suppose to put registry information in your wedding invitations right? You can put info on your wedding website or have family/wedding party give info to guest but only if they ask.

neeke816

Thank you very much and sorry guys...


I'm from another country, and I seriously don't have any experience of wedding at all, and so as my fiance, so I didn't know that it was rude thing to send the invitation and the registry form together.


None of my single friends or relatives get married, and I've never attended any weddings in my life except the ones that I went with my parents when I was a little girl. I think my fiance attended only one very casual wedding in his life as well, so he doesn't have any clues about wedding either, and we both are kinda getting scared about how our wedding will turn out.


I am in Australia and will get marry in America. I will visit America this summer and stay there for 2 weeks and have to plan many things for my wedding whil I'm there for 2 weeks, which gives me little pressure, luckily my future in-laws are super supportive and sweet, so hopefully things will work out!!! I just started reading wedding magazines and coming to this website to learn about wedding.


 I'm not even sure what I suppose to ask for my wedding gift and just refered china, since china set was on the wedding gift section last time when I went to a department store in Australia.


I will keep all those advices and will never send my invitation and wedding registry together and would appreciate any wisdom.

ceh789

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_what-if-you-are-moving-to-overseas-after-the-wedidng?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:a1e9cfde-b665-4e48-ac80-ba460e5b97e5Post:75ecaf0c-679a-4d66-82c5-4070d2a373e6">Re: What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng???</a>:
[QUOTE] I'm from another country, and I don't have any experience of wedding at all, and so as my fiance, so I didn't know that it was rude thing to send the invitation and the registry form together.
Posted by neeke816[/QUOTE]

<div>Since you told us this I want to reinforce something.</div><div>
When you go to the store to register, they will try to give you little cards to put in your invitations and tell you that it's perfectly acceptable to include them. </div><div>
</div><div><u style="font-weight:bold;font-style:italic;">They are lying to you.</u>  They are trying to sell the stuff you registered for and they want your guests to shop at their store instead of other places since many couples will register at 2 or 3 different stores.</div><div>
</div><div>Be strong, don't listen to the sales people.  </div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>ETA:</div><div>
</div><div>In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_registering-gifts_what-if-you-are-moving-to-overseas-after-the-wedidng?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:34Discussion:a1e9cfde-b665-4e48-ac80-ba460e5b97e5Post:75ecaf0c-679a-4d66-82c5-4070d2a373e6">Re: What if you are moving to overseas after the wedidng???</a>:
[QUOTE]I'm not even sure what I suppose to ask for my wedding gift and just refered china, since china set was on the wedding gift section last time when I went to a department store in Australia.
Posted by neeke816[/QUOTE]
</div><div>
</div><div>Pretty much anything except cash is acceptable to register for.  Stay away from "honeymoon" and other cash registries and you'll be fine.</div><div>
</div><div>Traditionally, wedding gifts are household goods - linens, kitchen stuff etc - because traditionally people got married right out of their parents homes and needed to set up housekeeping.  Today, the rule of thumb is that anything you'll use together (except cash and cash equivalents) is fair game to ask for.  </div><div>
</div><div>Go through your house and make a list of stuff you'd like more or new of - now is a great time to get towels that are presentable for guests and the like :) </div>

TaraKeeley

We have a similar dillema. We live in Costa Rica but are moving to the United States about two weeks after the wedding. We have a registry which will ship things to the U.S., and my beautiful mother-in-law announced, without us asking "They're moving- don't get them dishes! If you want to give them somehting, make it money." hahah I'm hoping people follow suit.