Shops We Love: Scandinavian Grace

One of my favorite shops: Scandinavian Grace is now offering a registry option! Scandinavian Grace provides home and lifestyle products with a thoughtfully edited collection of classic and contemporary design from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway. The owners: Fredrik and James, say that they "search Scandinavia for the most fresh and enduring design. We love objects of artistic form and practical function that become a vital enrichment to daily living rather than just status symbols." And by the way, I want everything from their shop! Love, love, love.

And their Wishlist is so easy to make and access by guests! Fill a cart and save it as a Wishlist. Add and Remove items as your needs change. Title and add a message for your personal touch. When you create it, an address is generated to embed as a link on your blog, website, Facebook, MySpace or Evites etc. Friends, Fans and Family can click your link to view, share and purchase items from your individual page. And the best part is:

Free shipping on all orders within the US!! How great is that?? Great incentive for all your lovely guests! Check out the site and let me know what you think! Also, how rad is this clear tea kettle??

Giveaway: Marriott Bonus Bucks!

While my and Husband's honeymoon was so amazing and we had a blast, it cost us so much money! Of course we wanted to splurge on fancy meals and massages, as well as nice hotels, but it just wasn't possible to do everything we wanted to. After all, we had a normal life to get back to, filled with expenses and new homes! Well, fear no more! You now have the option to "do it all" with Marriott Registry!

At www.MarriottRegistry.com engaged couples can register for a number of honeymoon items – hotel accommodations, spa services, romantic dinners and more. Gift values are accrued to one gift card, which the couple can then redeem at approximately 3,000 Marriotts either during the honeymoon or for future vacations. Additionally, Marriott will throw in a complimentary $100 when registry contributions reach $1,000 as well as rewarding guests with $50 Marriott Bonus Bucks for every $100 they give towards the registry. How great is that?

With the economy being the way it is, and people wanting to, overall, cut back on accumulating too much "stuff" this is a great opportunity to have your dream honeymoon! Also great for the couple who already has everything they need.

With that said, S and I will pick ONE winner to receive $50 Marriott Bonus Bucks (This can be used on a 2 night stay at any Marriott location). The winner will be chosen next week.

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Simply leave us a comment below with your answer to the question, "How would you spend your dream honeymoon?"!

Bonne chance :)

image via Le Love

Gift Idea: For yourself or someone else!

After S and I returned from the honeymoon we were overwhelmed with the amount of presents and boxes that were EVERYWHERE. Suddenly our little apartment was taken over by waffle makers, appliances and boxes of dishes. (Not that we're ungrateful!) Little by little, we started opening the boxes, (especially with our new move, post coming soon!) and I was so happy to discover these lovely mugs given to us by our amazing photographer, Chad, and his family.

The are by Jessica Rust Designs and made in Minnesota. These mugs represent the four seasons so each mug is a little different. It is personalized with your initials and year "carved" into the birch tree. How great are these? If we weren't lucky enough to own them , I would by them for S and myself!

You can also register for these mugs and other items on Jessica's website here.

Photo via Jessica Rust Designs

Choosing your registry.

This is the fun part! However, when choosing to provide your guests with a registry list, you may feel overwhelmed. Do you feel like you are pushing your guests to buy you certain items or do you even feel rude assuming they would want to buy these for you? Don't! Friends and relatives will be looking to buy wedding gifts as soon as they hear about your engagement. Really! Take the guesswork out of gift buying by making sure they know what you really want.

Firstly, to decide what you need, take inventory of the things you already have and see where the gaps are. Talk about the style of home you'd both like, and what would fit in with your lifestyle (Do you need a stand mixer? You never bake!). One thing to consider is local shops vs online mega stores. If you are a Target shopper, you may feel comfortable choosing to register there. Target has thousands of options and is accessible to every guest, both in location and in price points. If you have a favorite local shop, go in and ask the owner if they have a gift registry option. You may be pleasantly surprised! Even smaller online shops have them now! It may be a bit more work but will be worth it in the long run, and you could be happily supporting a small business!

Another incentive to look for is discounts from vendors. When S and I were registering, I noticed companies like All-Clad and Le Creuset offer free merchandise when registering for a certain amount of their products.

And don't forget about Etsy! Contact vendors for special registry requests!

A final idea is either a honeymoon fund or having a list of fun things your guests could contribute to for your honeymoon, such as a snorkeling day trip or a couples massage. Contact your hotel or resort to find out about setting up such a registry!

You may also be wondering if you should include your information on your invite. We also pondered over this for quite some time but in the end, decided to add it since it was just easier than having everyone ask us or our parents. Some say it's a big no-no but we just thought it would make the process simpler for everyone!

Good luck!!