Honeymoon Help Online – Yakima Herald

There’s so much to do when you’re planning a wedding! The dress, the ring, the venue, and a million other things to organize and shop for. In the midst of this herculean job, the honeymoon is often the last thing on the minds of the bride and groom, and with the cost of weddings these days, there’s probably not a lot of money left over for a glamorous vacation.

Your wedding day can be such a whirlwind of activity it seems like you blink your eyes and it’s over. That’s why a honeymoon is so important, because it gives the newlyweds a chance to relax and spend some precious time alone together. But how are you going to pay for it?

That’s where websites like Honeyfund and The Knot come in. They’re a great tool to help modern brides get the honeymoon they dreamed of. Honeyfund founder Sara Margulis says she and her husband Josh didn’t really need a gift registry. Between the two of them they already had more furniture and dishes and linens than they could use. What they really wanted was a fantastic honeymoon getaway — in Fiji. But when they looked online for a honeymoon registry service, they found pricey travel booking costs, and high fees. “We had an idea to build our own honeymoon registry,” says Margulis,  “a simple web page where guests could select a gift, print a certificate  and bring it to the wedding along with cash or check. It was a wild success! We raised more than $5,100.”

She says she realized many couples don’t take honeymoons, because they’re saving less, or because they take on more costs of the wedding themselves. She and Josh started Honeyfund 12 years ago, and have helped more than 800,000 couples raise over half a billion dollars for their honeymoons.

Kala and Matt McDougal of Yakima got married last month, and used it to fund their honeymoon, which they plan to take next winter on the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin. She says the site is easy to use, with pre-made templates with themes like Italy or an island vacation. You can type in different things guests can contribute to, like airfare, hotel, or activities. “I put in snorkeling, because I have this obsession with sea turtles, or any turtle, really … you can write in personal messages, and people are like, ‘OK, that’s a really cool thing, I want to donate to that.”

She also likes a feature that lets guests make comments about their donations. “A few of Matt’s friends are huge snorkelers and they put in money for that and said ‘That’s our big thing too — it’s so cool you want to do that! Definitely take pictures!’ It was really nice. It was more personal than ‘Here’s 50 dollars.’”

She also likes the option where people who don’t want to contribute online can pledge money, which they can send in the mail or bring to the wedding. “So you kind of know what you have coming in as well. It’s super-easy to use and it emails me every time someone donates or does anything.”

There are no fees for gift givers on Honeyfund, but you will pay 2.8 percent for immediate cash online via WePay or PayPal. They also have something called Honeyfund Balance, where there are no fees, but the balance cannot be redeemed for cash. It is meant to be used to purchase cruises, airfare and gifts through the site’s partners. Honeyfund calls it “digital gift cards.” Their website says they’re able to offer their services free by “offering budget-friendly upgrade packages with features like registry design themes, gift item images, photo slideshows and more. Revenue from this program and minimal advertising supports Honeyfund’s free service.”

The Knot bills itself as “Your all-in-one wedding planner.” In addition to a “Define your Style” quiz that can help you narrow down your wedding vision, and decide whether you want a modern, classic, or rustic wedding — its Vendor Match section will help you find local venues, caterers, florists, bakeries and more, and give recommendations based on your style and budget.

It features a Newlywed Fund, where you can add a button for guests to help contribute to a honeymoon fund, a new home fund, or you can create a custom fund, for example, where your guests could contribute money to buy a backyard pool. You link it directly to your bank account. The Knot site says it may collect a “booking fee” if applicable, but setting up an account and website is free. You will see ads on the site, and will get emails about products and discounts unless you opt out. They make money by charging vendors who list their services on the site. There is a 2.5 percent “transaction fee” if guests want to contribute to your newlywed fund, which your gift givers pay. For example, if a guest gives you $100, the site will charge them $102.50.

Kala says she’d recommend Honeyfund, and paying a few dollars to PayPal doesn’t bother her a bit. With a few clicks of her mouse, she was able to bring her and Matt one step closer the honeymoon of their dreams.