Long gone are the days of solely physical wedding gifts! While a new blender can still be on your wishlist, the growing trend of monetary gifts has sparked a new norm: using a cash wedding registry.
Nowadays, engaged couples can be transparent with guests about their preference for monetary gifts, acknowledging that the funds from loved ones will go towards their honeymoon expenses, new home purchases or other future life milestones.
If you desire financial contributions to your newlywed savings goals, this guide will help you find and compare the best cash wedding registries for your needs.
2024 Cash Registry Comparison
Searching for the right cash wedding registry can take quite some time, as there are plenty of options out there. Fortunately, we’ve done the vetting for you. The following wedding registry platforms are our top five picks:
| Wedding Registry | Types of Cash Gifts | Payment Options* | Additional Features |
| Joy | Direct cash, gift cards, experiences, personal options | Venmo, PayPal, CashApp, Credit Card | Price match |
| Zola | Direct cash, gift cards, experiences, personal options | Venmo, Credit Card | Store credit discount |
| The Knot | Gift cards, experiences | Venmo, Credit Card | Direct deposit |
| Honeyfund | Direct cash, gift cards, personal options | Venmo, PayPal | Brand deals |
| Blueprint | Direct cash, subscriptions, personal options | Credit Card | Brand deals |
Joy
Our cash fund registry makes it fast and easy to save for your dreams. Receive 100% of your guests’ contributions via CashApp, Venmo, and Paypal, or opt to exchange eligible gifts for cash when you create a Joy Wallet.
With Joy Wallet, you can simply connect it to your bank or debit card to unlock cash-gift options, only a $1.70 fee to transfer money directly to your bank. Gift-givers can also send group gifts and credit card contributions using Stripe for a small processing fee.
From cash and gift cards to thousands of experience and destination packages, the options are endless. You can also specify your goal amounts for each item and activity, such as a hotel stay and excursion. As an all-in-one wedding registry, Joy lets you combine funds and traditional gifts on a single wish list.
Features don’t stop there. Joy also serves as a one-stop shop to tackle all of your wedding planning tasks. Sync with your registry to a custom wedding website, send save-the-dates, create invitations, and more, all on our free platform.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Thousands of experiences to choose from • Group-gifting options • Registry password-protection options | • No partnership deals/discounts • 2.5% credit card processing fees |
Zola
From finding vendors to wedding budgeting tools, Zola helps you streamline tasks and stick to your planning goals. Its registry allows both traditional and cash gift requests, which you can set to any amount and designate to honeymoon experiences, gift cards, or other personal goals.
For large funds, guests can split contributions as one group gift. Zola uses Venmo, allowing zero-fee payments for your gifts. There is a processing fee if guests decide to send funds via credit card, but you can opt to cover it on their behalf. Unfortunately, Zola’s platform doesn’t support international cash transfers.
After receiving funds, couples have the option to transfer funds to their bank account or convert them to Zola store credit and receive a 5% discount. Once your registry is complete, you can integrate it with a customizable website template with matching invitations to share the news with guests.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Thousands of experiences to choose from • Group-gifting options • Wedding budgeting tool | • Must have a US-based bank account to accept cash transfers • 2.5% credit card processing fee • No password protection for the registry |
The Knot
The Knot makes wedding shopping and planning a breeze, having budgeting tools, style quizzes, and a filter search for vendors, attire, and wedding rings. As for its registry, there are cash fund options for gift cards and travel experiences.
The Knot curates a list of popular destination and gift card choices, including Airbnb coverage, cruise trips, and streaming subscriptions. You can connect banking details to your account to receive cash gifts directly or via Venmo. Its platform also offers customizable, user-friendly templates to create your own wedding website and sync with your wedding registry.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Direct deposit of funds • Wedding budget calculator • Thousands of gift cards and experiences to choose from | • No partnership deals/discounts • Shares user data with 3rd parties for advertising purposes |
Honeyfund
Though branding itself as a honeymoon registry, Honeyfund functions like a crowd-funding site with open-ended cash giving. This allows guests to send any amount of money your way, including via gift cards. The platform helps couples plan specific honeymoon experiences, where you can add descriptions to the cash funds for gift-givers.
Honeyfund allows funds for any goal, like a down payment on a home, and also has group gifting options for guests. With the Honeyfund Wallet, its digital gift card balance in your account, you can redeem funds on gift cards of numerous brands via Stripe or Venmo for free or via PayPal for service charges. The only drawback is that the wallet is solely U.S.-based.
After completing your Honeyfund registry, the page doubles as a wedding website with unique design themes. You can also take advantage of its free directory of honeymoon resorts and wedding vendors.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Partner and travel deals/discounts • Honeyfund digital wallet • Resort and vendor directory | • No tangible/traditional registry gifts • Honeyfund wallet is only US-based/USD • 2.8% transaction fee + $0.30 for couples |
Blueprint
This user-friendly platform is a product of David’s Bridal, functioning both as a wedding registry and a website. With its registry, you can request and personalize cash funds for any goal, including honeymoons, charity donations, and more. The platform also includes pre-packaged experiences and itemized contributions as suggestions, such as for wedding attire and date nights.
Blueprint’s wedding fund registry makes group gifting easy for guests and lets you redeem funds via direct deposit, PayPal, or gift card. The platform does have a credit card processing fee, but couples can choose to cover it for their guests.
With Blueprint’s collection of unique templates, couples can design their own wedding website to showcase their event as well as their registry link all from one page.
| Pros: | Cons: |
| • Itemized and pre-packaged experience lists • Partner deals and discounts • Password protection feature | • 2.5% credit card processing fee • No invitation or save-the-date templates |
How We Chose the Top Picks
With nearly a dozen wedding registries to use, we scouted those offering cash-giving options as well as tools and resources to assist in wedding planning. Next, we narrowed it down to the top five cash registries that possessed the following criteria:
- Free to use: Our top cash registries cost nothing to set up and customize and have either no or very low processing fees for fund contributions and transfers.
- Gifting variations: Those with multiple ways for guests to contribute funds.
- Payment flexibility: Registries with at least two methods for couples to redeem their funds.
- Ratings: Platforms that received the most positive reviews from former customers regarding their experience.
Tips on Setting Up the Best Cash Wedding Registry
Even if it’s just cash, it’s helpful to have a solid plan for your savings goals as newlyweds. Here are a few tips and tricks to get the most out of your cash wedding registry:
- Plan ahead: Create a wedding registry checklist to organize your cash fund requests by aspirations, interests, and must-haves. This can help you itemize fund options to your needs.
- Be transparent: To ensure you receive gifts you genuinely value, open communication with guests is key. You can do this by itemizing cash funds for specific purposes, like your honeymoon trip or a down payment on a home.
- Make it private: Add password protection to your registry so that only loved ones can access it. This will keep your wishes private from the public and prevent unwanted users from making gift purchases.
- Allow flexibility: Consider diversifying gift options, such as including tangible gifts with cash funds. This way, everyone can celebrate your special day in their own way.
- Show gratitude: Be sure to express your appreciation to those who contribute, no matter how small. With Joy’s generated thank-you notes, you can automatically send messages of gratitude after each purchase.
Get All that You Want With Joy
Requesting funds for a wedding gift is an easy option for most modern couples, especially for those who’ve defined their goals. With Joy, financially savvy couples don’t have to compromise what they want.
Create your registry with both traditional and monetary gifts, a custom wedding website, invitations, and more. Joy makes it easy, offering every wedding planning tool you need, all in one place.
