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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Creating A Successful HoneyLuna Honeymoon Registry

Jenny and John had a succesful HoneyLuna honeymoon registry!


When Jenny Johnson and John Ericson got married, they didn’t bother registering with the traditional registries. They already lived together, owned a home, and had the household items they needed.

Instead, Jenny and John registered with HoneyLuna, the Honeymoon Registry Service, (http://www.honeyluna.com/), and received “pieces of their honeymoon” as wedding gifts.

Jenny and John had a very successful honeymoon registry! “Our honeymoon included Spanish Language courses in Cusco and hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru,” says Jenny. “It was so much more fun creating a gift registry that included these experiential gifts we would always remember. Our honeymoon was filled with fantastic adventures we will never forget, and allowed us to tie these special gifts to our loved ones back home.”

Honeymoon registries today are no longer “alternative” and are acceptable wedding registries. HoneyLuna's Honeymoon Registries offer the opportunity for families and friends to give the couple something worth remembering for their honeymoon. However, because many people are not aware that honeymoon registries exist, it is important that the bride and groom (and their close friends, maid of honor and best man) let people know that their honeymoon registry exists and to “educate” their family friends about the concept. This will insure that they have the most successful honeymoon registry possible.

HoneyLuna provides many tools to help create a successful honeymoon registry and to “get the word out” such as:

  • Easy to use honeymoon registry templates to create a dynamic and customized honeymoon Registry announcement postcards to send to family and friends letting them know about your honeymoon registry
  • FREE Wedding Website with your own unique HoneyLuna URL which allows you to add up to 17 pages of information about your wedding, honeymoon and your HoneyLuna honeymoon registry!
  • Email announcements via honeyluna.com to send to family and friends letting them know about your honeymoon registry
  • An easy to use website to for friends and family to view your itemized registry and purchase your gifts.

Although HoneyLuna provides some great tools to help you have a successful honeymoon registry, the bride and groom can also help make the honeymoon registry successful. Here a few things you can do to create a successful honeymoon registry.

1. Be Creative - Have fun with your registry. Don’t’ just ask for cash – include fun items and activities your friends and family can get excited about. HoneyLuna’s registry page allows you to include comments and even links to the hotel or activity to personalize your registry even more.


2. Include Gifts In a Variety of Price Ranges - When creating your registry do include a variety of items in different price ranges. You don't want to leave anyone out, nor make anyone feel uncomfortable. With a wide variety of price ranges, guests can contribute anywhere from $20 on up – more if they want!

3. Upload Photos – Be sure to upload a photo for your HoneyLuna honeymoon registry page -- as well as lots of photos to your wedding website.  The photo on your registry page makes it more personal for your friends and family when they are shopping on your HoneyLuna registry..

4. PROMOTE YOUR REGISTRY – Don’t be Shy – PROMOTE YOUR REGISTRY! For a successful registry let everyone know where you are registered. Include registry announcement cards in your engagement letters, shower, and wedding invitations. Advise family members and bridal party of your gift wishes, so that they may be actively involved in communicating directly to your guests. Use HoneyLuna’s email announcements as a follow up close to the wedding date. People DO want to buy you a wedding gift, so you might as well make it as easy for them as possible.

Here is an example of some language you can use in email notifications or on your own wedding website:

Dear Tom and Susan:

We would like to share with you our honeymoon registry.

We have registered for the items and activities of our honeymoon as wedding gifts through HoneyLuna, a Wedding Registry for Honeymoon Travel! The gifts from our honeymoon registry will help us create memories that will last our lifetime! And, you'll be really connected with our honeymoon!

If shopping on line is not your preference, please call HoneyLuna at 
1-877-699-5884. You may also find our registry on line at www.honeyluna.com/nancyanddave.

Thank you so much for thinking of us. We look forward to seeing you and sharing our special day.

Nancy and Dave

Remember, the more you promote your honeymoon registry, the better your chances of having a successful honeymoon registry. Wouldn't you rather have some fantastic honeymoon experience as your wedding gift rather than a zebra head cookie platter or another turkey baster?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tell your parents and their friends about a Celebration Travel Registry!

AMAWATERWAYS - the ultimate Celebration Registry!
HoneyLuna, The Honeymoon Registry Service launched in 1995 -- and was the first online bridal registry for honeymoons!  Since then, HoneyLuna has pioneered honeymoon registries.  Throughout the years, people came to HoneyLuna and asked if they could use HoneyLuna as a "travel registry" for a significant life event -- 50th wedding annviersary, graduation, retirement, 40th birthday -- all great reasons to throw a party and take a trip!

Over the years, more and more people began using travel registries.  Now  one of HoneyLuna's sister companies offers Celebration Registries for any trip!   So if your parents or friends are having a big wedding anniversary, significant birthday or maybe a retirement trip, tell them to create a celebration travel registry.

Many of AMAWATERWAYS cruises
have pre or post cruise stays in  Paris!
If you - or someone you knows, wants a truly special life event / celebration travel registry, one of HoneyLuna's partners, AMAWATERWAYS  has celebration registries for their stunning river cruises with ships sailing in Europe, Russia, Vietnam and Cambodia.   Wouldn't it be great if you could buy a piece of an amazing river cruise for your parents anniversary or friends big birthday?

Check out .http://celebrationregistry.amawaterways.com/

Monday, June 20, 2011

HoneyLuna and the Question of Service Fees

TO FEE OR NOT TO FEE?.....


In my opinion, there is truth in the oft heard phrase..."You get what you pay for".....


I often read the wedding website forums and bridal chat rooms and see that many bridal couples think that charging a service fee for a honeymoon registry is a crime. Obviously I understand that every bridal couple wants a good deal and are looking to save money wherever they can!  But do read on to learn how thinking saving with a "free" honeymoon registry could actually harm you in the end!


Although I could probably write pages on WHY HoneyLuna charges a fee and why either paying the fee or having your guests pay the fee is a WISE decision, I will narrow it down to a few key points.


First, let's look at all of the things that brides and grooms DO pay for -- and are WILLING to pay (often exorbitant prices) for -- for their wedding -- excluding the necessities like location and hard goods such as food, let's focus on "services"
  1. Caterer
  2. Florist
  3. Minister
  4. Photographer
  5. Musicians or DJs
  6. ValetsWedding Coordinator
  7. Psychic (just kidding.... maybe...)
  8. And the list goes on....
Let's be honest, couples pay for these services because they want them "just right", classy, to be fun/good for their friends, and they want plain old good service.  


HoneyLuna is a service.  It is a service that provides not only the bridal couples with an exceptional honeymoon registry experience, it also provides LOTS AND LOTS of other tools that bridal couples love -- like a FREE wedding website (yes, it IS truly FREE), online wedding photo albums, wedding blogs and a comprehensive, easy to use, looks beautiful honeymoon registry.  


I think it warrants a SPECIAL mention that our registries are AD FREE!


Did I mention that we have a toll FREE phone # for you to call with questions. And yes, your guests can call too if they have a question or want to place their order over the phone?  We have dedicated customer service staff to provide both you and your guests excellent customer service!


Now let's talk about your guests' experience.  Many of your guests may not have heard of a honeymoon registry.  As such, it's especially important that their experience is a happy one.  So let's consider, what does your honeymoon registry look like?  Is it aesthetically pleasing?  Does it have professional images for each item with a descriptive narrative of the items?  If it's fun and exciting to read, your friends and family will have more fun shopping for your gift.


Now back to your guests... does the registry allow them to actually complete their transaction with a credit card?  With some of the free registries couples have to have a paypal BUSINESS account for their guests to use credit cards! 


And if they can't pay by credit card, they are only "pledging" to give you cash or a check at your wedding.  That brings me back to the "classy, easy, positive user experience" I mentioned above.  Which I think warrants a second mention -- the "free" honeymoon registries have ADS all over your honeymoon registry page!!


(And ironically, some of the ads are for the competition!)


In my mind, classy and elegant is out the window.  What they have done is traded a service fee revenue to support the business with selling advertising space so that in order to have a free registry your friends and family are inundated with ads on your registry page.  That may be good for some, but personally, I prefer -- and don't mind paying for -- fees when a good service is provide!


Now, let's look at actual gifts received -- with HoneyLuna, the average gifts received is $2,500/ registry  (actual amounts vary of course and depend on many factors -- but this is "average") 


By their own accounts, free registries receive MUCH LESS than $2500.  One company posts that their "free" registries receive on average just over $1100... hmmmmmmm....


I can't help but wonder if it's because friends and families don't like the look and experience of the free registry -- and don't like pledging cash or checks.  I wonder if it's because for a small fee, guests actually LIKE ad free registries, the convenience of paying by credit card, and knowing they can call a real person to talk to, ask questions, and place an order.  So for saving a 7% service fee, you LOSE $1400?.....  Free registries just don't add up!


For the record, I've never had a call from a gift giver that was mad/upset about the service fee.  In fact, most calls are happy callers and LOVE HONEYLUNA!


In the end, my feeling is that many couples choose the "FREE no fees option" thinking they will come out ahead -- but in reality, for a small fee, couples using HoneyLuna will have more wedding tools, more gifts, and happier guests!


CHOOSE HONEYLUNA!  The Premier online bridal registry for honeymoons since 1995!


Lastly, many people comment with companies like HoneyLuna, that, in the end, the couple is still just receiving cash.  Yes, that is true.  But it's a much more elegant and sophisticated way of receiving the cash to pay for the items and activities of they honeymoon.  If a couple chooses to dupe their friends and family by not using the gifts for which they were intended, well that's their karma.  


But, if this is really a sticking point for some, then take a look at some of our partners' sites where the gift monies actually go the resort or cruise line for the couple to spend on the actual gift while they are there...


Starwood Hawaii
Paul Gauguin Cruises
Intercontinental Bora Bora Thalasso and Le Moana 
Starwood Caribbean




and many more!  

Friday, June 17, 2011

Paul Gauguin's fun "Meet Me in Tahiti" Facebook App

If you're considering (or fantasizing) about a honeymoon in Tahiti, be sure to play around with Paul Gauguin's FB app  "MEET ME IN TAHITI" and enjoy a "virtual vacation in Tahiti".

Enjoy a virtual vacation in Tahiti a la Paul Gauguin Cruises!
Remember you can use HoneyLuna's Honeymoon Registry to create your own fabulous honeymoon registry for your Paul Gauguin Honeymoon! Having a HoneyLuna honeymoon registry (AND FREE WEDDING WEBSITE!) is a fantastic way to receive the amazing "experiential gifts" available on a Paul Gauguin honeymoon cruise!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

HoneyLuna now offers FREE Wedding Websites with a Wedding RSVP Program!

HoneyLuna is pleased to announce that it now offers FREE wedding websites to couples who create an account with HoneyLuna!


While HoneyLuna has always offered a wedding webpage, we now offer a comprehensive wedding website program as our GIFT to HoneyLuna couples!  (Similar sites charge $99  / year!)


The most popular features of our site are:  
  • Online Wedding RSVP program
  • Photo Albums
  • Wedding Blog
Your HoneyLuna site will even have your own unique URL  ex:  HoneyLuna.com/samandsusie


The HoneyLuna wedding website has 17 possible pages for HoneyLuna couples to create, upload pictures and share details of their wedding with their family and friends.

1.      Welcome
2.      About Us
3.      Our Story
4.      Proposal
5.      Our Wedding Party
6.      Our Wedding Blog
7.      Photo Albums (engagement party, bachelor/bachelorette parties, bridal showers, honeymoon, etc.)
8.      Our Family and Friends
9.      Ceremony
10.  Reception
11.  Dedications
12.  Wedding Events
13.  Honeymoon
14.  Travel Information
15.  RSVP
16.  Gift Registry
17.  Notes
‎2/3 of all bridal couples have a wedding website -- shouldn't you?  


To create your own free wedding website, just create an account at http://www.honeyluna.com     From your  HoneyLuna.com dashboard, click "create wedding website" and select the multiple page option! HAVE FUN!


Sample HoneyLuna Wedding Website