Today’s wedding registries are shifting to include a range of creative ideas and funding opportunities—including a Home Down Payment fund.
Many husbands and wives-to-be have already lived on their own in homes or apartments and have acquired many of their essential household needs prior to getting married.
What's in this article?
Rather than ask their wedding guests for items they don’t need, more couples are choosing nontraditional registries that request funds for various purposes, including a honeymoon, travel and even purchasing a home.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can create a fund on your wedding registry that will help you secure the cash you need to buy a home for you and your new spouse.
Is it appropriate to ask for money on your registry?
There was once a time when asking for cash on your registry was an inappropriate request.
Some people in your friends or family circle may still even believe this to be true.
However, today it’s widely accepted to forgo the etiquette of the past and instead lean into the most practical options for the happy couple.
The trick is to create a wedding website or online registry that presents all of your information, makes the payment process as simple as possible and explains your situation so that guests understand.
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The benefits of a wedding registry house fund
Traditional wedding registries include items such as home decor, kitchen items or organizational tools.
Whatever your living situation may be prior to your wedding day, you likely already have many of these items.
Rather than asking your guests to spend money on items you won’t be able to use, a down payment fund can help fulfill their desire to offer a gift to the newlyweds while fulfilling your need to purchase your own home.
Today’s wedding registry options make it simple and straightforward to set up a home down payment fund.
How to set up a home down payment fund on your registry
There are numerous wedding websites and registries available to couples today.
Let’s take a look at the most popular.
The Knot
“The Knot” allows couples to easily create a free wedding website that includes all of the most valuable information guests will need.
On your personal website, you can set up a wedding registry and sync registries from multiple other websites.
Of course, the most important feature for the purposes of this article is the ability to create multiple cash funds, including a fund for purchasing your first home.
Cash funds on “The Knot” allow you to leave guests a note explaining the option, which can help couples who may not feel fully confident or comfortable asking for cash.
Zola
Like “The Knot,” “Zola” also allows couples to create a free wedding website, integrate multiple registries and create cash funds.
You can leave guests a note on your registry page and on the cash fund page, letting them know the purpose of the fund and why you are opting for this type of fund rather than a traditional registry.
Joy
“Joy” is another popular wedding website and online registry platform that allows you to add physical gifts as well as cash funds for a range of needs and experiences.
Users like “Joy” for the robust planning tools and hundreds of templates.
Wix
“Wix” is not a wedding-specific platform but offers users more creative freedom in building a customized wedding website.
Since it’s yours to design, you can add a down payment fund or other cash fund however you’d like and present it in a way that’s true to your style.
These wedding websites will help you easily direct your guests to the right place in a polite, thoughtful manner.
How to explain your house fund registry to guests
When discussing your decision to set up a house fund for the down payment on a home rather than a traditional registry with friends and family, approach the topic with honesty.
Explain clearly and concisely why you are choosing a down payment fund, and make it as easy as possible for them to contribute.
Here are some examples of how you can explain your decision, whether it be on your wedding website or in person:
- “While your presence at our wedding events is more than enough, those who are interested in contributing to our future are welcome to give to our home down payment fund.”
- “In lieu of a traditional wedding registry, we have created a house fund registry to help us buy our first home together. If you are interested in offering us a gift, you are welcome to contribute to our down payment fund.”
- “We already have all the items we need for our future home. All we are missing is the home! For those of you who have asked, we are asking for a contribution to our future home instead of traditional wedding gifts.”
Word the request in a way that is true to you, your personality, your story and your level of comfort and familiarity with your friends and family.
While some people may find it easy to direct their friends and family to an online cash fund registry, others may feel uncomfortable or worried about what others might think.
Or, they may have family members who don’t want to make a payment online.
Remember to express to friends and family that no gift is necessary and that your request is aimed at those who are interested in contributing.
Money can be an uncomfortable subject for some, but guests appreciate understanding where their contributions are going.
Honesty and genuine gratitude are key to handling monetary gifts as graciously as possible.
Get Committed® with Compass Mortgage
While you wait to receive the house funds from your wedding registry, apply for pre-approval with Compass Mortgage today.
During your initial application, you will supply us with some basic personal and financial information, as well as details about your future home purchase.
In exchange, we will contact you with your loan options and help you determine your qualifications.
At Compass Mortgage, we treat you like family.
Get Committed® with us today and we can help you move through the mortgage process as quickly and efficiently as possible.
We offer much more than standard pre-approvals. With our exclusive Get Committed® program, you get a fully underwritten loan commitment that holds the power of a cash offer—before you even make an offer on a home.
Get started today to unlock your loan options with Compass Mortgage.
Photo by Scott Webb