Wedding gifts etiquette question

[SallyMander]

Sorry in advance for the long ramble... ;)

So... people are starting to ask Iza and I where we’re registered. Well, we're not, and to be perfectly honest we don’t want stuff. First of all, we have everything we need (we are already living in sin, zOMG!!!) and we don’t have room to store anything more; second of all, we don’t like the thought of telling people we love "we want A, B, C, and D and you must get us one of these items." Not to mention our general distaste for the rampant consumerism that goes along with the wedding industry. But I digress. Anyway, what I just did was set up a registry here: http://www.justgive.org/ It’s a website that allows you to pick from among a zillion charities, and your guests can donate if they are so inclined. I already registered us at three of our favorites, Wheels 4 Life, Sierra Club and Kiva.org.

So - will people be OK with this? I figure everyone probably already thinks we're a little odd, so it should come as no big surprise. ;-) If we must, we could also create a “stuff” registry, but we’d likely do it at www.GoWesty.com to get accessories for our Vanagon. So that’s not necessarily less weird, hehee. Second question is, should I email people with this info? I can send out an email to everyone who’s invited saying something like "Sally and Iza request charitable donations in lieu of gifts, blah blah blah"? But that seems kind of tacky.

OK, I will stop rambling now. Let me know what you think. :hi: