At Sarah Dixon and Todd Rump’s wedding, wedding favor donations were made to the Wounded Warrior Project.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• More couples are using their wedding day to spotlight social causes
  
• WeddingChannel.com reports 650,000 couples have signed up for its charity programs
  
• Couples who marry later are partly responsible for more donations
  
• Couples can raise awareness through their website, a registry or on their wedding program

RELATED TOPICS

• Wedding Engagements and Proposals
• The Knot Inc.
• Relationships

(CNN) – The collection of wedding favors stuffed into Sarah Dixon’s closet includes everything from customized peppermints to a cup holder shaped like a flip-flop.

When her shining bridal moment arrived in October 2009, Dixon, 26, abandoned the cheesy wedding trinkets for a nobler cause.

She gave each guest a small bag of chocolate truffles to mark a cash donation in guests’ honor to the Wounded Warriors Project, a nonprofit support group for injured veterans.

Dixon’s husband, Todd Rump, 26, a sergeant for the U.S. Army, was deployed to Iraq for an eight-month stint three years ago.

“I figured it would be something for our guests to enjoy,” said Dixon, whose husband will leave this week for duty with the Army in Afghanistan. “I kind of always knew I wanted to do something charitable. When it comes to favors, it’s hard to choose something that won’t just sit in someone’s house or get thrown away.”

A growing number of couples are shifting the spotlight from their weddings to socially conscious causes, wedding planners and industry experts said.

Donations in lieu of wedding favors are gaining popularity. More people are setting up charitable registries via the internet. After all, one Montana bride rationalized, what is the use of a wedding favor during hard economic times?

“It’s so easy to do,” said Anja Winikka, senior editor atTheKnot.com, one of the most popular wedding planning destinations online. “You have so much attention, all the love of your friends and these gifts flowing in. It inspires some couples to give something back with all eyes on them.”

There are no hard rules set for donating to charities for weddings, but some wedding etiquette experts recommend couples avoid putting donation requests on the invitation. Usually, wedding websites or social media can efficiently and appropriately advocate a specific cause. Introducing the organization on a wedding program can also spread the word, they said.

Weddings may be an ideal place to gather attention for a charity. There were about 2.2 million weddings in 2009, with each event averaging 128 guests, according to The Wedding Report Inc., a research company tracking the wedding industry.

Charitable donations at weddings come in all forms. One New Jersey bride this month gave tree seeds to guests to promote environmental sustainability. A wedding next month in Minnesota will ask attendees to bring a nonperishable canned or boxed food item for the local food bank. A Louisiana couple married in March raised $850 to help rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward.

“Beyond all the humanitarian reasons, the need to rebuild the houses, our desire just to do good, there’s real benefits for us in the long run,” said the groom, Max Erenberg, 35, who lives near the Lower 9th Ward. “It certainly helps us having those neighborhoods back.”

Quantifying the uptick in couples trying to donate during their weddings is difficult because there are few experts tracking the phenomenon. According to TheKnot.com, 4 percent of couples in 2009 had a registry connected to a charity, but the figure doesn’t include guests who donate without a registry or couples who replace wedding favors with donations.

In the last few years, more organizations have emerged to cater to engaged couples wanting to donate. More than 650,000 couples since 2004 have participated in charity programs onWeddingChannel.com.

The I Do Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps engaged couples set up charitable registries, reports that about 60,000 couples have established registries through its site. When the foundation began in 2002, couples could select from a dozen charities, said Grant La Rouche, director of the foundation. Today, the agency offers more than 1.5 million nonprofit groups to choose from. Couples can also shop from selected vendors, with a portion of their spending going to a charity. The donations also are tax deductible.

“They want to share that it’s a part of who they are and so much of weddings are about making it about what you love,” La Rouche said.

Nonprofits are also starting to establish their own wedding gift giving programs. Heifer International, an Arkansas-based group known for donating farm animals to impoverished communities worldwide, started an alternative gift giving registry five years ago and has received thousands of donations, officials said.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, launched a wedding program in 2006 and sells posters and mini-place cards for couples to give to their guests when they donate, said Katie Hammett, foundation program coordinator. But Hammett said some brides still prefer a more traditional registry or favors.

“It really depends on the bride — some brides are really into the idea, and some brides really want to go a different way,” Hammett said.

The demand for charitable weddings enabled Mary Ludwig of New Hampshire to start a niche business three years ago called Truffles for a Cause. The company sells chocolates to couples, but a portion of the money goes to a charity the couple picks. The most popular charity has been the American Cancer Society, but Ludwig has had brides request donations go to organizations supporting families affected by the 9/11 attacks and local soup kitchens.

“This generation and probably the next generation — the kids are brought up being more socially aware,” Ludwig said. “They are always thinking about what we can do to save the planet, or helping people when there are earthquakes.”

While a generation of generous millennials may be one reason for the jump in charitable weddings, some wedding experts said they believe charitable giving also represents a larger cultural shift in marriage. More couples are cohabitating and marrying later. For example, in 2009, the average age for a bride was 28 and the average groom’s age was 30, according to a survey of 21,000 couples conducted by TheKnot.com. In 2004, the bride was 27 and the groom was 29.

“By the time they are getting married they don’t need flatware, silverware and candlesticks,” said wedding writer Ariel Meadow Stallings, who runs the blog OffbeatBride.com.

Valerie Manglitz, 36, who married this past month in Michigan, decided to donate to a local agency that serves deaf people. She has worked as a sign language interpreter since she was 20 years old. She hopes her giving will create a ripple effect.

“You want to lead by example,” Manglitz said. “You have to show people what you’re doing so hopefully they will join.”

A trip to Paris can be a fun alternative for newlyweds who already have the traditional wedding gift items.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 11% of couples opt for a honeymoon registry, according to one study
  
• Concept has become socially acceptable in the past few years, weddings editor says
  
• Online registry companies collect funds from guests earmarked for various travel expenses
  

RELATED TOPICS

• Weddings
• Wedding Planning
• Travel and Tourism

(CNN) – Jessica McCrary and her fiance don’t need another pot or pan.

“The ones we already have only occasionally meet the stove,” McCrary and Donovan Campbell posted in a message to wedding guests on their honeymoon registry. “As for fine china, we thought France & Spain would be more romantic!”

The Miami couple is among a growing number of soon-to-be-marrieds who have opted to register for honeymoon travel instead of the typical blender or towel set. Eleven percent of couples registered for honeymoon-related gifts either in place of or in addition to traditional housewares, according to a 2010 registry study conducted by WeddingChannel.com and TheKnot.com.

Honeymoon registries have gained in popularity in the past five years. And in the past year or two, the concept has become more socially familiar and acceptable, said Amy Eisinger, editor ofWeddingChannel.com.

Scott Ellingboe got into the honeymoon registry business early. In 1999, he co-founded the online registry The Honeymoon after talking with a colleague who was on the verge of his third marriage and another set of typical gifts. The travel registry idea was too late for Ellingboe’s own nuptials. He got married in 1986 and received “a lot of stuff that we really didn’t need, and the china, of course, which to this day has been used maybe 10 times in going on 25 years.”

The Honeymoon site works like most of the many honeymoon registries that have sprouted up online in the past decade: The couple outlines a honeymoon itinerary, dividing the trip into increments covering things like airfare, hotel stays and activities — from scuba diving to candlelit dinners and couples massages.

The couple, or an agent, ultimately books the trip and is responsible for paying each vendor. The registry mirrors what they have planned, earmarking funds for each component.

“It’s a less obvious approach to giving cash,” Ellingboe said. “It’s cash with a purpose.”

Wedding guests can pick parts of the honeymoon trip to help fund, and that money is transferred to the couple by the registry. Most charge fees of between 7.5% and 10% of the gift amount, paid by guests or the newlyweds.

The Honeymoon charges 7.5% for amounts up to $500 and smaller percentages for greater gift values.

Some resorts, including Marriott and Disney, offer registries that give gift cards to the couple without fees.

The etiquette

Generally, couples who choose Spain over saucepans are a little older, already live together or have been married before. Probably half of The Honeymoon’s registrants are getting married for the second time, Ellingboe said.

“The bottom line is that among the older, more modern, more cosmopolitan couples, it’s very OK to them to do this sort of thing, especially when you already have all the traditional household items,” WeddingChannel’s Eisinger said.

McCrary, 28, and Campbell, 36, live together and have established careers. McCrary runs her own business, a wedding and event planning company called Lavish Soiree, and Campbell is a sportscaster for a Miami TV station. This is the first marriage for both.

They’re expecting about 250 guests at the oceanfront Miami Beach wedding McCrary has planned, the cost of which they’ll be sharing with their parents. When they started to think about registering, the department store model didn’t feel right.

“We just kept looking at items that we did not need. And so it kind of put me in the mindset of what could we use, what could we create for people to get us as gifts that we could actually utilize?” McCrary said.

McCrary decided to work with her Web designer on a customized honeymoon registry. It’s a service she’s now offering to her clients for a flat fee, starting at $800.

The response to her own registry has been very positive, she said. “Maybe I’m just around like-minded individuals, but I haven’t heard, even through hearsay, any type of negative feedback.”

Guests of all ages have been excited to see and share in the experiences they’ve planned during their trip to France and Spain, she said.

But ultimately, the contributions are designated, not committed, to each activity. McCrary said everything guests choose on the registry will be purchased, and the couple plans to take photos along the way to send to guests with their thank-you notes.

Like all things wedding-related, there is some debate about what’s appropriate. The word “tacky” gets thrown around a lot among posters on wedding website message boards.

It’s true that not everyone is in love with the idea. One of Eisinger’s friends wanted a honeymoon registry to help with air travel costs to Fiji. Her family balked at the idea, so she compromised and registered for fine china and servingware, to give some guests a traditional option, and the honeymoon, for friends who want to contribute to that experience.

Eisinger offered these tips for couples considering a honeymoon registry:

• Choose at least one store registry to give guests the option of a more traditional gift. 
• Register for your honeymoon through a website. Sending a card or putting a note on your wedding site asking directly for contributions would be considered tacky, she said. (WeddingChannel partners with honeymoon registry site Traveler’s Joy.)
• Read the fine print on honeymoon registries; make sure the fees are very clear.
• Try to avoid extensive itemizing. Couples who register for travel are generally more established and might want to stick to airfare, hotels and major excursions.
• Put yourself in your guests’ shoes; what would you feel comfortable buying for them?

One couple Eisinger knows registered for snacks on the plane. Maybe a step too far, she said.

“You can’t control what the bride and the groom do as a guest, but what you can control is what you pay for.”

This is so long overdue it is ridiculous, but we wanted to thank you so very much for the fabulous 25th Anniversary Cake you made for us.  Our guests enjoyed it, and we thought it was perfect for the small gathering we had.  Sorry, it took this long to let you know, but we did not want to let anymore time slip by without letting you know what a classy and delicious cake you made.  Thank you so much!!!  Carol & Dave Mattice, Gilford, NH 

This cake was for 35 people for an evening wedding on the MS Mount Washington, Weirs Beach NH

This cake was for Ashley and Travis getting married at Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, NH. They had a wedding of 40 people, so only the top two tiers are real.