Registry issues for a trans-Atlantic couple

My finance and I are getting married in Dec and are having an engagement party in Oct. He currently lives in Northern Ireland and I in the US. I plan on joining him as soon as I can in 2012. We're having just a small family wedding so we weren't thinking about gifts at all but my family is a bit old fashioned and are pushing for us to have a registry. My mother suggested I register for gift cards (as I don't want people to buy me gifts I will just have to pay to move and I can't register for money lol). I need a list of companies my US family can get gift cards from. I know Amazon and Ikea operate in the UK does anyone have any suggestions of others? Thank you so much!

Gift cards bought in one country won't work in another.  It has to do with parts of businesses being incorporated in different countries and taking money out of one country to another.

My DF and I registered on Amazon.co.uk.  It's not perfect, but they have everything and my US family has bought a bunch of stuff off of ours with no problems. 

Gift cards bought in one country won't work in another.  It has to do with parts of businesses being incorporated in different countries and taking money out of one country to another.

Sometimes they will. Starbucks cards work in the US and the UK (and Canada), for example. But in general, you're right, and that's not necessarily a good strategy. Amazon.co.uk is a good idea and what I'm planning to do when the time comes.

You could do a honeyfund and just state which stores you want them for, like


$20 to spend at Bed, Bath, Beyond.
£40 to spend at Amazon.co.uk

That way you get the money in cash and can spend it more easily, both sides of the Atlantic but people still feel like they're buying you a gift card.

I know places like Marks and Spencer will allow Americans to buy gift cards and have them a) shipped to their address or b) a UK address. We gave this option to our guests although we said it would just be much easier if they wanted to contribute to our 'moving in' fund.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! M&S is a good idea I hadn't thought of. I'm starting with Amazon and going to move on from there. Cheers guys! 

I registered with Debenham's in Ireland and my family in the US was able to buy us stuff off the registry, no problem. They were also able to buy us gift cards from there. Once we were married and the registry closed, they delivered it to our door!

I partner with a Honeymoon Registry Service.  Both sides can "buy" your registered gifts, however, you don't need to use it for you Honeymoon as there are many ways to use the service.

I actually used it for my own wedding and it was very smooth sailing. Let me know if you'd like to know more.  Its free to use.

I registered with Debenham's in Ireland and my family in the US was able to buy us stuff off the registry, no problem. They were also able to buy us gift cards from there. Once we were married and the registry closed, they delivered it to our door!

We did this with John Lewis. Friends in the US were easily able to buy either gifts or vouchers online and then the stuff was all delivered later. Also, it sounds as if we were in sort of the same situation as you, FLtoBelfast, in that we didn't want our gifts delivered straightaway. We were living with the inlaws, and wanted to wait until we were in our own home, so it was about a 3-4 month wait after the wedding, and John Lewis was totally fine with holding onto everything until we were ready to receive it all.

Thanks again for all the good ideas!