Ask for gift cards if moving right after wedding?

If you were eloping just before moving to the UK from the U.S. and people wanted to send you a wedding gift, would a gift card be the best thing to request? Anything they gave you, you would have to pack or they would have to pay high shipping rates, and if it's electronic, it may not work in the UK. Can they just go to Amazon UK or some other site that sells useful home items or electronics and order you a gift card? What is the easiest way to handle this for the giver and the recipient? Can you recommend any useful sites that people in the U.S. could easily buy UK gift cards at?

I just got married in the US and moved to the UK

We registered at amazon.co.uk, for appliances and other items specifically because they accept foreign orders and credit cards. A number of our guests in the US purchased items from our amazon registry, which were waiting for me when I got here.

We also received checks and cash from our US guests, and with the exchange rate as bad as it is right now, it was a lot cheaper to buy items in the US (not appliances--things like sheets, towels, etc) and pay the extra baggage charge to the airline, rather than buying it over here.

"To elope, most literally, merely means to run away. More specifically, elopement is used to refer to a marriage conducted in sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving hurried flight away from one's place of residence."

So you are going to run off and get married?  Sounds like the best way to handle it with some of these families some of you talk about on here.

As far as the gifts, I think cheques are the best bet, if someone asks what would be useful, since using the gift cards can be tricky depending on where they are from. 

I don't see why not. 

You could register at say John Lewis in the UK (they have lovely stuff) for gift cards

www.johnlewis.com

I don't see why not. 

You could register at say John Lewis in the UK (they have lovely stuff) for gift cards

www.johnlewis.com

That store looks pricey. Few people we know could give a costly gift, and we don't expect it. But I'm sure some of our closer friends and relatives will want to give us something to celebrate the occasion and will ask for suggestions.  Which is why I was thinking of something like Amazon where people could give a lower-priced gift or giftcard. And there's plenty of stuff we could select with even $25 gift cards at Amazon. It's good to know the Uk store takes U.S. credit cards.

what about ARGOS?  www.argos.co.uk   kind of like a sears.  that store would be a GREAT place to get gift cards to... does anyone know if they allow US credit card purchases or online/telephone purchase of gift cards?

what about ARGOS?  www.argos.co.uk   kind of like a sears.  that store would be a GREAT place to get gift cards to... does anyone know if they allow US credit card purchases or online/telephone purchase of gift cards?

It does.  I had a wish list here for some baby stuff.  You can do a wedding wishlist as well and they include Gift Cards if you want them.

John Lewis is not all pricey...most of my friends seem to have their wedding lists there, and have put stuff on it from £5 up, as they know not everyone has lots of money.

I think the last person got a £10 wine cooler from me.

Vicky

If you don't ask for anything, people will just give money. That's what we did - we were going back to England about a week after the wedding and obviously couldn't bring 50+ gifts back with us so we didn't do any kind of registry and gave no mention of gifts and everyone just gave us cards and money. I know some people feel money is "impersonal" but we felt it was our best option because we can do what we like with the money now. We can save it, we can use it on a belated honeymoon next year (husband used up all his vacation time this year for the wedding), or we can use it on household items and not be restricted by where to spend it with gift cards... or all of the above! The best thing is that we never asked for anything so we never really expected that much money.

And yes, the exchange rate is crap right now but my husband did one of those deals where you can exchange the money back with no charge within 30 days or something.

A brilliant idea some friends of mine had when they got married was put up a website for people to donate whatever amount they wanted towards a specific thing; whether it be a traditional 'gift', or a pack of gum...
i.e., along with registering at a couple of stores, for their honeymoon they took a roadtrip up the West Coast, so you could donate $50 towards a night at a hotel, or $15 towards breakfast, or $5 towards a rest stop, which would include "a soft drink, a candy bar and a pack of gum" - then they took pictures at each place where people donated, and the individual who donated would get the photo with a thank you.  Really creative, and took everyone of all income levels into consideration.