I tend to avoid mentioning Traveler's Joy press on our blog but I had to include this one because I think the article does a great job of explaining the various types of honeymoon registries.  Jane Hodges, the writer for the Wall Street Journal, covers most of the competition and breaks down how each company is different. 

We had a meeting the day this article was released and overall, we are very happy with it.  The team at Traveler's Joy is an amazing group of dedicated people determined to change the traditional wedding registry industry into a lifestyle and experience registry.  We are all excited knowing that we are helping couples spend the first few weeks of their lives together experiencing new places and people.

We encourage all of our Members to read this article so they have a better understanding of their honeymoon registry choices.  As always, we welcome your feedback.

The Wall Street Journal - Getting Guests to Pay for a Honeymoon

I came across this article today in the travel section of the New York Times that discusses how the green honeymoon is becoming a consumer driven market. We hope our new partnership with Native Energy Travel Offsets is just one way our Members consider reducing the emissions from their honeymoon travel.  If you are interested in sustainable travel, check out Elevate Destinations - they are a boutique travel agency focused in this area.

American Public Media's Marketplace (on National Public Radio) recently reported on how high end retailers are battling lifestyle wedding registries.  Only five years ago, the registry marketplace only had a half dozen brick and mortar retailers.  Thing have certainly changed since then! 

Wedding registries are becoming one other way for couples to express who they are and their lifestyle.  Traveler's Joy believes a honeymoon registry speaks a millions words about how a couple is looking forward to exploring new places and experiences together. 

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/04/williams_sonoma

This morning I came across the article below on how the modern wedding couple continues to change demographically and how that has affected registry choices.  We could not agree more here at Traveler's Joy (and are happy because of it!) as our Members continue to honeymoon in exotic locations and for longer time periods with the help of their honeymoon registry.  It makes us so happy to hear about the amazing places we help our couples travel to and celebrate their first few weeks of marriage together!

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/6/prweb990764.htm

Traveler's Joy has partnered with NativeEnergy Travel Offsets in an effort to provide an easy way for our Members to offset their honeymoon travel.  In addition to our CO2 offset icon, our Member account area has an image/link to a co-branded landing page with NativeEnergy where Members can calculate their emissions and purchase offsets.  We are really excited to provide this option to our Members as we learn more about the effects of travel on the environment.

After an in-depth analysis of travel offset providers, we chose NativeEnergy because of the purchase option for Members to help directly finance new construction of specific new renewable energy projects that need additional revenues to get up and running.
 
Traveler's Joy & NativeEnergy Travel Offset Calculator

Great news about a recent partnership we formed with WeddingChannel.com! The partnership enables engaged couples to create, manage and monitor their honeymoon registry all on one site, and makes it easy for millions of wedding guests to find the perfect gift via their multi-registry system.

We are very excited to join an exclusive group of retailers including Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Crate & Barrel, REI, and Tiffany & Co.  WeddingChannel.com is the premier wedding registry service and we are thrilled to call them a partner.  We are excited that our unique honeymoon registry service will now be exposed to a much broader audience.

For more information and to read our press release visit:
Traveler's Joy Press
WeddingChannel.com Partnership

We realize that time is at a minimum during the wedding preparation months so most couples don't necessarily have a chance to open their guidebook until they are on the airplane.

We recently contacted a number of Traveler's Joy Members from 2007 to find out how they learned about the hotels, activities, restaurants, and off the beaten path travel experiences during their honeymoon. 

As Members customize their registry, we thought it would be helpful to provide links to some of the top online travel guides.  In order to make it as convenient as possible, you will notice these on the 'Activities and Trip Details' section of Registry Page section within the 'Your Account' tab once you log in.

The list of links will appear as below including the real member registries section.

Get ideas from:   Frommers    Fodors    Lonley Planet    NYT Travel          View real member registries

If you have other travel resources you'd like to share - we'd love to hear about it.

Happy New Year!

Over the holiday weekend I was perusing through Conde Naste Traveler magazine and found some great tips on how to make traveling a bit more green.  Clearly, this is not an easy task.  With all of the confusing certifications and greenwash marketing in the travel business, I rarely know if I'm increasing or decreasing my environmental footprint.  Regardless, some of the suggestions could prove hard to live by, i.e., I'm not sure I'll abide by flying only during the day, but there are several others you may find easily implementable.

Conde Naste Traveler: Green is not Black and White

Happy Holidays and New Year!

We could not believe the high response we received with over 500 honeymoon stories submitted from our Members.  I've had the opportunity to read almost 50 of them so far and have been convinced to visit a number of destinations that Shannon and I knew very little about. 

The level of writing was exceptional.  Each story captures the special moments of the honeymoon and the  destination.

Take a look and be inspired to visit one of these destinations on your honeymoon or anniversary!

Member Honeymoon Stories

 

Traveler's Joy Members have traveled to some of the most exotic and isolated  islands around the world to celebrate their marriage.  Recently, National Geographic ranked islands based on their environmental sustainability.

"The world's most appealing destinations—islands—are the ones most prone to tourism overkill. National Geographis'c 522 experts vote on which ones avoid the danger, which are succumbing to it, and which hang in the balance."

Destinations Rated: Islands

We'd love to hear if you've traveled to any of these island destinations!