TOASTERS and tea sets are nowhere in sight as friends of a York couple pore over their "alternative" wedding gift list.
Kate Orrells and her fianc, Paul Brayshaw, have steered clear of the conventional list of present ideas, plumping instead for a selection of suggestions featuring donations to worthy causes.
The fresh approach was inspired by Give It, which is behind alternative charitable gift list services.
The non-profit company has noticed a change in behaviour among couples planning to marry after a significant increase in registrations for The Alternative Wedding List, the UK's first online charitable wedding list.
Andy Hickey, who heads the operation, said: "It seems that both the events of Boxing Day and the increased focus on the UK's role in the world, particularly with regards to Africa, have encouraged marrying couples to think differently about the sort of gift list they would like their guests to select from.
"Since Christmas, we've had a four-fold increase in the number of registrations we would have expected and have been encouraged by what seems to be a real change in attitude."
The Alternative Wedding List is an online gift list service, where there are no toasters or kettles.
Instead couples sign up to one of a number of ready-made gift lists that contain donations to various charities. These include Barnardo's, FARM-Africa, Help The Aged, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Save The Children, Terrence Higgins Trust and many more.
Couples select a group of charities and each guest chooses to gift a donation to the charity of their choice. Kate, a student who works part-time in a bank, and Paul, a steward at a golf club, plan to marry this April and have signed up to the service.
Kate said: "We already have everything in our home that we need and we decided we wanted to balance our relative good fortune with a gift list where our guests could make a real difference to those who need help. As we don't really have a favourite charity, and as we wanted our guests to be able to decide where their money goes, The Alternative Wedding List was ideal."
Updated: 10:27 Thursday, February 03, 2005
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article