Here's a day I never thought would happen

The gift registry.

I was adamant against it. The idea gives me the creepies up my neck. A wedding is not about gifts, especially forewarned gifts. ESPECIALLY forewarned gifts. It's about coming together to celebrate a choice. I love gifts, but, to quote Charlotte in my favourite SATC episode A Woman's Right To Shoes, "marrying Harry is gift enough!"

All I wanted was a charity or two. Simple, non?

So apparently people will most likely want to give us gifts. But, but, them coming is gift enough! Some people will want to give us gifts even if we would prefer a donation to charity. I don't know, if my friend asked for a donation to charity, I'd donate to their charity. And deliver some flowers, or take them for dinner when the last of the wedding cake has gone.

We compromised on choosing a charity each (guide dogs for me!) and perhaps a honeymoon registry. We don't need a toaster, we need Turkey! Turns out what I assumed a honeymoon fund to be is not so (ie Expedia lets you set up an account, people drop in cash, you spend it on flights and hotels and stuff when you finally decide to have a honeymoon). Instead the only choices out there are to set up an account on a pastel-coloured site dotted with clipart and itemise your already-planned honeymoon (4 nights at Chateau Toomanypillows, scuba diving for 2, 1 hour Swedish massage...) and they take a percentage for the privilege.

So here I am, having taken a deep breath, and have rationalised a gift registry plus one charity. I suggested Saks not knowing if they sell anything beyond shoes.

Now, which charity? Choosing one charity, albeit with the helping hand of Charity Navigator, is going to be hard. He has great choices, but how can I look beyond guide dogs?

If only there was a charity that provided guide dogs that fed the poor while supporting the Red Cross.