Whether you are one of the newly engaged couples from over the holidays or if you said "yes" before the holidays even started . . . I want to first say Congratulations and to let you know it's time for the planning fun to begin.

One of the planning stages will of course involve creating your wedding registry - whether it's for your brand new home or if it's a second marriage - there is a registry for you. At MyRegistry.com, you can add products to your gift list from any store in the world, even right from your smartphone while shopping. It's true. Here's the full scoop on how easy it is to create a wedding registry with MyRegistry.com . . .

1. Adding gifts from any store in the world is a breeze when you place the "Add to MyRegistry" button on your bookmarks bar. Simply browse your favorite stores and instantly add gifts to your bridal registry with the click of the button.
    
2. Adding to your wedding registry list on-the-go is as easy as scanning any barcode and adding the items to your gift list while browsing your favorite store. Shopping at a store that doesn't have a website? Just take a photo and add a few details about where the item can be purchased.
    
3. Have everything you already need but dreaming of a romantic honeymoon? Well, then you can register for cash gifts. Creating a cash gift fund is the tasteful way to register for cash. It can be used for a honeymoon fund {including activities + dinners together}, a down payment on a new home fund or anything you can think of.

So, when it comes time to create your wedding registry - think about how amazing it would be to have a wedding registry that wasn't limited to just a few of your favorite shops. At MyRegistry.com, the sky is the limit when it comes to the possibilities of adding items to your registry. And, MyRegistry.com even syncs with major retailers which means you can incorporate your existing registries with your MyRegistry.com account. You will love the ease of creating your wedding registry and your guests will love the ease of shopping for you.

Click Here to Sign-Up for your Free Wedding Registry Account

For the month of May, Target's focusing their wedding registry on "New Beginnings". Since my hubby and I would always head to the beach for our anniversary, I've selected the Threshold Beach Blanket to be the perfect companion with the Threshold™ Solar Round Basket Lantern and the Coleman cooler. After enjoying an afternoon at the beach, it would be so fun to pack a picnic dinner and enjoy eating it together as the night falls and the lantern lights our little secluded area of the beach.

And, now for the fun part - I have a $25 Target eGift Card up for grabs if you let me know what your favorite Target registry product or products inspired by "New Beginnings" would be. Simply complete one or all of the possible entries below before the end of the day on Monday June 2nd to be entered to win. Winner to be announced during that week :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Remember . . . when it comes to wedding registries, Target says it perfectly, "Be Yourself, Together®".

This post and giveaway have been sponsored by Target - but all opinions and thoughts are my own.

There's a new way to plan your dream wedding and it couldn't be easier. SimplyTie simplifies the process of planning a wedding with their 5 easy to use online apps including budget planning, guest list builder, wedding registry, wedding photo sharing application, and the thank you card builder.

1. Plan Your Wedding Budget - simply plug in your overall wedding budget and based on the average cost for each aspect of the wedding - you will see how much you will want to consider spending on them. It's a great tool to see everything at a quick glance.

2. Build your Guest List - this is amazing. You can easily add in your guests but to give you a head start on creating your guest list you can add friends and family members from facebook. You can even keep track of the invitation being sent, if the RSVP has been received, their meal choices and if a thank you has been sent directly in the app. Lastly your SimplyTie Guest List will even do work for you while you sleep. It will send messages via Facebook or Email to collect your guest’s addresses you don’t already have.

3. Create Your Registry - whether it's a cash registry or a honeymoon registry you can create yours right here. You can add your own items or view the sample registries for ideas.

4. Showcase your Photos - you can share your photos with friends and family via a special dedicated link or you can even share them via social media. The best part of this is that it's integrated with smart phones - your guests can upload their photos from your wedding directly to your gallery from their phones and they're viewable instantly.

5 Easy Peasy Thank You Cards - you can instantly create your thank you cards with the SimplyTie app. Your gifts are automatically plugged into a template - but you can personalize each message to your guests as well as each thank you card letter template. You can choose to print the cards yourself or have SimplyTie do it for you.

The entire SimplyTie app can be used at no cost - but for a low price you can upgrade the specific apps you'd like more features with or you can choose to upgrade the entire SimplyTie service for even more functionality and features.

Sign up Today to make your
wedding planning easy & fun

Zankyou is one of the most popular online wedding registries, but it's not just any wedding registry. It's an online cash wedding gift registry that also lets the couple create their very own free personal wedding website.

With couples marrying later and frequently having guests coming from abroad, the concept of Zankyou was born after seeing there was no online cash wedding registry and wedding webpage service that adapted to the needs of this new generation of brides and grooms. Zankyou is available in 18 different countries and 8 languages. Last year {in 2012}, more than 70,000 couples created their wedding website on Zankyou. Brides and grooms can share their wedding agenda with guests, maps, photos, suggested hotels and much more with their wedding website.

The bride and groom receives the cash equivalent of the gift contributions into their bank account. When couples are ready, they can transfer all the funds contributed in their registry to their personal bank account. This gives them the freedom to use the money as they wish - for their home, honeymoon or any other dream.

Zankyou also has a free wedding registry mobile app for the iPhone and Android that lets couples access their wedding website and wedding list anywhere, at anytime. The app is also perfect for wedding guests as they will be able to . . .
• upload the wedding photos they take with their phone directly to the couple's wedding website
• find the wedding location directly from their phones, no need to worry about getting lost
• see the couples wedding agenda without needing to look for the wedding invitation

Zankyou works by charging a small percentage {2.85%} of the total contribution made per guest plus a transaction fee {99 cents}. If the couple wishes, they can cover these fees or have their guests cover these fees. If they opt to have their guests cover the fees, the services of Zankyou are completely free. There's also the Zankyou premium feature called "Preferential Wedding Registry Fee" that lets the couple pay a one time fee {$19} and they will have a flat rate reduced percentage {2.25%} of the total contribution and the transaction fee is removed from all the gifts they receive.

Creating a wedding registry has never been easier thanks to Zankyou - and both the couple AND their guests will love using it. PS: Be sure to watch the video on their home page - not only is it super cute but it fully explains everything you will need to know about Zankyou.

Now, you might be wondering why I'm writing about a soap dispenser . . . but I find this product to be a wedding registry must-have item and it also makes a wonderfully unique wedding gift for the newlyweds. This Sensor Soap Pump from Simple Human is unlike any I've ever seen. It runs on 4 AA batteries and you simply fill it with the soap or lotion of your choice, place your hand underneath, and out comes the soap/lotion. Couldn't be easier, no pumping and no spreading of germs! I've had the privilege of receiving a soap dispenser in black with silver and LOVE IT. (it's also available in white with silver) I'm using mine in the kitchen as I've never really liked the idea of pumping soap after touching raw meat. If Simple Human made one in white with brushed metal, I'd definitely be buying another one for our 1/2 bath. The only minor problem I have is that with 4 different soap flow settings, the lowest one still seems to dispense a bit more soap than I typically would use. But, maybe Simple Human could look into this for the next version of this product. To see more about the Sensor Soap Pump and other Simple Human innovations, please visit their web site.

PS: While I was given a Simple Human Sensor Soap Pump to test out, I was not in any way paid to make an endorsement, I simply wrote how I feel about the product.