14 Great Wedding Gifts (That You Won’t Find on the Couple’s Registry)

You can commemorate the happy couple’s special day with Williams Sonoma Heart Mini Bottles, which showcase two elegantly debossed first names and a date. When we ordered them, we were impressed with the high-quality, deep etchings and classy typeface in thick glass. Each 6.32-ounce bottle holds enough for sharing a couple of romantic flutes, without the commitment to a full bottle of bubbly, and they come in packs of six, 12, or 24. Choose from four sparkling options: Moët & Chandon, Chandon, and Freixenet Cordon Negro champagnes, as well as La Marca prosecco.

If the couple in question is on the younger side or still building up their barware collection, consider the Estelle Colored Glass Champagne Flutes. The hand-blown glasses—which are designed by a woman-run company that commissions Polish glass artisans to make them—come in 13 contemporary colors, including a translucent mint green and bold fuchsia, and are available in packs of two or six. Though the couple probably registered for a more demure set of six, there’s something especially festive about the Estelle flutes, and we’re guessing they’ll end up reaching for them more.

A Vitamix 5200 might make the newlyweds’ dream kitchen, but a genuine gift to the marriage just might be a tool for keeping the magic alive. For each day of the year, Our Q&A a Day: 3-Year Journal for 2 People asks a question, including queries for them as a couple (“What does your partner’s laugh sound like?”) and as individuals (“What news story are you following right now?”). Those same questions are repeated annually for the next two years, meaning that each question is an opportunity for your giftees to learn something new about one another and to see how they evolve over their first few years together as a married couple.

Researchers have found that couples who inject novelty into their relationship report greater satisfaction in them—the working theory is that doing new things together may trigger the brain’s reward system associated with new love. The Tryuunion Date Night Adventure Cards keeps couples supplied with 40 fun date-idea cards, each of which are marked with icons to denote cost, duration, setting, and transportation before the scratch-off reveal. Suggestions include hide-and-seek at IKEA and portrait painting over drinks and snacks, and the backside of each card has a sticky tab for a 2-by-3-inch photo memorializing the activity. Consider gifting a Fujifilm Instax Mini 12—our budget pick for the best instant camera—along with the card set for a complete package.

The Night Sky Museum Grade Print depicts how the stars aligned at a particular date and location—that could be a couple’s wedding day or the day they met. Available in three sizes, the constellation is printed with fade-resistant archival ink on museum-quality paper or stretched canvas, with text options for the location, the date, and a personal message printed below the map. You can choose from several design options and colors, including gold foil.

When you’re going registry rogue, there’s no safer gift than cash, but digital transfers can feel impersonal and boring. Jazz up your delivery by stashing it in a Paper Love Lovely Roses Pop Up Card. Illustrated on the front, the card folds flat and reveals an impressive, upright bouquet of flowers when you open it. The interlocking, laser-cut cardstock features plump red roses and colorful accent flowers and leaves in a patterned white vase. A removable note card offers you space to write a meaningful message to your recipients and a spot to tuck in that check.

If the betrothed have a quirkier, nonmaterialistic vibe or are big into cartoons, they might just love getting Funko Pop Yourself figurines of themselves. Product testing logistics manager Leslie Grisdale and her husband received ones from her mother-in-law—hers dressed in an apron and holding a wine bottle and whisk, his in all black, both with their cat—which she says made their day. An easy-to-use module offers a range of choices in skin tone, hairstyles, outfits, and two accessories that can represent their interests, including a coffee cup, a baseball, a game controller, and more. You can even add up to two pets per figure for a small additional fee. If you opt for the protectors (which you should), the toys come with the names of the giftees.

Flowers aren’t forever—the wedding bouquet and table arrangements may start to droop soon after the guests go home. (That’s probably some kind of lesson on the ephemerality of love and life.) But sending a flower arrangement after the wedding is a way to help the couple refresh some of the beauty and specialness of that day. Out of 14 flower delivery services we recently tested in our soon-to-be update guide to online flower delivery, the flowers from UrbanStems looked prettiest and stayed freshest. If you want to make it a regular treat, UrbanStems offers a subscription service.

Framing can be both expensive and time-consuming. A Framebridge Gift Card—our top pick online framing service—can give newly married people some relief from the effort and cost of the process at a flat fee. The ordering process is easy, the well-built frames are easy to hang, and customer service is prompt.

If the lucky couple is big into food, but you have no idea what fancy cookware is hidden in their cupboards, your best bet is something they can eat. Like all of our top picks for best boxed chocolates, the 24-piece Melissa Coppel Bonbons are made with flawlessly smooth, high-quality chocolate encasing rich ganache and other impeccable fillings. What sets this box apart, however, are the special-occasion-worthy decorations—gorgeous, swirling technicolor designs hand painted onto each bonbon, as well as unique flavors (like raspberry rose jelly and espresso ganache with crunchy croissant duja). The ombré box is a work of art in itself, making for a spectacular presentation.

Ground spices lose their freshness in as little as six months (horrifying, we know), so even the most dedicated cooks could use a pantry refresher. Diaspora Co.—a favorite of our kitchen team—sources its vibrant heirloom spices from India and Sri Lanka, with the place of origin and date of harvest printed on each tin. If you’re wondering if spices make for an odd gift, these aren’t your regular old supermarket jars. They’re packed in decorative pink, orange, yellow, and turquoise tins that are plenty wide to fit a measuring spoon (unlike the standard narrow jars) and are gorgeous enough to be reused as containers. The build your own shelf option lets you pick three, six, nine, or 12 spices in an easy-to-use module.

The comedown from a joyful wedding followed by a dreamy honeymoon in some far-flung locale can be pretty hard—especially that whole returning-to-work part. Help ease the newlyweds’ transition back into everyday life with one more bright spot via a Miami Fruit Variety Box, one of our picks for the best gift basket. The box changes seasonally, but each contains 3 to 5 pounds of ripe tropical fruit, including harder-to-find delights like cacao pods, passionfruit, mamey sapote, and guava.

Senior staff writer Kaitlyn Wells and her husband wanted a unique way to commemorate their special day, but they weren’t fans of photo-booth strips or thumbprint guest books. To capture their new family, they ordered a custom family-portrait illustration by an artist on Etsy. Just choose how many characters and send a photo of the couple to the illustrator, along with any specifications on details, like clothing and hairstyles, and any text you want included. The illustrator will email a proof back for approval; two rounds of revisions are included in the cost. The final digital file is turned around in approximately five to seven business days. Kaitlyn added their family name and “established” date as the caption. The final result, complete with their pets and his military dog tags, left even her picky husband impressed.

The week of editor Signe Brewster’s wedding, her maid of honor sent her a package from Mixbook (which happens to be Wirecutter’s top-pick photo book service). The hardcover book inside was filled with letters and pictures from the most important women in her life—a special reminder of the support she had going into the weekend. They all flipped through its pages on the morning of the wedding, and she still takes it out from time to time when she wants to feel a piece of that love.

We love finding gifts that are unusual, thoughtful, and well vetted. See even more gift ideas we recommend.

This article was edited by Hannah Morrill and Jennifer Hunter.