Ms. McKay and Mr. Nero broached the idea with their wedding planner, Beth Helmstetter, who about a year ago started a website called the Good Beginning, to ease the process of charitable gift-giving for guests
and make gifts trackable the way they are in a regular registry for couples.
“When you do something so special as this at one of the two to three most important
days of your life, it sends a message to the people who are close to you.”
Ms. Culver said what made her happiest were the guests who were not sailors and did not know about Sail to Prevail ahead of time.
“What is important to couples is they want to be able to thank people for those donations,”
said Ms. Helmstetter, who charges 10 percent of the donation for the service.
Since it started last year, some 800 couples have used the platform to set up
charitable gift registries, including 10 of her client couples, she said.
“It’s easy for people who don’t have the dream of a registry for gifts in the traditional
way,” said Anthony Taccetta, a wedding and event planner in New York.