Marisa and Mike Kelley
A Chance to Give Back

Many brides and grooms use their wedding gift registries to stock their homes for the rest of their lives together. Mike and Marisa Kelley saw it as a chance to give back.
 
"We're a little bit older," Marisa said. "So when we thought of what we needed, we couldn't think of anything but how that money could be so much better spent elsewhere."
 
After seeing the idea at a friend's wedding and another friend's anniversary party, Mike and Marisa decided to forgo wedding gifts; instead, they ask their guests to make donations to one of four charities. The charities were selected by Mike, Marisa and her parents. Marisa's mom, Brenda Eddy, serves on Counterpart International's (Counterpart) Board of Directors.

 
"We chose Counterpart for two reasons," Marisa explained. "First, it's an organization we know about and we know that the money will be used in a worthwhile fashion. Also, Mike and I are extremely global people and the fact that Counterpart is also global holds true to our lifestyle."
 
To aid in their selection, the wedding guests were given a blurb about each charity with a link to the charity's website from the couple's wedding website. Mike and Marisa also opted out of purchasing wedding favors; instead, they set up four bowls of water—representing each charity—and asked their guests to place a floating candle in the bowl representing the charity of their choice. Each candle had a dollar value of close to $50. At the end of the night, the number of candles for each charity was totaled and that amount was donated to the charity along with the donations in lieu of wedding gifts.

Photos: (top) Marisa and Mike on their wedding day in August, 2009, and (bottom) voting with floating candles © Cicilia Photography, courtesy of the Kelleys.