REGISTORY
Ann and Eric have always wanted to adopt
Growing Their Family With Their Registry How this couple is using The Knot Newlywed Fund to raise money for adoption. BY SOPHIE ROSS PHOTOGRAPH BY NATHAN WILBERG
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While things like towels, bedding and kitchen appliances most likely come to mind when you hear the words “wedding registry,” you’d be remiss to believe you’re only relegated to household items when you tie the knot. Just ask Colorado-based couple Ann Bethune and Eric Wilberg, who when envisioning their future together, knew they wanted one thing more than anything: a family. And while the couple plans to try to have their own biological children, both Ann and Eric have always wanted to give someone extra special their love too by adopting. With the average cost of adoption in the US nearing $40,000, according to AmericanAdoptions.com, the couple decided to dedicate their registry—via The Knot Newlywed WE SEE Fund—to making their dream a reality. THEIR BACKSTORY
THE VALUE OF PROVIDING STABLE AND SUPPORTIVE HOMES TO CHILDREN.
It’s fitting Ann and Eric met at a charity fundraiser for Children’s Hospital Colorado, where Ann works as a neonatal intensive care nurse. Eric was also working in the same industry as a health care management consultant. “We were each at the fundraiser with our own group of friends but started talking casually, and soon separated ourselves and talked for several hours,” Eric says. “We realized we had a great connection and each of us had all the qualities the other person was looking for in a partner.” Their relationship took off from there, and the couple realized—and discussed at length—that they shared a vision of what their future family would look like too. More specifically, they knew they were on the same page about adoption, thanks to their respective work in the health care industry combined with various volunteering opportunities they both participated in. “We see the value of providing stable and supportive homes to children,” Eric says. “It’s a way we’ll be able to share the love [the two of us] and our extended families have with a few more people in the world,” Eric says.
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THEIR “REGISTORY”
Ann and Eric discovered The Knot Newlywed Fund as they were setting up their wedding website and loved that it offered the flexibility to register for alternative gifts and to tell their guests what they plan to do with the funds. While they did register for a few items to update their kitchen, including flatware, glasses and an espresso maker, their main focus was on their adoption fund. “As we’re both more than a decade into our professional careers and in our thirties, we already have a lot of ‘things’ that are traditionally part of a registry,” Eric says. “We wanted to have an option to donate toward something meaningful for our future family [instead].” Ann and Eric’s family and friends have been incredibly supportive of their untraditional registry, as many of them have fostered and adopted children of their own too.
Ann and Eric said “I do” on September 8, 2018, in Lyons, Colorado, and they plan to start trying to grow their family soon. If you’d like to contribute to Ann and Eric’s adoption fund, go to TheKnot.com/us/ann-bethune-and-eric-wilberg-sep-2018/registry
9/25/18 12:38 PM
