As a wedding fair, we like to think we see a lot of the wedding trends as they evolve over the years, and in the last few years we've seen more and more couples asking wedding guests to help fund their honeymoons rather than give physical gifts. But, of course, because we're a slightly awkward and abashed nation awash with politeness, any money talk can be buried deep, deep down in us! Couple that with the whole having to plan a big day thing, and suddenly your honeymoon planning can seem a whole load more stressy than serene. So how can you make the holiday of a lifetime happen, easily and securely?

If you find writing your bank details in your invites a bit awks, don't want your funds tied up with a particular company and instead want to collect cash gifts direct in a way that's secure, stylish and super fun then Patchwork is the perfect honeymoon fund for you. Here's why we're major fans of Patchwork at Most Curious:

It's like Pinterest but with cash money

Creating a patchwork is like putting together a Pinterest board to show your guests all the things you'd like to experience on your honeymoon. The bonus is that you can give each image (or patch) as much information as you like - you can input a title, description and a price so your guests can not only see your plans but choose what to fund in order to help make it happen.

It features a gorgeous non-stocky image gallery

If you're a Pinterest fan you'll enjoy taking the time to create your patchwork entirely from scratch. With a huge gallery of gorgeous images sourced from well-travelled photographers and Patchwork fans it's really easy to find all the honeymoon images you'll need, without grainy, bitty, unrelatable ones that look like they're straight from a 00s catalogue. You can also upload your own photos to include in your patchwork too, to make it more personal.

Readymade templates to steal when time is of the essence

To make it even easier, Patchwork has created over 100 readymade honeymoon templates for different destinations. So you can both work out where to go and get the funds to do it, all on the same site! Whether you want to experience blossom season in Japan, explore the Canadian Rockies, learn to surf in Hawaii or see the Northern Lights in Iceland they've got it covered. All you need to do is choose a template to customise and then personalise it with your own welcome message - tweaking any details and adding your own photos to your patchwork if you like.

They're also great at travel suggestions...

Browsing through the many templates is a great way to get inspiration for your honeymoon and/or learn more information about your chosen destination. If you're not sure where to go, they even have a 'Beautiful Island of Somewhere' patchwork so you can decide where to go once you've collected your funds!

Two ways to collect your cash

Simply, Patchwork don't hold funds. Instead you receive all contributions directly into either your PayPal account or into your chosen bank account via Stripe - two organisations you probably use weekly if not daily, and that you know you can trust.

You get to tell your story

With a traditional wedding registry you get to show your guests what kind of glassware and crockery you're into, even though your Insta shows that off already. With Patchwork, you get to share something a bit more meaningful. It's a chance for you to share your own story, to let loved-ones know where you're at in life and where you're headed...without being inside your head.

It'll make your friends cry

Tears of joy, obviously. Patchwork is not just an easy and fun experience for couples who want to set up a honeymoon fund; it's also a personal and meaningful experience for those giving. And because guests can leave messages on your patchwork page along with their gifts everyone gets to appreciate each others' words of love and wisdom...and also, their bad jokes and emojis. (Although people can't see what each other have bought or spent - that's just for you to know).

You can keep track of contributions

Cash in envelopes get lost, cheques get forgotten and bank transfers get sucked into overdrafts. Patchwork not only solves all these problems but also allows you to keep track of exactly who has funded what, how much they contributed and their contacts details for when you're ready to send thanks. You wish you'd had Patchwork when you had to write thank you cards after your 10th birthday, don't ya?

Everyone gets to share the love

When you're on you honeymoon, we hope you'll be taking LOADS of photos of you enjoying your adventure. You can then upload them to your account to send along with a thank you message to the specific people who funded each individual experience. You can also thank groups of people who funded each 'patch' or everyone at once. And if you want you can turn your photos into thank you cards with a 20% discount to Patchwork's print partner Moo.

There's no set up fee

We know, we know, for a nation who don't like to talk about money, we do love to, well, talk about money...but, wonderfully, you don't need to sign up to try Patchwork and there's no upfront fee to use the service. Patchwork make their money with a 3% commission only if and when you receive funds through the site.

Patchwork will even look after your puppy

Patchwork has a new feature that enables you to ask guests to contribute not just cash but time and skills too. This means you can add additional requests into your honeymoon patchwork so people can choose to lend you a Lonely Planet guide to Peru, help you to brush up on your Spanish, drive you to the airport or look after your dog while you're away. All fun, useful and quirky alternatives to cash gifts.

They're also super generous - Patchwork give away

Patchwork will be contributing £100 towards the honeymoon of one lucky couple over the weekend so if you're curious to know more about our favourite honeymoon fund make sure you go find them at the show!

If you want to be in with a chance of winning that money off your holiday, and more importantly (maybe) visiting the Patchwork team, make sure you buy your tickets on our online shop!

Patchwork - the best honeymoon fund. EVER!