Wedding Day Gifts

Introduction

If you have been invited to a wedding, it is good manners to buy a wedding gift, even if you do not know the couple that well or aren’t even personally acquainted with them. The couple will have spent a lot of money on the wedding reception and the party and the least you can do is buy them a gift, if only to thank them for that. Of course, if you are a close friend, giving a wedding gift will seem even more important to you because you will want to give something personal that you know will stand out from the pile of gifts the couple will be receiving that day.

Registered Gifts

Right before you do anything else, do yourself and the happy couple a favor and ask or find out whether they have registered wedding gifts, and if so, at which shops. For those who don’t know, most shops now offer a service where the bride and groom can register several items on a wish list for their wedding day. Guests then check that list and buy as many items as they want off it, and they are free to choose which items they would like to buy. This helps the bride and groom avoid ending up with five frying pans, three coffee machines and a lot of other unnecessary stuff which they thank the guests for, then chuck it in the cellar of their beautiful new home and never look at it again. It also avoids scenarios where the bride and groom get a number of absolutely beautiful flower bouquets that are just as unhelpful and unpractical as they are pretty, and then need to spend another fortune on household items when they have just spent so much on their wedding.

Therefore, if everybody on the guest list remembers to check what gifts the couple has registered, there will be two frying pans and one coffee machine only, and no money wasted. If you find registered items and if there are still some left to buy, then perfect; buy as many as you want or can afford. This applies, of course, within reason. Do not buy all of the gifts they have registered, and conversely, do not arrive with a single wooden tablespoon in hand. If the couple has not registered anything or if all the items on their list are bought up, your task is a bit more complicated.

Other Options

If the wedding is going to be small and no gifts have been registered, you could still check with the other guests and decide who buys what so that, again, there are no five frying pans in the happy couple’s household. Since the couple has just spent an awful lot of money, practical presents might be more appropriate here. If you try and think outside the box, you are sure to find something. You could either give them something you know no one else will buy, or find something one can always need. How about, for example, a couple of vouchers for a supermarket near their home? They are absolutely sure to use those and be very grateful. If you are feeling very generous, how about offering them a week’s holiday, or maybe a stay at a spa?

Or, if the bride and groom are just moving in together, you could give them vouchers for a furniture store, or maybe pay for the gardening if they have a garden. Photo frames or food baskets are also things that you can always use, as well as a nice framed painting for them to hang up on the wall. If the couple has children, think of that as well. A child always needs new clothes and shoes – kids grow at an astonishing pace – and toys will most likely be much appreciated as well. Bathrobes, sets of dishes or champagne flutes are amongst the more traditional gifts, but they are also a very nice idea, and no one, to the extent of my knowledge, has ever said no to receiving a nice, prettily bound book about a subject which interests them.

Think of what you would like or would have liked for your wedding day, find inspiration from the internet, and give a nice, loving gift.