Happily Ever After: How To Give The Perfect Wedding Gift
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve known the blushing bride or groom, although if it’s years instead of months you’ll have better luck, you’ll still find yourself wondering what on earth to buy them. Do they already have one? Is it on the list? Finally is it, well, unique enough? Have no fear as we’ve compiled a handy checklist that should help to solve at least one of your wedding woes. What colour hat should you wear? Sorry, no idea!
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask
Many guests don’t like to do this as they feel it’s a little presumptuous but if you’re good friends with the couple or, even better, family it’s perfectly acceptable to ask them what they might like. Nowadays couples living together will already have plenty of towels, mugs, and bed linen which were amongst the traditional items bought by guests when the couple were moving in together as newlyweds. You may find out though that they’re looking to upgrade their kitchen so some funky, art deco tableware would be a safe choice or that they’re on the hunt for a new piece of pop art for the living room.
Registries Are There For A Reason
Registries are the quick, easy and hassle free way of gift giving. The husband and wife to be will have registered at stores they like and will have included items they’d like such as tableware, new appliances, crystal glasses and technology. Yes, buying a gift off the registry is somewhat predictable, but it saves you the stress of guessing what colour coffee machine they’d like, they’re aware of how much you’ve gifted and so can spend a similar amount on gifts for your wedding. Registries are a good way of keeping track of who gave what and everyone avoids the slightly awkward conversation that ends with did it come with a receipt?
It’s The Thought That Counts
You really can’t go wrong with a thoughtful, personal and memorable gift such as engraved champagne flutes, personalised photo frames or a romantic couples journal. By choosing a gift like this, you’re showing that you actually know the people whose wedding you’re attending. For example, you know Jack loves golf and so a personalised golf bag would be cool. You know that he and Amy adore travelling and personalised maps, passport cases or a couples travel journal would be right up their street.
You Can’t Go Wrong With Cash
Lots of couples have wedding websites, some are even free to use, that have lots of extra information about the wedding, members of the bridal party and downloadable maps. Check to see if your couple does have a website as it could be that they’ve included a honeyfund, i.e. they’re inviting guests to contribute money towards honeymoon experiences such as a romantic dinner, scuba diving or horseback riding at sunset. However, this information should appear entirely separately to the official invitation. It’s exceptionally bad etiquette to ask for gifts then as you are attending as their guest. Remember, giving any gift is entirely your choice as is the overall amount you then choose to spend.