Wedding Gift Etiquette

By Mansi Chitranshi | Wednesday, February 11, 2009

• DO send a wedding gift, even if you won't be present for the wedding. RSVP quickly, and send your gift with the RSVP. It is not essential for the gift to be huge or costly. By sending a gift you are simply acknowledging the blissful occasion.
• DO plan your funds and spend consequently. If you have a limited budget, think of doing something kind for the couple, like organizing a work party together to clean up their yard, sow flowers, or throw a barbeque to celebrate their happiness.
• DO inquire where the couple is registered, but use the wedding registry as a lead to a custom-made gift. For instance, if you observe champagne flutes are on the gift registry, buy them and get them imprinted with the couple's names and date of their marriage service. Gift the flutes along with a bottle of their favorite champagne/ wine and a personal note wishing them well.
• DO send a present to the bride prior to the wedding, or deliver it to the couple's house soon after the wedding. Protocol permits you to send a gift up to a year after the wedding. If there is a local practice of getting the gifts to the reception, be conscious that many a time cards get lost. It is thus advisable to place a note inside the wrapped present so the couple knows who to show gratitude to.
• DO parcel the gift to the bride's or groom's parents home if the couple is going to be out of city. In case you plan to attend the wedding, yet don't tow a Refrigerator or a plasma TV and expect the newly married couple to carry it on their honeymoon!

Some Don'ts of Wedding Gift Etiquettes

• DON'T overlook your inner range. If the gift that you are thinking of gifting doesn't feel correct to you, reassess.
• DON'T presume that just because you like your beer-of-the-month subscription that implies that the newly married couple will love it too. Make an endeavor to be aware of the couples' likes and dislikes.
• DON'T fail to remember to get a gift acknowledgment and slip it inside the gift. Though this is not likely with all gifts, but if it is, there is no harm in giving the couple the choice to return or replace a gift after their marriage.
• DON'T ever try to give one of your gifts of your marriage to a family member just because you are not using it. While the reprocessing of gifts that you either cannot make use of or can't swap seems like a great idea, it would be the ultimate gaffe to give one of these gifts only to discover that, as it's unpacked, there is a card in the box to you!

Wedding gift etiquette is eventually all about being caring and compassionate for the couple who is tying the nuptial knots. If you know the couple, their preferences, their choice and the nature of the wedding, and you tag on suitable gift etiquette, you're quite on your way to making a wedding-gift buy that is sophisticated, stylish, and worth remembering.