Gifts at a wedding?

TBagpuss

I've never heard of giving gifts to anyone other than the bridesmaids and best man. Signing the register is generally a way of giving people a chce to be involved, it's not something you would thank them for specifcally.

I would suggest that you write nice, personal, handwritten letters of thanks to the other people. Personalise them (specifically referring to the particular gift they are giving you by making the cake etc., how much it means to you)

Give them the card at the reception and thank them in your / your husband's speech. If you want to give a gift then consider nice photos of them, taken at the wedding, and sent as soon as possible afterwards.

I've never heard of giving flowers to Mother of the Bride or Groom. Again, I would suggest public thanks in the sppeches and a card or letter given to them at the reception and/or a card with a photo afterwards.

Person_one

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Since when?

Nearly every wedding I've been to as an adult. The only exception being the one where the reception was in an all you can eat buffet restaurant and there were no speeches, cake, first dance or any other general wedding bumf.

It might be fairly new, but its definitely the norm now.

OP I think nice flowers are enough for the parents though, no need for a gift as well. When I've been a bridesmaid the gift has mostly been a token, you don't need to go overboard, look at etsy for nice handmade but cheap stuff. For the people who've done you favours, I'd just find out what their favourite booze is and get a bottle.

Kaye1

For something different, we had some of these made up

http://www.broadlandspottery.co.uk/personalisedgifts.html

We are lucky that it was local but they went down very well and were quite reasonably priced.

We also gave flowers to MiL and same tokens to bridesmaids.

tea_lover

OP - do you honestly know anyone who has ever used a personalised handkerchief?

TheSicilian

Nope, don't know of anyone who has used a pocket watch either.

tea_lover

Yep! So why waste your money on something that is likely to end up shoved in a drawer gathering dust, or given away. It just seems like 'stuff' for the sake of it. If you want to say thank you to people - say it! Invite them round for dinner after the wedding, arrange a day out together, maybe even just make an effort to call them more often - those are the things that say that someone means something to you imo, far more than a cheap keepsake that no one even wants.

SmlSave

We paid for the best men's suits and bridesmaids dresses.

The family who really helped got a personalized bottle of fizz (I wrote on them basically) and a morning survival bag (a bottle of water, paracetamol and a biscuit with a little handwritten message)

I didn't buy flowers for anyone but gave the wedding flowers to particular people.

For favours everyone got a lottery ticket and the evening guests got bought one drink at the bar.

Our entire wedding cost £4k seven years ago. In the end it really is up to the couple how much and what they spend it on

firebird082

That's a lot of presents! Forget the whole 'personalised' type thing, and buy each person something nice like you would for Xmas/birthday. I gave my bridesmaids a little bag with some fizz, malteasers and bath salts, and husband gave the best man/ushers some nice whiskey glasses. We'll do some flowers by post to the parents in a month or so (wedding was 2 weeks ago) with a proper thankyou note, though both contributed some money, and little else. We gave the wedding flowers to those who helped us decorate, and who were able to take them.

I can't abide lists of thankyous in the speeches, and anyone we'd mentioned by name would have been horrifically embarrassed, so we did it all individually before and after the wedding. Don't underestimate the power of a heartfelt thankyou note!

Person_one

SmlSave wrote: »

We paid for the best men's suits and bridesmaids dresses.

That's not a gift though, you're supposed to pay for those.

SmlSave

Person_one wrote: »

That's not a gift though, you're supposed to pay for those.

I'd better ring my dad and tell him that as he's supposed to pay for the majority of the wedding I'd like a cheque :rotfl:

There was no supposed to at my wedding :eek: otherwise I would have had to invite the extended family :eek:

I'm going to tell my kids to elope