Your guests will understand that you’re getting married because you love each other and not because you’re looking to cash in on expensive wedding gifts.
However, from a guest’s point of view, it would be exceptionally rude to turn up to a wedding, enjoying the food and drink that the happy couple have provided, without bringing a gift to wish the bride and groom well in their life together.
In times gone by, when couples tended to get married at a young age without living together first, it would have been normal to receive wedding gifts that would be useful for ‘setting up home’ together. Toasters, cutlery, lamps, ornaments etc. all would have been found on a wedding giftlist. If a giftlist didn’t exist, then more often than not you’d end up with several toasters, resulting in the embarrassing need to exchange, return or even discard unwanted gifts. What a waste!
Nowadays, times have changed somewhat and it’s perfectly acceptable to set up a wedding list at a shop or website of your own choosing. The majority of guests welcome picking something from a gift list as it takes the hassle out of finding the ‘perfect gift’ for you.
When you’re having a wedding abroad, it’s also a worry that some of your guests will bring presents to the wedding and then you’ll have the worry of getting them back home at the end of your wedding trip. Setting up a giftlist is a good alternative to this headache!
- Traditional List
If you still feel like you’d like to continue down the traditional route of a homeware list, then check out a renowned department store such as John Lewis.
- The Undecided Couple
If you and your spouse-to-be are having debates over which store you’d rather have your list with, then perhaps you should think about using a site called Natural Born Shopper which allows you to create a ‘PickList’. It’s totally free to set up and gives you access to over 3.5 million products from over 500 leading high street shops and Internet sites. It’s a great invention that suits any couple.
- Honeymoon Gift List
- the first night’s hotel room
- a meal in a fancy restaurant
- an excursion
- spa treatments for the two of you
Nowadays, it’s very popular to have a gift list which contributes to the expense of your once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon. Essentially you’re asking your guests for money towards your honeymoon, but you can break your holiday down into manageable chunks of costs for people so that they can buy items such as
This way your guests still get the fun of picking out something for the two of you whilst knowing it will be something that you remember forever.
As this has become a much more popular type of giftlist, there are loads of websites out there that offer this. If you choose one with a specific holiday company, you’ll probably find that you’re stuck with booking your whole honeymoon with them, which may or may not be what you want (for instance you might be able to find cheaper flights elsewhere). Other honeymoon gift list providers take a huge amount of commission out of your giftlist fund. Whilst it’s understandable that they must take a fee at some point, it’s pretty upsetting for both your and your guests that some well established companies take as much as 9% of your ‘presents’ and keep them for themselves.
Instead, we’d like to recommend Senduspacking which is a strictly 0% commission list. All you have to pay is a £39.99 set-up fee, for which you receive a personalised giftlist website, that you’ll be able to link to from your main wedding website.
The polite way to tell your wedding guests about your gift list
Traditionally, invitations would be sent out to your guests with no mention of a gift list in them. Guests would contact the mother of the bride to see if there is a list in place.
This custom is no longer seen as the rule of thumb anymore and it’s perfectly acceptable to insert mention of a giftlist in with your wedding invitations and/or on your wedding website.
However, you have to be careful that you’re polite in your wording, particularly when you’re holding your wedding overseas and know that your guests are spending a lot of money on this trip.
Many couples use the rather cheesy but thoughtful line ‘we value your presence, not your presents’ to get this message across. There are also a number of fun rhymes that you can add or tailor to your own requirements. If you’re particularly poetic, then perhaps you should try writing your own!
