Gift-giving etiquette at weddings

There have been a few stories about wedding gift etiquette in the news lately and each time I read one of these stories, I was aghast. Why is gift-giving so controversial these days?

DSC03575Pictured here is one of my mom’s creations — a wishing well. She had a carpenter create this little well-shaped box, complete with a way to padlock the whole thing, and decorated it so that it would fit into a wedding. What goes inside? Well, you can slip the happy couple a card or note, wishing them well, but it was especially perfect for folks who wanted to give the couple some cash — call it “starting out” money. Of course, I think this is a practice common in communities where living together before marriage is frowned upon, so a couple really does need some “starting out” money. More and more couples these days do live together before marriage, so I would think that starting out money would be moot.

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