Deciding on the Perfect Wedding Gift

Weddings can be a very expensive event and the costs add up quickly. This is not only true for the wedding party, but it can also become a big financial endeavor for the guests that are attending. You have to take into account many factors in attending some weddings. Many guests have to travel from out of town. This can add the costs of fuel for your drive or the cost of an airline trip. The guests also need to find a place to stay which can cost quite a bit of money too. Plus, you have to buy the new dress to attend the big event. By the time you get home from the event, many guests can feel like they just spent a fortune. Wait a second; you haven’t even bought the wedding gift yet!!! Here are a few guidelines for the couple’s gift.

The Rule of Thumb

In most cases the wedding gift should be as much as the cost of the reception that the couple has spent on you, the invitees. This is just a guide line, but gives you a “budget” on how much to spend. In most cases you will not actually know what the reception dinner is costing per plate, but with a little research you can come up with a good idea of what your little piece of the pie is costing the couple. Now the bride and groom are not inviting you with the idea of getting their money back, but this is a good gesture and can take the burden off of you as to the guessing game of what to spend.

The Registry

Hopefully the couple has registered at a few different locations. This is the perfect way to buy a gift for the couple without having to think too much about what to buy. As soon as you find out about the wedding ask the couple where they have registered. You want to view their selections as early as possible to provide you with the biggest selection of what the couple really would like. For the most part, everything that they have registered for is on their wish list, but you have a wider range of items to select from before the other guests have snatched them up.

Cash

Yes, it always works. A couple of crisp $50 or $100 bills in a nice card are always appreciated.

Gift Certificates

If you know the couple has a favorite restaurant or store they love to shop at, then it’s a no-brainer here. This option ensures that you didn’t get them the gift that gets re-gifted. They will be exhausted after all the dust settles from the entire wedding event and would probably enjoy a nice dinner for themselves after they get back from the honeymoon.

Homemade Gifts

If you have a special talent that you are really good at then this can be a very personalized and truly special gift. A nice painting or a basket of dried flowers that you have put thought and time into can be the perfect solution. This can greatly reduce costs on your part and also shows how much they mean to you. Please make sure that your “Talent” is truly a talent.

Services

You may be able to gift a service to the couple. If you are a professional grade photographer or videographer then you may want to offer your service instead of a gift. This can put alot of pressure on you to make sure that everything comes out perfect. This option also takes away from your experience at the wedding and reception, but remember that you are doing it for the bride and groom. You may also have a nice Towncar or luxury vehicle that you can offer to the couple to use instead of hiring a limosine service.