Selecting the perfect wedding gift for a friend or family member can be difficult, even if you know them and their tastes well. Not only because you are now buying for two people at the same time, but because like any aspect of a wedding, there are several formal and informal rules of etiquette involved. Here, experience gift provider Tinggly lay out the seven most common mistakes to avoid when choosing a wedding gift. Advertorial Feature.
1. Getting Them Nothing at All
Some couples will explicitly request that their guests don’t buy them a wedding gift on the invitation. This is one of those ‘informal rules’ mentioned above. You could go along with their stated wishes, or do what every other person at that wedding is going to do, and go ahead choosing a wedding gift anyway. It doesn’t need to be much – a good rule of thumb is something to the same value of your meal.
2. Spending Too Much, or Too Little
How much to spend on a wedding gift will depend, to a large extent, on how close you are to one or both of the couple. You would naturally want to spend more on close family and friends than you would for, say, a distant relative or a work colleague. If you’ve travelled a long way for the wedding, or to attend a bachelor party or a bridal shower, then it’s also perfectly acceptable to keep your gift fairly inexpensive. At the other end of the scale, extravagant gifts can cause embarrassment or a sense of obligation, so if you do plan to be very generous, spend it discreetly.
3. Supersizing Your Gift
At many wedding receptions, there will be a table set aside for gifts, and by the end of the evening it’s likely to be full. Afterwards, someone is going to have to carry all those gifts safely home, so if yours is huge, or unwieldy, it might be a source of annoyance rather than gratitude. But what if you have it sent to the couple’s home or work instead, surely that’s more convenient? Er, no, not if they commute to work and would have to carry it home, or worse, have to wait around the house all day for a package to be delivered.
4. Leaving it Too Late to go Through the Wedding List
Many couples prefer to offer their guests a wedding list, usually at one big department store, to make things easier and also request the things they’d love to have around the home. If you’re going to take this convenient option, then don’t leave it until the last minute. Otherwise, all of the big-ticket items will be gone, and you’ll be left to buy them an exciting set of napkin rings.
5. Buying Perishables
When choosing a wedding gift, it’s a bad idea to buy anything that won’t last long, because some people might see that as symbolic! Fresh flowers might seem like a beautiful wedding gift idea, but since they’re also a standard feature of decorations, it’s not like the couple will be short of any; just as food with a short shelf-life is also a risky option. Most newly married couples will take a honeymoon straight after the wedding ceremony, and if they forget to put the food in the freezer, your gift might be wasted.
6. Bringing Cash
There is a good argument to be made that one of the best wedding gifts you can give is simply an envelope of cash, as it allows the couple to do whatever they want with it. But there is also something truly impersonal about money, so a better option than plain money is contributing to an epic honeymoon. They will still be able to choose what they want to do if you gift a Tinggly experience gift voucher for couples that they can redeem against some amazing activity in the place where they’re honeymooning.
7. Choosing Interior Furnishings
Since most couples now cohabit for some time before tying the knot, they are likely to already have most of the things they need. If they want to upgrade, they might use a wedding gift list to highlight exactly what they want. If they don’t do that, then don’t go this route. What you buy may not fit in with their requirements, or home decor. The exception to this rule is wedding gifts that can be passed down the generations, such as best silverware, or hand-sewn linen bedding.
About Tinggly
Tinggly offers an incredibly versatile gift voucher that allows couples to choose one activity from over 350 of the world’s best experiences, including romantic getaways, cultural trips and adrenaline adventures. Find out more at Tinggly and read more about Wedding Gift List Wording.
