A Bridal Shower and Gift Table, QUESTION?

Please, help me uncover these answers. I have been trying to get answers from my FH but he doesnt know ethier..

From what i've seen,

bridal shower is usually what you use the gift registry for and is thrown typically by the maid of honor.

at the wedding, most people give cards and money thats what the gift table is for.

and you usually don't open them at the wedding. you take them home and then send thank you cards.

hope that helps.

Ok well some people send Engagement gifts, while others send shower gifts and others bring wedding gifts, and still yet others send more than one. I recommend opening upon arrival or when you are given it. keep a list either on your phone, or computer, to keep track of the gifts for thank you notes.

Okay my friend just got married so I can answer all these

* You only invite some people to your Bridal shower grandma, cousins, a few friends, you play games have a good day. Some of those gifts are both bride and groom and some people buy just for the bride.

* The reception is for the gifts people who travel, who you don't see to often, and friends that can't make it to the Shower bring and put the gifts on that table (also some brides decline a Bridal shower all together) The card box is for cash gifts, cards, ect

* If a gift is sent to your house you just keep on to it some people send gifts through the mail if its big, or bulky to take into the reception hall. But they should be opened after your wedded there for the Mr. and Mrs not the engaged

* You take all your gifts and cards home and when you can sit down and open them you write down what you got and from who it came from and you send thank you's to each person for example Grandma thank you for the pot holders we cont

Love them. You should personalize what they bought you so they feel individually thanked rather then generally. The general thank you's go to all other guests just thanking them for their time for coming who didn't partake into gift giving.

What jessica said. perfect answer!

Actually, if you receive wedding gifts, prior to the wedding, you should open them and send a thank you note within two weeks of receiving the gift.

The bridal shower gifts are usually for the bride, not the couple...although they can be for the couple.

Examples could be: "Pamper the Bride", "For the kitchen" if she loves to cook or bake; etc.

The Bridal Shower is for women that the bride feels close to, as well as family. Do NOT invite anyone to the shower unless they are invited to the wedding.

Ok, thank you everyone. I dont want a bridal shower but my mom was making a big deal about me not wanting one.

I think it is fine if you don't want a bridal shower. there are certain 'etiquette' rules that are important, but most things are just customs and at the end of the day, you need to do what is right for you.

i am having a few showers and they are all different, just to give you some ideas to play with. one of my showers is a 'no gifts' shower. i traveled to my FI's town and it was an opp to get to know those women better over a luncheon. even w/o gifts it was still very bridal and special. i am having one with my mom's friends that's more trad'l girlie bridal shower with gifts. and then we are having one that is co-ed (some call it a jack n jill) for our friends and some family - that one has gifts too. people ideally bring stuff they get from your registry, but it's still up to them. often the main event of a shower is to "shower you with gifts" and you're supposed to open them in front of everyone (unless you've made other plans not to).

Sorry so long!

if you get gifts in the mail, you should open them and write the thank yo notes. if it is money, deposit it and write the thank you note. people say you have a year, but it's really 3 months, so better to just stay on top of them.

ideally, guests won't bring gifts to the wedding. it's not bad, but it's nicer not to create extra work for the couple to have to carry them home. still, you want to plan that some will and have a gift table and maybe a card box, or at least designate someone who will hold envelopes for you since they usually have something valuable inside. the gifts you get at the wedding you take and open at home.

hope that was somewhat helpful.

I don't think the point of the bridal shower is to get gifts. It's a small event to honor the bride. Gifts are usually invovled, but that's not the point.

As far as the event- some people will bring the gifts they recieved in teh mail, but my opinion is why?

And no, you don't open gifts there. Many couples have a bruncheon the next day with family and close friends and open gifts then. I know couples who didn't open them until after the honeymoon. Hell, when I got divorced (after 6 years)- I still had gifts we never took out of the box.

The important thing is to make sure you send a Thank you note in an appropriate amount of time, regardless of when the gift was recieved!

And the last question.. I set up my gift registry but when do I send them the cards so they know what registry I belong to?? Do I send it with their invitations and whoever I am giving a STD (send it with that???)

Put your gift registry info on your wedding website. on your STD you can include your wedding website url and say that it has all of the up-to-date information about the wedding (don't mention the word gifts or registry specifically). when you do invitations, you can include an insert with driving directions and other wedding basics that don't belong on an invite but that guests need to know. on the insert you also include the wedding website url and say that it has all the wedding details.

if you decide to have a shower with gifts, your shower throwers can put the registry info on the invitation. the reason is that it is not coming from you. where did you register?

Alot of the people who are invited to the wedding dont have the internet though.

I registered at Boscovs.

I guess that adds an extra challenge...the thing is that typically etiquette says no registry/gift info on the wedding invitation. that said, you know your guests best and your community best. there are places where people do that and it's not for us to judge.

one idea is that for the STD you could just include the wedding website url (b/c really it is about saving the date and not about gifts). and for the wedding, you could create an invitation insert and put the wedding website on it. but you could also highlight the important info that you think people will want to know on the insert itself, such as the registry, attire, directions, if kids are allowed etc.

the other thing that people do, is just the word of mouth thing. you tell your family members and any close friends involved in the wedding since those are the folks who will get asked. does that help?

My FMIL had requested that we set up a gift table at our home, the time of the wedding, in case people stop by, so they can see that we received what we had been given. I am not really all that comfortable with this, but I am going to do what she says. I want to keep my FMIL happy, she's such a sweetheart, I'll save my battles for the big things.

I'd include an insert with your invitations. It's appropriate for your family/friends list it on shower invites. But word of mouth is probably your best option.

But honestly, if the people coming can't afford internet, I'd make sure you tell them not get you a gift, because they have much higher financial priorities and their presence is enough.

The people who dont have the internet are the elderly, people who arent interested in getting the internet but can afford it. And, the other people are FH's side of the family and I dont know their email or anything.. So, I thought maybe I would put the card in the envelope with the invitation (but not on the invitation or anything..) Close family and the wedding party, dont know their emails or such ethier..I think I will just put the card seperately in the envelope with the invitations. Also will include important information about the wedding with the separate card.

Shower gifts and wedding gifts are two different animals.

The shower is typically smaller, and at least traditionally included only the bride and other women. All who were invited to the shower had to receive invitations to the wedding, but not vice versa. The gifts given were traditionally just for the bride.

Wedding gifts are for the couple, not just the bride. They were traditionally supposed to be mailed or delivered to the couple's house, not brought to the reception. The idea was that if the couple was leaving right after the reception for their honeymoon, it would be a major hassle to have to take all the gifts home first.

However, Miss Manners and I seem to be the only two people left who remember the rule about not bringing wedding gifts to the reception. So people will bring gifts. As a practical matter, you have to have somewhere to put the gifts and someone to make sure that they get to your home after the reception.