Gift registry

I received exactly 1 physical gift for my wedding, and it wasn't even on my registry. Everyone else gave cash/checks in a card. In my area, registry gifts are more commonly bought for showers and monetary gifts are for weddings (this is what we do as guests as well).

I doubt you’ll receive nothing. Most people don’t bring physical gifts to the wedding due to space concerns. They bring cards with money inside, and only give the registry gifts at showers.

I personally would never bring a bulky gift to a wedding that the couple would then have to transport. I always write a check!

A lot of people will just give you something on the day of too or maybe they’re just giving you cash instead

Don’t lose hope I am sure your guests will compensate you both.on your marriage day.


As Covid brides is stressful but our unity will prevail. Our wedding was going to be October 17, 2020 and postponed March 2021. I will not Have bachelorette, nor I no longer want a bridal shower, made my bridal party smaller, and now sending second round of invites. I refuse to stress.
Stay strong and shine like a Diamond on your wedding day.

Typically it's seen as rude to bring a physical gift to a wedding. Who wants to deal with stand mixers, toasters, etc. on their wedding night? I've never taken a physical gift to a wedding, we always gift cash. In my circle, registries are mostly for showers.

I would try not to worry and stress. If you’ve given out the registry information, they will find it or they will bring gift cards or cash. No one had bought much off of my registry even a week before our shower, and I just had to stop looking at our registry because I found myself feeling stressed and entitled. When a friend told me she PayPaled me wedding gift, it took me a bit before I could bring myself to open it because I needed to check my perspective and expectations.

A lot of people don’t even purchase from registries anymore lol. A lot of people give cash, gift cards and whatever they want to buy on their own. You’ll still get gifts!

Sounds like you'll be getting cash moneyyyy i totally get you though. but I'm pretty sure they'll just bring you a card with money the day of.

"Don’t want to sound Greedy or ungrateful but am I about to spend $20,000 on a wedding to receive nothing?"

Whoa, I sure hope you don't let any of your family or guests hear you say this. Your mom is right that you are doing yourself no favors by stalking your registry and trying to figure out how much of that $20,000 you will be compensated for.

People will bring/give/send you gifts. I promise. Some of those gifts will be cash or checks brought in cards to your wedding. Some will be items from your registry. Some will be items not on your registry. Some people use a registry for ideas but find the items cheaper somewhere else (so their purchases won't show up on your list). Try to accept all gifts graciously and turn your focus to on more important things.

It really depends on the social circle. Many people purchase gifts last minute.


Various groups I have interacted with do not give cash gifts for any occasion and the gift tables are always overflowing at weddings.
Try not to stress. People will bring you gifts but it's early for many to buy them.

Have you had your shower yet? Almost all of our registry gifts were gifted to us at showers. Many guests don’t like to being physical gifts to weddings anymore, so you will likely receive cards with cash or gift cards. There are also those people that wait until the week of to purchase gifts.

Did you have a shower? We're 10/10 and didn't have one due to everything going on, and have received 3 physical gifts -- 2 from family on our original guest list, but not on the revised one, and 1 from family that will be attending. We know of a few people that are getting us things not found on the registries.

Honestly, we're not expecting much and are super appreciative of what we've received thus far. Without a shower and with the world being in the state that it's in, a lot of people aren't in a financial place to buy gifts, or won't be purchasing them until even closer to the wedding. As PPs mentioned, a good portion of your crowd may be bringing cards, so I wouldn't fret over it too much.

I get that in a lot of circles it's common practice to expect to receive a gift from everyone you invite, but you have to reframe your perspective. You are investing in the celebration of your marriage, capturing these moments, and treating your guests to a good time. If $20k is worth it to you for that experience, then receiving gifts or not won't change that.

I've struggled a lot with this because while we've scaled things back significantly, we're actually not saving a ton of money. If I had planned for 35 guests instead of 130 from the start, our wedding would look very different. Even if every guest gave us $200, it wouldn't even "cover" half of what we're spending (not that we're looking to recoup costs, obviously), so it feels pretty *extra* in that regard.

My niece had a registry but she received most of her gifts at the wedding itself.

Same here, two months out and no gifts bought. Also no one is throwing me a shower so I can't depend on that. I don't want to seem greedy, but we are kinda counting on gifts to help with what we need. Plus when you see your guests and family members taking multiple trips (during COVID no less) and getting extravagant things but then saying "oh we don't have the money to attend your wedding and we are worried to travel during COVID" you start to get annoyed.

Yes, don't lose hope! People are often procrastinators and wait until the last minute or even after the wedding!

View Quoted Comment I had a very small shower of just bridesmaids and my mom and 2 aunt, so we did get a few things but it was no normal shower. We just moved into a new house and haven’t been buying things we need for the house because it’s on our registry and oh we’re spending all our money on this event, that we are still having during this craziness because guests are telling us they need this to look forward to with all the bad stuff we’ve been through. I’m feeling the same way, it’s a hard time for people I understand but it’s just doesn’t even feel like a wedding season with how low key everything has been leading up to the wedding.

View Quoted Comment Oh my god yes. No one seems excited or even happy for us. I was hoping that our wedidng would be a bright spot for people and something to look forward to during sucky 2020 and while I totally understand some people are in a financial hardship right now, but its pretty obvious that isnt an issue for 98% of our guests. We are also moving into a new place, and have been using our old pans and silverware that keep breaking (we have like 3 forks left) and rusting because we are counting on people getting stuff for us. We might as well start buying what we need now. 😐😐😐

I'm so sorry to hear this.. It doesn't seem right that nobody purchased anything from your registry. Did you have your registry link in the Wedding Invites or have it up on your website? Gifts slowly rolled in for us but really amped up once we sent out the invites which had the registry URL included.

I would say don't worry too much though. At our wedding we got WAY more cards and money gifts than what we had on the registry, and I think that the majority of people overlook the registries and will usually bring a card and monetary gift. Depends on your crowd as well. So don't count it out just yet. Best luck with your wedding which is about a week out now!