Parent gifts

It's typically a gift to thank them for their support (financial and otherwise). You don't have to give a gift if you don't want to. You can also do something simple. We're giving an IOU for a photo book and framed picture of their choice from the professional photos.

I’m not doing Anything fancy just small tokens. We’re also paying our own. If they contributed to wedding financially I’d probably do more. I also don’t understand it.

View Quoted Comment What a great idea!! We're not doing a pro photographer but I think a nice frame is a great idea!!

You don't need to give a gift to your parents at the time of a wedding. Some people want to, just like some want to give gifts to bridesmaids when they are asked. But it not in any way necessary, or required by etiquette. After the wedding, most couples give a nice set of pictures to their parents, sometimes in an album, sometimes in a frame. . . . Lots of people write a letter of thanks to parents who help them out with the work of planning the wedding, or if they gave a monetary donation, as they would for any gift. But leave any " thank you for being my parents" things for mother's day, father's day, parents anniversary or birthdays, not at wedding time.

I'm with you girl! we are paying for the majority of our wedding on our own with the exception of my mom paying for the invitations and the cake. other than that, our gift to everyone is having alcohol at our reception!

You don't have to give them a gift. The gifts are typically more of a "thanks for raising me" as opposed to "thanks for paying for my wedding."

Our parents both helped significantly in paying for the wedding and that's how we chose to thank them.
If we had paid for ourselves I think the gifts would have been smaller/more "thanks for raising this awesome human being that I love dearly" type gifts.

It's more of a gift for thanking them for raising you and all they've done to support you throughout the years that lead you to this point. We are paying for our entire wedding ourselves, but are still gifting parents, grandparents, and bridal party (including the little ones).

We paid for our own wedding and didn't "gift" them. I did give them cards on the day of and I plan to order them wedding pictures when they're ready. Either a book or a nice canvas of us...depends on what I like when I see them.

While we are paying for a majority of the wedding, our parents have done a lot for us otherwise in the last 6 years. Once our pictures come in, we'll be making them picture books as gifts.

You for sure don't have to. For us, my father & mother are paying 100% for the wedding but everyone is getting gifts. It's a meaningful day for us & them, so we want to give them a "thank you" gift since it's a big day for them to see their children get married.