Theft at weddings

@eks I'm glad! I'm not worried about my guests but I don't know the employees at the venue. Our venue also has a restaurant on one half so who knows! One of those things you hope you don't need to worry about. No surprise it was an insurance company that posted the article

My venue has a pretty birdcage for cards, so we will be using that. I trust all my guests and the wedding staff is small, so I'm okay for the most part. It is still sad that theft happens at weddings though. You just never know.

Robbery and theft, I mean weddings are pretty good if one was a robber. People are usually dressed up with expensive jewelry and there is often tons of cash.

I'm more concerned about outsiders and "staff" minimally.

I never thought of theft until a few years ago at a friend's wedding her aunt stole not only cards but decorations that belonged to the venue. You never think a relative will do something like that until they do it. My venue is easy to walk into by the public so I will get the cards moved after the dinner has started.

Yeah my venue said that the guest table is usually out by the entrance and I will NOT be putting it there. It's right at the entrance to the restaurant that is attached to a office building. My table will be placed int he semi-private room whre my guests will go through after the ceremony and sign the guest book and drop off cards etc.

You bet your ass mine will be secure!! Sucks that I have to do that though... I made our card box out of an old suitcase, which conveniently locks and has a key. So it'll be locked up for the entire time except for the ceremony and reception (of course). Also keeping it in plain sight during the wedding so it's too difficult for someone to take the whole thing. People will have to slide their card into a slot and then they can't get it out again, which is the main way it will be secure during the festivities. You can never be too careful!

When I showed my card box to my sister, she was the one who pointed out that the lid could be opened, so she suggested just a few drops of super glue to bond the lid to the box. Plus, I'm going to have it removed from the reception room at the start of dinner.

Aaaaand I'm now worried because I hadn't thought of this. Maybe I can have a cousin or aunt throw it in their car after cocktail hour...

I can honestly say I have never thought of this. This makes me so sad to read that someone could commit such a heinous crime on such a special day.

My venue takes care of this for us. They have a birdcage near the entrance secured to a table, and every hour or so the DOC empties the cage and puts all the cards in a safe. They say they haven't ever had problems with this system.

Be careful of taking the card box and/or gifts to your home or your parents' home BEFORE the night is over. People know you're not home -- you're at your wedding and so are your parents.

Homes have been robbed during funerals which were announced in the newspaper. When a friend's husband died, I offered to sit at her house during the funeral and burial. Sure enough, a scruffy young man came by with a sad bouquet of flowers. I don't think he was working for a florist -- I think he was scouting the house and was surprised when I answered the door.

My mom actually just asked me about this, because one of her friends who is coming asked her. (Not to be shady--he said he was just at a wedding where this happened and to have a plan.)

All/nearly all of the guests are going outside later in the evening for fireworks, so the box will essentially be left unattended. We're not near any hotel, and we won't really have access to vehicles (valet only, with keys). :\

Yeah, FH and I were gonna borrow an antique suitcase from my grandma, but changed our minds for this very reason. We have a birdcage looking thing that will be secured shut and we're gonna have someone remove the gifts and bring them to one of our cars probably after dinner.

We already planned on having the gift/card table toward the back of the venue to limit rando access to it, and it will be near the (inaccessible from the outside) rear door so that they can be quickly moved to vehicles parked outside (near the door)...

I love the birdcage look but wanted something more secure. I'm meeting with our venue manager in the next couple of months so I will ask him about a safe. I never thought of it before my FMIL mentioned it and the article I saw.

My wedding planner holds onto them

Mine was just a basket but as far as we know nothing was stolen, but many of our envelopes did contain cash which surprised me.

Hopefully my coordinator keeps an eye on things. I do worry though since our venue is a restaurant and other patrons will be present.

Our card box was right under the nose of security, which was in charge of deciding whom to let in. (We aren't really paranoid; it's just that because it was a private club, we were a bit concerned about people who didn't realize that it was booked for a special event that night.) But I also think this tends to be more of a problem a) at venues at which there is more than one wedding, or b) at huge weddings at which the couple may not know everyone very well.

Update: We'll be attaching my card box to a large, flat sheet of plywood (covered up and disguised) to minimize this risk.