Gifts of Love

As you know, wedding invitations come flooding in with the warmer months. After Farrell returned from her friend’s beautiful homemade wedding in Houston, she and I were talking about wedding gift ideas. I thought I’d take a little poll of some of my married friends to find out about gifts they received that were particularly meaningful, thoughtful, useful, appreciated, memorable and unique.

via I Thee Wed

Overwhelmingly, these brides truly appreciated every gift they received and think of the gift giver whenever they see or use the item. The strong consensus was to stick to the registry unless you know the couple very well. Monetary gifts were always quite welcomed and were often more or less prevalent based on the city in which the wedding takes place. I know from personal experience, in Cleveland more people bring physical gifts to the wedding venue than in NYC, where envelopes are often more common. The couple’s life stage is also an important consideration. Obviously, a couple that is a little older and has been living together for some time is likely to have a more complete array of household items than a younger couple just starting out.

via I Thee Wed

Specifically, some of the non-registry gifts mentioned were:

Experiential Gifts – these included a night at a bed and breakfast, symphony tickets and helicopter ride during the couple’s honeymoon.

Consumable Gifts – such as a membership to a wine/cheese of the month club, a gift certificate to a nice restaurant and a starter collection of spices.

Personalized, Monogrammed and Engraved Gifts – etsy.com is great for this and there are more options than I can begin to name. Many of my friends mentioned heartfelt sayings they received, either engraved on a platter or nicely framed. One received a beautifully framed heart shape map cutout of where the couple was married. Another mentioned a wall hanging that has a photograph for each letter of their last name. The options are really endless in this category.

Gifts to for Starting a Life Together – this one is my personal favorite; one couple received a set of unique Christmas ornaments to decorate their first Christmas tree.

Vessels, vessels, vessels – many people mentioned lovely serving trays, crystal platters, sterling silver dishes, bowls and trays made by local artists and the like that are either used frequently or saved for very special occasions.

Sentimental Gifts – a few different folks received extra-special bowls and dishes from their families country of origin. Another’s most personal and sentimental gift was a song her husband wrote and performed for her at the wedding.