|
Author: Vlady Peters Article source: http://magicweddings.net/. Used with author's permission.
For better or worse, in people's minds weddings and wedding gifts go together like a horse and carriage. Social reformers in the guise of religious reverends and ministers might rail against the excesses practiced by bridal couples, but their words fall on unheeding ears. Even governments, from time to time, try to curb the tendency by passing laws against luxury and extravagance. Invariably their influence is as transient as their own existence.
Weddings without gifts is a contradiction in terms.
Go back to the early days of carefree village life and you'll see wedding guests entering the room, diffidently or bashfully, making their offering to the bride and groom. Perhaps it might be a cup cunningly wrought out of a piece of wood found in the garden patch. Or a brand new pillow, fat with the down of their own flock of geese.
After carefully examining the offering, the bride and groom would nod their approval at the party organiser standing close beside them, and also known as the keeper of beer or ale or mead or whatever the popular drink of the time. A much appreciated gift would result in a giant tankard of liquid refreshment for the giver. Less appreciated one would generate a smaller container. No gift at all - and then, as now, there's always a few of those sort of guests - and no liquid refreshment at all.
You could always tell apart the liberal giver from the scrooge by the way they left the wedding. The former would reel from side to side, almost missing the door on his way out. The latter might pretend that he was almost as under the weather, but no one was likely to be fooled by the act.
As industrialism and time-keeping came into existence, this hit and miss method of gift-giving was deemed inefficient. Enter the gift register. Now the worry of what to give the couple was taken entirely out of the inexperienced hands of the guest. As long as they could read the couple's stated preferences, they could stop worrying about the wedding gift entirely.
It seemed so easy. It should have been easy. But some people insist on creating problems where none exist.
There seems to be a human need to express freedom of choice and at least one quarter of all wedding guests simply ignore all efforts to get them to buy what they couple want and instead buy them something that they'll never use.
Oh, sure, they'll go to the department store where the couple have registered. But instead of the coffee-maker or water purifier indicated on the list, they will immediately go to that wasteland of wedding presents. That place of luxurious magnificent items whose sight will knock your eyes out, whose price will put you in hock, but whose utility is non-existent.
The bride and groom will spend the rest of their life wondering what to do with that half a ton of crystal. Perhaps they might use it for a salad bowl, if ever 30 guests drop in unexpectedly for lunch. Or a vase, if ever they start their own market flower garden and can afford the couple of hundred dollars of flowers which it needs to fill it.
It seems no matter how hard the bride and groom try to make gift-giving simple and easy, guests insists on going their separate intractable way.
"What would you like as a wedding gift, dear?" they'll ask sweetly. "We really want you to have what you need."
"We could do with some money, gran. This wedding is costing us a fortune."
"I'll get you a tea-set, then, shall I? I saw a really nice one at David Jones the other day."
"Weddings are pretty expensive, gran. Money would be nice."
"Then there's that hall-runner I saw advertised. Very reasonably priced."
"Money is what we'd really like!"
"What about a damask table cloth, and eight napkins to go with it."
"Money, gran!"
"You're absolutely, right, dear. Way too expensive. The tea-set was half the price."
The contemporary couple, marrying for the second, or third, or even fourth time, have a real dilemma on their hands. They need another casserole dish like they need another recipe book, but how can you get that through to people?
Of course, where there's a way, and where there's so many wedding specialists around, a solution was bound to surface sooner or later.
Here's the latest gift-register list.
"Tim and I are going to the Antarctic for our honeymoon and have registered with our bank. For your convenience we've made arrangements for you to select your choice of gifts by using any of the following options - credit card, cheque, money order or electronic money transfer.
Our most desired item is $50
Desired - $20
Less desired - $10
Least desired - $5"
What will those "doing our own thing" guests do now? Give $100? A $1,000? Bring it on! Vlady is an Australian Civil Marriage Celebrant. She is also an author of "Complete Book of Australian Weddings" and "The Small Organisation Handbook". Vlady is a member of Queensland Civil Marriage Celebrants Association and Celebrants Training Association. She is also a member of Australian Authors and Romance Writers of Australia.
You can visit Vlady at her website: http://www.vlady-celebrant.com
Business Card Networking 101
Once you have the perfect business cards, what next? Jonathan Bowalsky provides helpful tips for distributing business cards to potential prospects.
Digital Cameras & Resolution
While analyzing any camera, one of the most important qualities of a photograph that a person seeks, is resolution. This word itself needs a brief discussion be...
5 Secrets to Growing Beautiful Roses
A rose is a rose is a rose - and there are few things in the garden more beautiful. There are 5 secrets I want to share that will help you to grow healthy roses...
Important Things to Know About Divorce and Credit
A divorce decree can endanger credit, and joint debts remain joint debts. Re-assigning debt in divorce decrees does not relieve a spouse of debt responsibility.
Achieve Your Goals Without Negative Stress
Are you feeling that negative stress is building up when working to achieve your personal goals? This article will help you recognize the negative side of stres...
Selling a Home – What Personal Property Stays?
The home selling and buying process can be confusing, particularly when it comes to figuring out what items stay with the home. It's even tougher when neither t...
The Danger of Low Calorie Diets: How To Avoid The Yo-Yo Diet Trap
Low calorie diets come in many forms, but offer dieters a quick way to lose weight. Low calorie diets lower the body's metabolism, and cause eventual weight ga...
Essay Types and Modes Youll Need to Write for College
Modes and Types and Modes...Oh Crimeny! Avoiding Confusion
Which academic essay writing types we use depends upon which
disciplines (or classes) we write for....
Dolls for Every Occasion
If you've ever wondered why some people collect dolls, read this and see. Perhaps you'll decide to join them!
Self Esteem and Your Mind
Self Esteem is a factor of your mind. Recondition your mind to change your thought process and build a high self esteem. You will acquire a sense of self assura...
Scenes and Structure
Why is it useful to regard a book as a series of scenes rather than a collection of chapters? How can you improve the pacing of your book by the way you handle ...
How To Bring In Your First $100,000 With Infoproducts
Can you really earn a living creating and marketing ebooks,
special reports, courses and other infoproducts?
Rather than just try to convince you of that fact,...
About Self Love
Read Key Questions and Answers About HOW to Love Yourself.
Corruption and Transparency
I. The Facts Just days before a much-awaited donor conference, the influential International Crisis Group (ICG) recommended to place all funds pledged to Macedo...
The Dead God of Copan (in English and Spanish)
The Author is presently in Honduras and just completed the Spanish Version, and is sending it forward. He is an hour drive from the Copan site, or as the world...
Auto Owners Insurance – Do You Really Need It?
Everyone seems to get auto owners insurance, but do you need it?
The Garden of Agony (Part 2)
So it is with all of us who confront our garden; whether we are on our beds of affliction, behind prison walls, or just struggling to live in the midst of life'...
Find the Purpose of Your New / Proposed Website
Absolutely everything stems from the purpose of your website - selection of hosting, programming, graphic design, copywriting, internet marketing, autoresponder...
Getting Your Site Seen By Search Engines
Is your website listed on search engines? When people search for you, does your site show up on page 1 or page 20 of the search engine results? Optimizing your...
Puppy Love - Wonderful Companions
Everybody loves puppies. Who can resist those cute little faces and wet noses? Puppies can be a lot of fun, but they also come with a lot of added responsibil...
Wheres Your Focus, Money or Customer?
Is your website Really useful? I had a 'rep' in yesterday who was telling me he had a website, not realising I'm a man of many talents he was telling me about a...
Chris Top 7 Favorite Leadership Books
Chris Widener's top 7 favorite books on leadership.
How Do I Start Investing Online and What Are Some Basic Tips?
Totally unbiased advice to help educate you in different types of online investing strategies. No hype just real information!
Planning Your Recruiting Efforts Can Help You Find Great Employees
Like most other business activities, a successful employee recruiting program must be a planned effort. This article provides a number of tips to help ensure t...
|
Print this page