i wanted to call this thread ‘unusual request II’ to see if i could recapture my understatement of the week award but thought better of it.
i’ve been invited to the wedding of a juggling-friend.
she’s been at the club since i’ve been there (actually quite a bit longer but i’ve known her for about 3 years), broke up with the boyfriend she had then and (kinda sadly '->) met another guy.
they’re now getting married and since they’re thinking about relocating to new zealand and she’s greek, decided to stick to the cypriot tradition of pinning all gifts to the brides dress.
the invite made it quite clear that they want ‘gifts in envelopes, not boxes’.
now my question
is there a ‘formula’ to work out how much would considered an appropriate amount as a cash gift?
this question is born from a combination of simple confusion and just-bought-a-house-terminal-brokeness.
Sorry, I have no answer to your question. But how could you ask people for money as a wedding gift? Is this common practice? It sure does have the potential to make things awkward doesn’t it.
i’m not sure how common it is
i can’t claim to have attended too many weddings recently
the last one i went to was two friends of mine who r living in london but came out to be married in the sunshine
(as it happens, it rained on the day…)
that also made perfect sense to ask for cash gifts as they could hardly fly back to london with a container-load of gifts
(i was really bummed 'cause i was going to buy them a unicycle)
As best I can tell, you’re in for somewhere between 50 and 100 US dollars (you do the conversion).
If it were me, my wife and I would fight about it, I would accuse her of having no regard for our personal finances and she would call me a cheapskate and then after sufficient “negotiating”, we’d settle on $75. She’d make her own dress for the event saving a substantial amount of money, but get to buy new shoes. I’d pray my suit still fits.
(i’ve been thinking in terms of
-years i’ve known one member of the couple
-minus years i’ve known them as a couple
-times the amount of times i’ve been to their house for dinner
-divided by how many beers i can’t have if i give them this amount as a gift)
Buy them the unicycle as planned. put a picture of it in the envelope that you will pin to her dress trying to avoid puncturing any skin… mail the unicycle to their house.
by “gifts in envelopes” they obviously are asking for monetary givings. this ensures that no one else will be buying them a unicycle. get them what you want to get them, not only will it be the thought that counted, but your gift may very well be the only one with thought that they recieve…
instead of a picture you could put a reciept, packing slip, gift cert to uni.com, or whatever.
In the Netherlands this is relatively common with weddings or wedding anniversaries. The couple may use the money themselves, or donate it to a charity of their choice which is then announced with the invitation.
Awkward? Well since individual amounts are not published it is not too bad.
