Wedding Gift Etiquette
The Cash Quandary – how to politely ask for monetary gifts
You already have everything you need, so how do you communicate to guests that you’d like plain old cash for wedding gifts without ruffling any feathers?
- Word of Mouth – get your close family and friends to spread the word. This casual approach keeps guests from feeling obligated or pressured to give cash, but still gives them the information that they will likely be grateful to have.
- Add an enclosure card to your invitation with the request for cash captured in a unique way. Just never include the cash request directly on the invitation.
- If you have a wedding website or social media page for your wedding, include the information there. It’s a great way to connect and pass information along to guests who live out of the area.
Find creative ways to spread the word:
- List a reason why you’re asking for cash and be clever and/or creative with the wording. Don’t just say “we would prefer gifts of cash.”
- Let guests know how their gift of money will be spent. Will it go toward your honeymoon, new home, charity, etc?
- Include information or a link for how they can give their monetary gift online
- Be personal with your note
- Exude gratitude
Tips to remember:
- We are honored to have you join us for our special day! We are so grateful to spend such an important day surrounded by our family and friends. Your presence is the ultimate gift to us, so please know that we request no other gift! For those of you that refuse to attend a wedding without bringing a gift (we know who you are), we’ve decided to buck the trend of a gift registry to just request cash to be used for our honeymoon. We love you and we are excited to spend our big day with you!!
- We are so excited to have you join us to celebrate our wedding day. Our big day will be meaningful only because of our family and friends surrounding us in love and support. Your presence is all we request! If you are planning to bless us with your presence and a gift, we’re foregoing the traditional gift registry in lieu of monetary gifts that we can use toward buying our first home. Thank you! We love you!!
- We’re starting this adventure called marriage with another adventure – our honeymoon! While we are so grateful for your presence at our wedding and request nothing else, if you would also like to bless us with a gift, we would love a contribution toward our honeymoon fund.
- Our wedding day is a celebration to be shared with our closest family and friends, where your presence is the best gift we could receive. Any other gift is completely unnecessary. If you can’t stand the thought of arriving empty-handed though, we would humbly take contributions to our honeymoon fund to kickoff this great adventure called marriage.
- We are so grateful to share our wedding day with our dearest family and friends. We have everything we need and we request only your presence. If you would still like to celebrate with a gift however, we would love a contribution to our new home fund.
Wording Examples
The bottom line
As long as you speak from a place of gratitude, most guests will appreciate knowing specifically what you want or need as you begin your new life together. So, put yourself in your guests’ shoes and then start writing. Being grateful and keeping your loved ones perspective in mind will help craft a nice, thoughtful note.
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