Gifts for guests

We gave favours despite what others do or say. It was a crystal tealight votive per household as to giving per person.

Thanks for all your responses. I do agree that it's a nice gesture to give a gift (it doesn't replace a proper hand written thank you card of course). However with my guests all being over 50 except about 10 people I'm afraid it becomes just another token to deal with.

View quoted message I think if your mums wanted it then it's important to do.

View quoted message I must respectfully disagree. I don't think anyone invited thinks of my wedding as a sacrifice. It's a celebration and they are welcome to decline the invitation. They are given a very expensive meal, drinks, dancing, a sweet table and a fun happy evening The gift given is up to the guest they can spend as little or as much as they can afford and choose to give. I do agree a small gift is nice. More important though is a thank you after the wedding to show you appreciate their presence and any gift received.

View quoted message This is the problem. Most people are over 50. Some quite a bit older. Most don't eat too many sweets anymore (although we are having a large sweet table for those that do) they are all cleaning house and trying to unload all the trinkets, mugs, plates etc they've collected over the years. There is simply very little I can think of that would be appreciated. Maybe a donation in their name.

View quoted message Thanks! They really are expensive.

We debating skipping it. It can be just another thing to pay for and we reasoned we were putting on an event, having amazing food, great entertainment and an open bar which is costing us around $200 per person.

In the end, we decided to do small favours (about $1.70 per person) as a token as both our mums voiced they thought it was 'appropriate' and the extra $160 wasn't work arguing over in the grand scheme of things.

It doesn't have to be a big thing but it is nice to show your guests that you appreciate their attendance at this big event and in your life.

It's a nice gesture but it is also totally fine to skip them

Overall i think is a very nice gesture to give a little thank you gift, we struggled with what to get that wouldn't be thrown away a food item or kitchen item is what we came up with.

A type of Thank-You is always the way to go - this displays gratitude, appreciatation and thoughtfulfulness. ( Try not to get something that people will just throw away, $4-6 per person seems reasonable). Sometimes people forget that the guests do sacrifice time & money to attend our nuptials so any extra "treat" for them at the wedding is encouraged.

I think it’s still a nice gesture to give something to thank your guests for coming. It can be small. My friend gave out little bags of chocolate to everyone.

We don't think we'll be giving any favours or gifts to our guests. We are young and want to start a family soon and weddings are expensive so we are planning to save money everywhere we can. Totally fine not to do it, don't worry!

I’ve recently been to wedding where they had bonbonierres but they were less formal. One was cupcakes (my Italian cousins wedding) and the other was handkerchiefs (fiancé’s Canadian cousins wedding).

I’m planning to still do it because it just seems like proper etiquette.