Guest Blogger: Money as a wedding gift by Star Weds

Money is the ideal wedding gift

Forty-five per cent of couples would prefer their guests to give them money as a wedding gift according to a recent poll conducted by Wedding Magazine.

Couples living together before marriage has become the norm rather than the exception. Therefore, most people no longer have the need or desire to set up a gift registry with a department store in order to buy household goods. Newlyweds are most likely to spend their money on a luxury honeymoon, home improvement or even paying back some of the cost of their wedding.

Despite the recession, couples will still spend an average of £14,000 on their wedding. As a result of the credit crunch, it has become much more acceptable for couples to ask for money as a wedding gift. Traditional wedding gift etiquette suggests that guests should at least cover the cost of their meal when considering how much to spend on a gift. Recent research shows the average amount a guest will fork out for a wedding gift is currently £78.67.

In other countries around the world, giving money as a wedding gift is traditional.

In China, money is given in red envelopes (hong bao) from guests who are older than the bride and groom.

In Japan, new, uncreased notes are given to the couple to the tune of 30,000 yen (approximately £210) in a festive envelope (shugi-bukuro).

The money dance is a Hungarian tradition where the bride leaves her shoes in the centre of the dance floor and those who dance with her drop money in the shoes or pin money to her dress.
Pinning money to the bride and groom is also a popular custom in Greece, Cyprus and the Philippines.

In Poland, it is traditional for a family member of the bride to hold out an apron whilst the bride is dancing with her father. Wedding guests who throw money into the apron are then permitted to dance with the bride.

In the mid-west of the USA, the best man auctions the bride’s garter. The best man carries a hat around the reception and the guests put dollar bills in it. Another mid-western tradition is a wedding reel, where the wedding guests form a queue and pay a dollar or more to dance with the newlyweds.

Admittedly, it is highly unlikely that brides and grooms across the UK will be adopting these customs any time soon. Whilst pinning cash to brides and dropping money into shoes sounds like fun, it isn’t exactly very British. Fortunately, there are more discreet and sophisticated ways of receiving money as a wedding gift.

The previous taboo surrounding asking for money as wedding gift will soon be a distant memory and given the research conducted by Wedding Magazine it looks like money is fast-becoming the most desired gift for newlyweds.

Article contributed by Gillian Bell, Director of StarWeds Ltd.

StarWeds is an exciting and unique service for contemporary couples who don’t need any more toasters or towel bales. It is an innovative gift list alternative which allows your wedding guests to make monetary contributions as a wedding gift.
The money in your wedding gift fund is yours to spend as you please i.e. you are not restricted to spending within a department store or booking with a specific travel agent.
StarWeds has your very own personalised wedding website to which your friends and family can contribute money as a wedding gift. Guests can choose from a variety of quick, easy and secure payment methods (i.e. credit/debit card via PayPal, cheque or balance transfer).
We provide beautiful, customised invitation inserts so that you can tell your wedding guests all about your website.

Please visit www.starweds.co.uk , and if you would like to view a sample of the personalised wedding website, then please visit www.starweds.co.uk/sample.
After your wedding, your personalised wedding website can be saved to a souvenir CD, so that it can be yours to treasure forever.

For more info go to:
• Website: www.starweds.co.uk
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/starweds
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/starweds
• Email: [email protected]