7 Rules of Gift Etiquette You Should Be following as a Bride ...

Before we go into discussing how to handle receiving gifts, let’s talk about this one point. One of the rules of gift etiquette as a bride is that you should be buying a gift for your bridal attendants. This goes all the way from your maid or matron of honor down to your little flower girls. It is a symbol of your appreciation for their participation in your wedding. There are numerous ideas for this sort of gift you can choose from.

Moving on into the rules of gift etiquette when you receive a gift for your wedding, you should always write a thank you card. This stands even if you verbally thanked them. A simple verbal thank you is nice but pales in comparison to receiving a hand written note. It is a kind and thoughtful way to show your gratitude. You have to admit that you appreciate when someone takes the time to write out a thank you note to you, don’t you? I know that I do.

It is important to be appreciative of the gifts that you receive. This is true even if you don’t particularly care for the gift. Try to look at the thoughtfulness behind it and the fact that the gift giver’s desire was to please you. Being appreciative is such a sweet thing to do that others will love about you. It is much more than whatever the gift was, anyways.

It is a total lack of tact to mention the lack of a gift. Giving gifts is a very nice thing to do at a wedding. But acting entitled does not make you very popular. In fact, it can quickly gain you some enemies. That is not what you want to do when you are entering into a new phase of life.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule of etiquette, per se, but it can help you if you do it. Taking note of what you received as gifts will make writing thank you cards much easier. It is awful to sit down to write a stack of thank you cards and not have any clue who got you which gift. It is also nice to remember later on where all of your gifts came from. You want to remember who got the things that may become special to you.

Asking for cash is something that has become somewhat trendy but it isn’t polite. If people want to give you cash, that is perfectly acceptable but asking for it is not. You might make a note on any shower invitations that cash would be fine but you should never request it. Giving a gift is something that the gift giver should have the freedom to do in their own personal way. You can always exchange a gift later if you really dislike it.

In a perfect world, everyone would give gift receipts with gifts. But that doesn’t always happen. If you get a gift that you know you will want to exchange, you can try to do it without the receipt. Sometimes this works out. If it doesn’t, you can ask for a receipt but never demand one. That is the height of rudeness.

The etiquette of handling gifts can be tricky. I hope that these 7 rules have helped you greatly with handling any gift giving or receiving situations you may encounter during your wedding. What gift etiquette rules would you like to add to mine?