Practical Wedding Gifts

by Nuri
(Germany)

In my country (Argentina) a wedding gift registry is the norm for marrying couples.

This allows the guests to the wedding to choose articles that the couple has already selected.

Guests can also chip in for a fraction of a gift in the case an article is too expensive for their budget.

After the wedding...

The couple can exchange any of the received gifts for other articles on their list which were not given to them but they prefer (or say, if they've received a blender from the list and another off-list).

That said...

I've always tried to choose a gift of the registry using a delicate balance of (my) taste, price and usefulness...

For my brother-in-law wedding we gave them part of the cutlery set

For a friend's wedding we chipped in with other friends and got them a garden barbecue.

I try to choose something that offers, to me, a good value for money.

Usually the closer I am to the marrying person/s, the more I'm willing to spend in the gift, but in any case it should be of good quality.

I'd rather give a fancy tea-towel than a crappy coffee machine.

Since I'd been living with my BF for two years prior to our wedding, and we were about to move abroad after it...

...We went for a wedding-present bank account, something almost unheard of in our country and PRETTY ALIEN to our culture.


People were understanding of our situation and we got more gifts than we thought we would.

Some people still chose to give us objects, which thankfully were useful.

If faced with the prospect of making a wedding gift, choose something from the registry if the couple had set one.

If there are none, try to think useful rather than fancy: an art nouveau candlestick may be beautiful to you but hideous to the new couple, or totally clash with their minimalist loft.

Good quality home textiles are quite a safe option (take into account their bed and table measures!).

The more you know the couple, though, the bolder you can be with the gift.

Buy the Hawaii-loving bride that Hello Kitty apron she loves but won't buy herself because "it's too expensive for an apron anyway".

Do the bride or the groom like to cook?

Why not give them a basket of delicatessen food they wouldn't normally buy, or...

Some professional cooking equipment (don't buy knives though, they're considered an ill-wishing gift in many cultures).

The most original wedding gift I recall was given to a friend of the family by my mum.

She got her (with her consent) a complete set of cleaning articles and products, so that the bride should not find anything of the sort missing once she moved in with her husband.

Contrary to what readers may think, the bride WAS thankful.