Traditionally guests have given wedding gifts to the bride and groom to help them to leave their parents' homes and set up their new life together. Gifts such as kitchenware, bedding and other household items were welcomed. However, times have changed!

Asking for a gift might seem a little awkward, but every wedding guest will expect to give a gift to celebrate your marriage. Help them out by including some information in with your invitation on your gift registry or wishing well. It can be considered tacky or rude to include these details on your invitation itself, so we recommend either a separate gift card or a line or two on your information card.

Looking for more wording suggestions? Be sure to read our other articles on wording:

Save the Date Wording
Wedding Invitation Wording
Wording 'Adults Only' Wedding Invitations
Addressing your Wedding Invitations
Thank You Card Wording

Requesting Politely - A Few Tips

~ Tell your guests how important they are to you and how your main priority is that they attend your special day. ~

~ Let your guests know your gift preference. The easiest way is to include a message in with your Wedding Invitation (alternatively, designate this task to a relative and use word of mouth). Options for your Invitations include a separate Gift card or a Gift message as part of your Information card. ~

~ Let your guests know as part of the message what you’ll be using their gift for - whether it is your honeymoon, house deposit or a charity donation, they’ll love to know how their gift will be used. ~

~ Provide a well-placed and labelled box at the reception to collect all of your cards/gifts. ~

~ Say thank you - send your guests a note of appreciation for their attendance and gifts, this will also serve as a lovely reminder of your big day. ~

Wording Suggestions

If you have a Gift Registry or Honeymoon Registry

If you have registered for gifts or your honeymoon at a particular store or travel agent, you’ll need to include the details in your invitations for your guests - store name or street address, website and any codes or details they need to reference. Here are some examples:

“Your presence at our wedding is the greatest gift of all. However, should you wish to honour us with a gift, a list [of gift suggestions] has been registered with …”

If you have a Wishing Well

It is becoming more and more common to request money in lieu of gifts as many couples have already lived together prior to getting married and have everything they need for their home. Some wording suggestions included:

“Your love laughter and company on our wedding day is the greatest gift of all. However, should you wish to help us celebrate with a gift a wishing well will be provided on the day.”

“We look forward to your presence on our special day. We do nonetheless realise that some of you may wish to give us a wedding gift to commemorate our union together. After having lived on our own, we have all of the household items we need. However, for those of you who would like to give us a gift, we will have a wishing well at our reception that will go towards our future together.”

If the gifts will be put towards a new house, home improvements or the honeymoon, often it is nice to mention the purpose for which the money will be used:

“Your presence at our wedding is the greatest gift of all. However, should you wish to honour us with a gift, a contribution to our honeymoon would help to create memories that will last a lifetime. A wishing well will be available on the day.”

If no gifts are requested

Some couples opt for no gifts, especially if the wedding location has required guests to travel and pay for accommodation. In this circumstance often just omitting gift details from the invitation is enough. Of course, you can always make mention on your invitation with a simple line such as “Your presence is present enough”.

If you need more inspiration and ideas for gift card wording or design, we recommend browsing our Collection of letterpress invitation designs. Any suite can be designed with a Gift card or Information card to suit your situation and wording preference.

See the Wording page on our website for more examples and a downloadable PDF of wording suggestions. If you have any questions regarding Gift card wording or design, please get in touch, we are here to help!