Wedding gift lists provoke a lot of discussion. There are those that say that a wedding gift list is simply a request for gifts, but that is not the widely held view, and most guests regard them as a blessing, as they provide very real help for people who would otherwise have little idea what you want and what is your taste, and therefore avoid providing a gift that is unwanted. They also avoid the nightmare of duplication. Almost everyone who is invited to a wedding will take a gift for the Bride and Groom, and so a wedding gift list just points them in the right direction, makes choosing a gift that they know will be gratefully received easier, and ensures that you are given gifts that you want and that are useful to you.

Drawing up a gift list is really the key to getting things right for both yourselves and your guests. You want to have a truly wonderful day for your wedding, and enjoy yourselves thoroughly, and the best way to ensure that happens is to make sure that your guests enjoy themselves too, and they have to feel comfortable in order to do that. To feel comfortable they have to be able to give you a gift that they know is acceptable and desired and one that they can afford. As different people can afford very different amounts one of the key factors in drawing up a gift list is to ensure that you include a wide range of prices and types of gift. It's also best to ensure that there are rather more gifts listed than there are people coming to the wedding - that way no-one ends up having to choose the last gift on the list regardless of the price.

Of course, it's very common to use your wedding gift list to build up dinner services, and sets of glasses and cutlery etc. and these are rarely something that one person or one couple will buy in their entirety. They therefore lend themselves beautifully to allowing people to decide how much to spend whilst still giving a gift that will please you. Put the dinner service you want on the list as individual items and then your guests can build it for you!

A truly great invention is the gift registry, or the service that is offered by a number of leading stores where you can create your gift list from items within the store and they will then manage the gift list for you. You tell everyone that your gift list is held at the store in question, and they buy direct from that store, either in person or online. As items are bought the store removes that item from the gift list, so that you don't get any repeats of things you don't want a second time. Your guests only see what is left on the gift list at the time that they choose to shop.

Moreover, your guests can often buy on-line or over the phone which means that they don't have to try to visit the store close to you, which for many would be impossible. The gift registries will often even deliver all the gifts just before or just after the wedding to suit you, and that again saves a huge amount of time and trouble for everyone. Below you will find links to a few of the major gift registries

John Lewis Gift Registry

Debenhams Gift Registry

Heals Gift Registry

Finally, after receiving the gifts you need to thank people. There are a number of ways of doing this but a simple way is to buy thank you cards and then write a simple message to everyone who has given you anything. Of course, the organised bit of this process is keeping track of who has given you what. The gift registries will do this as well, but it is important as there's nothing worse than finding you've thanked someone for something they didn't actually give you!!

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