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Permalink Reply by Matt on April 16, 2011 at 3:23pm

cash .. chances are they're taking your gift back for a refund anyway

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Permalink Reply by Nathanael on April 16, 2011 at 3:37pm

Going off registry is problematic.  My experience is that for every successful off-registry gift there are a couple disasters.  Unless you know them well and are fairly certain your gift will be well-received stick to what they ask for.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan R. Baker on April 16, 2011 at 5:52pm

When my best friend got married, I gave him a gift card for Sear's to be used on some good Craftsman hand tools. Let's be honest, most wedding gifts are for the women, so I didn't feel bad about gearing my gift towards him. I justified it to his new wife by explaining that he would need some good tools to tackle the "honey-do" list. He told me afterward that he really appreciated it, and gets more use out of them than just about any other gift they received.

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Permalink Reply by Semper Rogue on April 17, 2011 at 4:15am

This is probably not a gift but if you do it right it is well received later on. In the three weddings that I was headlocked into attending I hired some photographers. Didn't pay them for time or amount of pics, paid them for GOOD pics that I wanted. I think out of three I hired, I purchased a total of 20 odd pics that were perfect, as the were of the wedding couple and most if not all attendees.

Took the pics, sent a few to get large pics of and had them framed. Dropped them off and left it for the blissed couple to say yay or nay at their convenience. Most were very happy and it didn't cost much and it works for me.

If all else fails, a big gift certificate to a box store is always useful.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Nick H on April 17, 2011 at 6:27am

Tough question these days. Is this couple young and moving in together into their first home? Or have they either been in their own house for years or co-habitating for years? A young couple leaving the nest would probably appreciate a toaster but a couple who are already a few years in on their mortgage would probably prefer cash.

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Permalink Reply by Beowulf87 on April 17, 2011 at 3:46pm

While this may be too "generic" for some, when I was 19, I had a close friend getting married (two actually).  One was easy, because I was friends with the groom (got him a big, fat embossed family Bible).  The second wasn't so easy, in some ways because I was friends with the bride.

 

I asked for help from the women I knew, and, God bless her, one told me about the magical place called Things Remembered! 

http://www.thingsremembered.com/home.jsp?fcref=gglp&kw=things_r...

 

Not what you'd call a man store mind you (check to see if they have one near you in a mall or such), but they were a lifesaver.  They'll let you pick engraving or embroidery designs, and I chose a blanket with the couple's names on them.  To top it off, I did some sneaking and found out that they had a registry that they hadn't mentioned.  Got a few things off that (always good idea, it may not be flashy but it's what they want, right?).  Continued shopping around for ideas, ran across this spiffy frame from Macy's...and that was that.

 

HTH

 

Spencer

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