My fiancee and I are having a destination wedding in the Dominican Republic. Half of the guests are coming from Bolivia while the other half are coming from Texas. We really don't want people to bring their gifts to the island but we're unsure of how to tell them. Of course we've told everyone that we don't expect gifts but we're sure that many of our guests will get us gifts anyway.
To complicate the matter, the Bolivians attending the wedding are unfamiliar with the whole registry custom. My nightmare is that they all arrive with silver platters and crystal sculptures (more traditional gifts). While these would be perfectly wonderful gifts we would some how have to transport this stuff home! Not to mention that as a young couple, we'd really prefer a blender - which would be much cheaper for our Bolivian guests anyway! I thought the best way to get everyone to ship their gifts straight to our home would be to tell them about the registry and how it works, but I know this can be really tacky...any ideas? In this case could we introduce it as an American custom.
Thank you so much for your help!
(This post was
edited by TWQadmin on Apr 30, 2007, 8:31 AM)
Etiquette Now
WEDDING ETIQUETTE EXPERT
Apr 30, 2007, 1:17 PM
Post #2 of 2
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Re: [moroza] Receiving gifts for a destination wedding.
[In reply to]
Dear Moroza,
Shipping the gifts to your home is the correct American custom. Plus, the registry is a nice way to advise your guests of your preferences.
Typically, we ask a third party to spread the word for us. So, if you have family and friends who are close to these guests, they can do this for you. You could also create a wedding website to explain all of this for you. Just hide the registry on the third page and email the link to everyone. The focus should be on your love story. This should seem very sweet to all those who visit it.
Receiving gifts for a destination wedding.
