[Helen M]

Our daughter and her fiance have received a generous cash gift from an elderly relative who is unable to attend the wedding. In writing the thank you note, she plans to thank him for the generous gift, but is unsure if she should mention the amount of the gift. I was always under the impression that it is tacky to mention the amount of cash received since that appears to seem that the recipient is busy totaling up how much cash they receive from all givers (and incidentally adding this particular cash gift to the total of the "loot"). Perhaps things have changed, and I don't want to steer her in the wrong direction since she may need to know how to handle this situation again. Thank you for your advice.

[Wedding Queen and MOG]

The note can mention the amount if you want but, it's nice to include sentiments such as how the gift might be used. For example:

Dear Uncle Ed:

Thank you so much for the generous wedding gift which we will use to purchase that wok we've been wanting.

Tom and I are disappointed that you will not be able to attend the wedding but we'll be sure to visit soon. We'll cook up a stir fry with our new wok and bring along the wedding photos to share.

Thanks again for thinking of us.