Yesterday, little ol’me was standing in line at my favourite place to shop, Target. (woohoo!) Of course, as some guy named Murphy would have predicted, this particular checkout lane was proceeding slower than Hugh Hefner on a fistful of Viagra. Why the telltale slowness, do you ask? Oh that’s easy – these customers were sifting through a twenty-page printout of a bridal registry list. As they discovered too late to care, the picture frames were not the precise variety selected by the bride, and the female making the purchase decided to purchase them anyway. After all, she can always exchange them for the crap she really wanted. Bleh.
When did it become so acceptable for receivers of gifts to exchange them for preferred items? I’m not speaking wedding gifts exclusively, for I was disgusted to hear a mother express this to her child at a birthday party recently. The child was whining about getting some board game that he didn’t want, and the mother saw nothing wrong with letting him be completely ungrateful. Methinks that instead of exchanging these unwanted gifts, perhaps they should go to a children’s hospital or other charity. Perhaps then the child could get some positive lesson out of this experience, no?
Yet I digress, so back to the bridezilla complaint. While I do understand the quasi-tradition associated with bridal registries, which is to help out a budding marriage by gifting the young couple with silverware and whatnot. Ideally, this allows the couple to cease decorating as if they were still in the college dorm. Yet I really am offended by brides who fill up a twenty page listing with all items priced at fifty smackers and above…. telling you what to buy for them. Such a demand for instant gratification is just immature as hell.
8 comments
… so how will we know what to get you and the Ladd for a wedding present?…
A most gracious lady you truly are.
; )
positive thought: yay! i’m so happy for you : D
unregistered gift: hug, exclusively by amelie
I agree with you on the whole gift thing. When I was around 9 I pulled a stunt like that, my mother scolded me for being ungrateful and told me I was lucky that someone cared enough to even get me a gift. It was a valuable lesson I learned that day and I’m trying to share it with my children.
Feel free to exchange my positive thoughts for something better.
As a guest at many extended family and acquaintance weddings, I don’t always know the happy couple very well. I like the bridal registry because I can purchase a gift for them that I know they will enjoy. There’s no pressure on me to search for a gift they might light.
However, the happy couple should be considerate and register for things at all price levels, especially if they have large guest list. Not everyone can afford a fancy gift.
Above all, the couple should look at the registry as more a “gift suggestion” list, instead of a gift list. They should appreciate any gift they receive, no matter how large or how small.
I’m of two minds regarding bridal registries. If they’re asking for stuff that’s reasonably priced and is really and truly stuff they want, well, then I’ll get the happy couple something off the list and will make sure the store updates the registry to reflect my purchase. That said, however, a friend of mine got married a couple of years back and she had registered at Le Boutique de Target for a FREAKIN’ PLAYSTATION 2! They’d also registered for a Nintendo Game Cube and any number of games for either console. Call me old fashioned, but wedding presents are meant to set a couple up for impending domesticity, not game playing! What really pissed me off was that all of those things had been ticked off the list as purchased! Holy Hell! I didn’t know who to be more angry with: the bride and groom or the people who had bought them that crap, who would further encourage other people to register for that sort of thing!
To add insult to injury, I never recieved a thank you note for the seventy-five dollar wine goblets I bought them.
Marvellous Words Of Wisdom. This is an etiquette peeve of mine.
On one hand, I do not like registers, but I suppose they do have their place for those guests who are unsure of a suitable gift. However, register details should be offered discretely, for those who enquire, not sent with the wedding invitation (oh yes, that has happened).
Another thing many greedy grooms and brides forget is that gifts are to be gratefully received – not expected or evaluated.
However, while gifts are not to be expected, thank-you notes ARE. Still waiting on one for a sterling-silver photo frame I gave earlier this year. Should have bought the b***h silver-plate.
Oh dear. It’s all too much. I need a lie down and a gin to soothe my nerves…