If you have been invited to a wedding, then this blog post is for you. And if you are a bride/groom, why not print this out and include it in your wedding invitation? Okay. I’m kidding about that. Sort of.
Dear Wedding Guests:
It is an honor to be invited to a wedding. Although I’m sure some of you may have rolled your eyes at the sight of the beautiful invitation, thinking to yourself, “They just want a gift.”
Perhaps you don’t realize the hours that the bride and groom and respective parents toiled over the guest list, sometimes fighting to make sure that YOURname stayed on. Perhaps you haven’t taken into account the current economic times and that every person the bride and groom invites is a variable cost to their bottom line.
You should know that it’s not just the cost of the meal. Every person needs to have a seat, which has a chair cover, at a table with a centerpiece with a rented linen, and rented china. Not to mention the average bar cost per person, taxes, gratuity, favors and the most expensive cake that a person will ever purchase. All based on the number of guests attending the wedding.
So no, it’s not just the cost of $xx.xx a meal, the average cost per person at a wedding can easily be triple that number. Please take all of these factors into consideration when you receive an invitation to a wedding and when purchasing a gift for the couple.
Speaking of gifts, the best gift you can give to any couple is to RSVP. On time.
Check your schedule. Talk to your spouse. Arrange a babysitter. Arrange a babysitter backup. And then take 30 seconds to check YES!, put the RSVP card in the already stamped envelope and drop it in the mailbox right outside your door. RSVP! On time.
And if you cannot attend, do the same as above, just check REGRETS. You may want to follow up with a personal note and be sure to go ahead and mail your gift to the couple directly.
Please, please, please do not say you are coming and then not attend because deep down attending the wedding wasn’t that important to you in the first place. You can’t imagine how sad it is seeing empty tables at a wedding reception because guests didn’t show up. And how frustrating it is for the bride and groom to shell out the extra thousands of dollars expecting all of the guests.
Now that you are an informed wedding guest, I am confident that you will not create a faux pas when you receive your next invitation.
Let me know how this works out. *wink*
plan on!