How to ask for money instead of gifts?

I've gone with a statement rather than a poem. Something along the lines of its your presence we want not your presents if you would like to give us something we would appreciate a contribution towards out honeymoon.

I didn't like the poems as cheesy but couldn't find a better way of wording it.

We had the same issue, and h2b didn't like any of the poems or waffle, so we've very basically said. If you would like to buy us a gift, we would appreciate money towards our honeymoon. But if you'd prefer to buy a present please feel free to surprise us xx

I personally found it a bit too blunt but we've gone for it now and got the invites so can't change it!!

I think it's a lot more common nowadays, I've only ever been to 1 wedding where there was a gift list!

Thank you, I really prefer how you've written it to those poems!

Ok, so we had the exact opposite issue in that OH didn't want a gift list and wants to ask for money. However, I know that I also think that we should upgrade some items and have some nice things we can say "we got this X when we got married" in the future. We're possibly going to have a gift list and a honeymoon registry. The wording I currently have for our gift registry note is:

"Having you with us to celebrate is really all that we need on this amazing day. However, we know that some will want to contribute to our new journey as husband and wife. If you wish to buy us a gift, we have a collections of items that will be greatly appreciated at: <website>. We have also set up a honeymoon registry at <website>, where you can gift us funds to help pay for amazing memories during our first holiday as a married couple!" (I know it's a bit cheesy, I'm working on it)

Personally, I'd just rather not get a collection of Me to You photo frames and bits with "Mr and Mrs" on them so would prefer to direct those who wish to buy us a physical gift. It's not going to be a huge list and by no means do we EXPECT people to buy it all. I just know that a lot of OH's family have already asked after the gift list... and this way they have the option of money or gifts that we can actually make use of

Giving money at weddings is traditional in my OH's culture (he's Chinese), so we're going to put something about that in the invitations. We're also hoping to set something up with the company we're booking the honeymoon with so that people can buy us particular experiences for the honeymoon if they would rather know what their money is going on. It's not something the company normally does, but I can think of some ways we can make it work, assuming the company agrees.

We had no intention of doing a gift list because we had everything we wanted but didn't like asking for money so bluntly. Instead we opte to just not mention a list or anything about gifts at all on our invites. Then if someone asked we could say that we had everything we wanted but were saving up for X. As it turns out, only a handful of people asked, most just assumed we wanted money so put some cash in an envelope or a cheque. Don't forget to have a secure post box for your cards though, something that can be locked, for your peace of mind more than anything because we did get one couple forget to put money in their card so they randomly told us they were just putting it loose in our post box!

It's a really tough one.

Our friends simply stated (on the back of the invite) that, as they lived together already, money would be appreciated although they didn't expect anything.

We're in a similar situation to you - we barely have enough room in our house as it is, let alone with people buying us useless gifts!

However, we are opting to upgrade what we already have. We managed a new dining table, 56 piece cutlery set, 8 new fancy pads for said table, and a new wardrobe for the Guest room from our Engagement money.

People will probably give you cash or cheques, so I wouldn't worry about setting up an account.

Hi All

I actually wrote our own personalised poem... Bit cheesy I know but I think people appreciated it & it seems to have gone down really well!

xx

It's always an awkward one. We set up a gift aid page for charity in memory of a loved one and secured a slot to to the London Marathon with a commitment to the charity to raise a certain amount. The training together with my now husband was a great experience and whilst the marathon was tough, we created one heck of a memory to kick start being married! (The training also helped me to keep in shape for the big day!!)

Hello,

With our wedding we put a small note on our website to say that we would appreciate small contributions towards the honeymoon. My mother in law also mentioned this to older guests if they asked. On the day we received cheques, cash, some gift vouchers and a few gifts of wine so it worked well.

I wouldn't worry so much as I think most people would appreciate knowing what would suit you best. Hope that helps xx