Recently I was scrolling through one of my favourite blogs, Cup of Jo when I came across an article about weddings and cash registries in the US. Joanna, author of the blog, explained that she once had the urge to give cash as a wedding gift instead of usual household registry and that she used a cool site where couples register for cash in a sweet way. Interesting no?
What I found even more interesting though were the comments on that specific blog post. Readers from around the world wrote about their country’s wedding gift traditions.
Be prepared to be surprised.
“In Japan giving/receiving cash is the norm. The first number of the amount you give at a wedding must be an odd number as they are undividable. It’s usually $300 as a friend and $500 as a couple. The cash is wrapped in extravagant ‘celebration envelopes’.”
“In Finland it is very common to ask for money, which is said to be used specifically for the honeymoon. In the wedding invitations couples include a note saying that instead of material things, once-in-a-lifetime experiences are wanted.”
“In Colombia there’s an expression that translates to something like ‘shower of envelopes’, which means cash gifts are meant to be given at the party.”
“In the Maldives cash gifts have fast become the norm at wedding and people request it.”
“In Cambodia money is always given. That’s how couples pay for their wedding. Most times they don’t need it anyway because they continue living with their parents.”
“In Romania people always give cash in envelopes. ‘Boxed’ gifts never happen and can be badly interpreted. The general idea is that each person pays what he/she estimates is the cost of the band/menu/location relative to one person plus a little bit more for the married couple. This way at the end the wedding costs are covered and ideally the couple can also keep some of the money. Wedding services don’t even collect their full fee until the wedding fee has been collected and counted. Also big weddings with several hundreds of people can be seen as a good deal since there might be more money to collect.”
“In Vietnam it’s very rare to give a household item as a gift as the family setup is very different to Western countries. It’s a multi-generation family so the couple lives with their in-laws therefore all the household items already exist in the home.”
“My boyfriend and I were invited to an Indian wedding and the invite said ‘no boxed gifts’.”
“We did a honeymoon registry. Everyone loved picking out special excursions and dinners they could gift us with. We also included options for contributing to our flight and hotel costs.”
“In Germany cash gifts are very common whereas a registry is rare. Some people have wish lists but you are not obliged to choose something from there.”
“In Spain many couples put their bank account on the wedding invitation so guests can transfer their cash gift.”
“In Argentina it’s customary to pay to attend a wedding. Along with the invitation, the couple sends a note saying how much the ‘ticket’ costs.”
“A few months ago I heard about an alternative registry site called SoKind Registry where you can create a registry for non-cash, non-stuff gifts.”
So what do you think? Cash in an envelope or perhaps a honeymoon registry?
