No gifts please

My mother is staying with us at the moment which is great. We’ve been going over the wedding planning and catching up in general. The only blip is that she’s been asking about our gift registry. I am all for a no gifts wedding but she says we should have some stuff on it and not just a bank account. Since she was in the kitchen at the time she mentioned an espresso machine (I don’t drink coffee but hubby-2-b’s ears definitely perked up), blender or kitchen robot. I tried to remind her that we were cutting down and I didn’t want to just fill up the flat again with lots of stuff but she seemed a bit adamant. My mother always buys us stuff for the flat. Once a year my parents house-sit for us when we go on holiday and there are always new knives/towels/kitchen gadgets etc when we get back. I’ve had no complaints until now.

Thinking this no gifts thing for the wedding will be tricky to enforce but will still give it a go. My boy is all for just asking for cash but I am finding it all a bit tacky. I am inviting people because I want them there, not because of the gift we might receive. We have a wedding website and I wonder if it will be best to post something on there even though that also seems tacky. Agrr maybe I just quietly let family and bridal party know we aren’t expecting gifts and certainly not stuff and hope it filters through to everyone.

Sometimes I wish I could go back and start planning all over again. Try and avoid more of the crazy wedding ‘traditions’ and keep everything more low-key as I originally wanted. Weddings are such a large industry it is very difficult not to get suckered in. (I’ve mentioned before how aggressive I find the Industry). Anyway too late now and I am sure it will all be lovely, maybe in a couple of years we can have a more intimate anniversary party.