4 ms·

So, it's common for people to make a list of wedding gifts they'd like to receive, and these guys are asking people to help fund their startup instead? Do I hav

by philh 17y ago

So, it's common for people to make a list of wedding gifts they'd like to receive, and these guys are asking people to help fund their startup instead? Do I have that right? If so, is it common for people to spend over $100 on a wedding present for another couple? $420?

davidw 17y ago
Yes. OTOH, it's kind of nice to get something that you feel the recipient will remember, IMO.
Tichy 17y ago
The gifts seemed very expensive to me on average. That might be different between countries/cultures, though.
hughprime 17y ago
How much you spend depends on (a) how close you are to the couple and (b) how rich you are. Rich relatives might easily give a $420 gift, but there's a real lack of gifts in the sub-$100 range there. More to the point, if I'm going to give a couple a $400 gift, I want them to keep it and appreciate it. I want it to be the good silverware which only comes out on special occasions, or the fancy glassware that the children aren't allowed to touch. I don't want it to wind up as a small part of a line item on an accountant's bill.
- zackattack 17y ago
  There's nothing worse than receiving a gift that the recipient wants you to have but you don't want to use. But this couple seems annoying, and doesn't seem to understand the social process of gifting.
philwelch 17y ago
Traditionally, a married couple would need to furnish their new home after moving in together. Modern couples cohabitate before getting married and already have all this stuff, but wedding gift registries are still used to get "better" stuff. As explained in sister comments, much of this stuff will be expensive, impractical things they don't actually use very often if at all, but will provide an expensive and symbolic keepsake that satisfies people's mammalian hoarding instincts until making for an awkward asset-division discussion during the probable divorce or, less probably, will probably either be inherited or bring in some moderate amount of money at the longest-lived partner's estate sale. (You can look at it more romantically than this, but I'm in an existential mood.) More practically, a gift registry prevents a couple from getting ten unique waffle makers when they only need one.
- tjic 17y ago
  > Modern couples cohabitate before getting married some modern couples cohabitate before getting married

by philh 17y ago

davidw 17y ago

Yes. OTOH, it's kind of nice to get something that you feel the recipient will remember, IMO.

Tichy 17y ago

The gifts seemed very expensive to me on average. That might be different between countries/cultures, though.

hughprime 17y ago

How much you spend depends on (a) how close you are to the couple and (b) how rich you are. Rich relatives might easily give a $420 gift, but there's a real lack of gifts in the sub-$100 range there. More to the point, if I'm going to give a couple a $400 gift, I want them to keep it and appreciate it. I want it to be the good silverware which only comes out on special occasions, or the fancy glassware that the children aren't allowed to touch. I don't want it to wind up as a small part of a line item on an accountant's bill.

zackattack 17y ago
There's nothing worse than receiving a gift that the recipient wants you to have but you don't want to use. But this couple seems annoying, and doesn't seem to understand the social process of gifting.

philwelch 17y ago

Traditionally, a married couple would need to furnish their new home after moving in together. Modern couples cohabitate before getting married and already have all this stuff, but wedding gift registries are still used to get "better" stuff. As explained in sister comments, much of this stuff will be expensive, impractical things they don't actually use very often if at all, but will provide an expensive and symbolic keepsake that satisfies people's mammalian hoarding instincts until making for an awkward asset-division discussion during the probable divorce or, less probably, will probably either be inherited or bring in some moderate amount of money at the longest-lived partner's estate sale. (You can look at it more romantically than this, but I'm in an existential mood.) More practically, a gift registry prevents a couple from getting ten unique waffle makers when they only need one.

tjic 17y ago
> Modern couples cohabitate before getting married some modern couples cohabitate before getting married