Gift Table?

I love doing the blogger poll gadget. I like seeing what the "popular" ideas are about a wedding subject but not so sure how I feel when I disagree. (Meaning the whole dancing is fun thing - seriously?). Anyway I was procrastinating again thinking about what to do for a new one when I remembered a wedding etiquette discussion among some friends.

photo from here

What do you do with the gift? Some feel that it is rude and tacky to bring it to the reception to display on a gift table. While others didn't understand how else you should get it to the couple and that a classic wedding picture is always of the gift table.

So I ask my readers. How do you prefer to deliver your gift? I set up a poll on the right.

It would also be great to get some comments about the idea of a gift table. Where do you put it, decorate it, photograph it, who do you get to take care of it when the reception is over, etc.

Surviving the Bridal Show

A couple of weekends ago I attended my first bridal show. I had read some tips on attending the Phoenix Bridal Show from the helpful Sarah from The Wedding Hub but I wished I would have followed it beforehand! Her advice is general to any show and after attending I can see now that she knew what she was talking about.

First of all - bring labels with your information. I don't know how many times I wrote out my name and address.

Second - definitely set up a separate email account to deal with vendor inquiries. I had just filled out cards for the things that I was interested in hearing more about. But somehow (I think with registration) my email got on everyone's list and even though it is about 2 weeks later I still get about 10 emails a day from various vendors. Hard to sort out from my actual vendors that I need to read.

Third - This wasn't on Sarah's list but I would say skip the show if you already have your vendors in place. If I were just starting the process this would have been a great place to start to get an idea of what is out there and what the costs are of various services. Since we are less than 3 months away I really just went to get some new ideas. That didn't really happen - my time might have been better spent browsing wedding blogs for inspiration! The show was really Wedding Industry Complex (WIC) overload!

One of the best resources at the show were free copies of Arizona Weddings, Arizona Finest Wedding Sites and Services, and Arizona Bride. I have picked these up at a bridal salon before but think it is great for getting local ideas about vendors. The national magazines are great for inspiration but don't really let you in on what is available locally. These mags list pricing info, websites, and phone numbers of venues, photographers, rehearsal dinner locations- you name it, it is in there. I would recommend to anyone beginning to plan their wedding to find something similar for your local area.






Anyone else have advice for surviving the Bridal Show?