Including Gift Registry Cards with Invitations
Traditional etiquette states that gift registry cards should never be included with the wedding invitation. This is so that it does not appear that you are begging for or expecting gifts for your wedding. So how, exactly, do you provide your guests with your gift registry information if not with the invitation? The proper thing to do would be to provide the gift registry card with the bridal shower invitation. What happens, however, if you do not have a bridal shower? Well, here are some of my suggestions:
Ask your parents, your fiance's parents, and/or your bridal party to distribute the information verbally to anyone who asks. The main problem with this method is that some people will simply not ask for your gift registry information and then they will give you either monetary gifts (okay) or ugly crap from a store you would never shop at without a gift receipt (clearly not okay).
Add your gift registry information to your wedding website and then provide the URL of the website on your save the date or on an insert that you include with your invitation. The wording for the insert could be something like the following: "For additional information on our wedding including accommodations information and gift registry information, please visit our wedding website at: http://www.mywedding.com/SallyandJoe/index.htm". You don't even need to mention that gift information will be available on your website if you are worried about offending some of your guests.
Include a nicely worded gift registry card with the invitation. This card could say something like the following: "The best gift of all will be your presence at our wedding, but if you would like to get us a gift, we are registered at: Macy's and Williams and Sonoma". This obviously goes against all etiquette guidelines, but if you are sure that your guests will not be offended by such a card then there is no harm in including one. If you are concerned about offending certain guests, you can always leave the card out of their invitations.
