I'm going to XP this in the Etiquette weddings board as well, but thought I'd see if anyone knew anything about this here...
So, FI and I are talking last night. FMIL is going to Argentina in a few weeks to visit family. She asked that I have "participaciones" printed before her trip. When I asked her what these were, she said "oh, they're wedding announcements so if anyone wants to buy you a gift, they can send it home with me". Cue the O.o face from me. I told her I would look into this. She says this is customary in Argentina.
What i was really thinking-Um, our wedding isn't until May, you want to send wedding announcements before we sign on the dotted line, AND you want to do this as a gift grab? Riiiiiight.....
Now, if this is legitimately a custom, that's one thing. But I was offended that she would even think to do such a thing. So, if anyone can confirm or deny that this is a custom, I'd greatly appreciate it.
ETA: figured it out on the Etiquette board. For future reference, she was talking about these:
PARTICIPACIONES:
Antiguamente se solía realizar una notificación del compromiso con tarjetas que se les enviaba a los más allegados de la familia informando que en un lapso determinado sus hijos se casarían. Hoy en día esta costumbre ha cambiado y el uso de la participación en lugar de la invitación se ajusta al protocolo tradicional y se utiliza como una cortesía e indica que se trata de una celebración pequeña y estrictamente familiar a la que no se está siendo requerido. Por esto, las tarjetas de participación siguen las mismas reglas que las de invitación, sólo que varía el texto que en lugar de decir "tienen el placer de invitar..." dice " tienen el placer de participar" y se elimina la dirección y datos de la celebración.