Anyone lose cards or money?

svangorkom

I keep hearing horror stories of people's guests making off with their cards or the money being emptied out of cards by their own guests (wow!!).  The coordinator at my venue said it just happened to one of her brides recently and they think it was a down-on-his-luck extended family member.  How sad!

I've heard to look for boxes that are closed or locked.  Did anyone use a birdcage?  Does this seem "closed" enough to keep things safe?  Obviously I trust our guests, but hell, you never know!! 

theelusive1

Recently near us the whole box was missing at a reception.

julibug86

Our coordinator also told us to get a locked box or somethign not easily opened.  Even just using wrapping paper (bc I'm pretty sure someone would notice someone unwrapping it!).  Also, something large and/or heavy is suggested since it's harder to just steal the whole thing.

At first, I thought it was really distrustful to our guests, but I think it would be worse to see the look on my grandma's face if I lost the cash she saved up to give us.  I guess the idea is to just not put the temptation there.  If you make it difficult to steal, people will be deterred or discouraged.

pinkdocmartens

While it hasn't happened at my venue - I did ask them about it, and they just suggested having someone (you trust, obvisouly) empty the box at certain points during the night and placing the cards in a safe location.

LadyLuck77

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_anyone-lose-cards-or-money?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:12Discussion:51ccc0fc-5827-4ab0-a867-10b0d408ecbfPost:1725f024-ce2d-4edb-81ec-91d51b9c24ff">Re: Anyone lose cards or money?</a>:
[QUOTE]While it hasn't happened at my venue - I did ask them about it, and they just suggested having someone (you trust, obvisouly) empty the box at certain points during the night and placing the cards in a safe location.
Posted by pinkdocmartens[/QUOTE]

Very good suggestion. I was wondering about this as well and think it would be odd to have a box with a lock on it or something, but I think this would work well. Obviously we trust our guests or else we wouldn't invite them. But as someone else said, you never know though.

Bierfrau

Just got married last saturday....what a beoutiful day it was....no cards missing but I am missing some decoration. 

theelusive1

ahh back to the missing decorations.  I still don't understand why people take this stuff. What was missing?

KiwiKelly87

I just stumbled across this and wanted to say that when my coordinator first mentioned it to me I too felt that it was being distrustful of my guests.  However, where I live there has been a rash in people going into strangers wedding receptions and stealing the cards and gifts, they actually just caught two women who had done it at several weddings! 

Giaspo

I got a box at Home Goods that, by coincidence, matched our guest book and had a little latch on it.  It was $12.99.  To be careful, the venue moved the table with the card box and guest book into the reception room and throughout the night our DOC would occasionally take cards out and put them in the safe in the bridal suite. What a shame that guests would do that!

Summer2011Bride

Our card box was pretty heavy duty, plus it was near the tables where we sat, so I honestly wasn't too worried about it.. I think location of the box is key. Put it in a highly-traveled area where there are always people around (not a dark back corner for instance) and I would not put it out in the hallway or entryway where other non-wedding guests may also have access to it.

Maybe ask your mom to just glance over to it occasionally, but other than that, there isn't much you can do. I think if you take those precautions, chances are good no one will steal.

chlifr

There is also wedding insurance to prevent against missing gifts and money.

I haven't thought about what type of box I want for cards, but I want them to be close to my table.

lpprudence

To my knowledge, none of my gifts were stolen.
But if you ask my mom, someone stole money from her purse.
If you ask me, she was drunk and handed out all of her money during the dollar dance.

amg8

I never would have thought of this either, but one of my good friends who is extremely into weddings advised me to get something more secure for the cards. I had wanted to do the open suitcase/trunk type of idea that I kept seeing on Pinterest because I thought it looked really cute, but the I was a little worried after our conversation.  We ended up using this cool old vintage ballot box (obviously pretty secure!) that had belonged to my father. Since our wedding had kind of a historic theme (and my family is really into politics) it ended up fitting in really nicely.  

It's sad that anyone would even have to worry about theft, but it seems like many people I know have some kind of horror story about this...

Kristin789

Very surprised at this thread.

Here in the South, the bridal gifts are sent to the bride's parents' house at least one week before the wedding and the couple opens the boxes and everything is on display.  See the movie "Father of the Bride" with Steve Martin and there's all the wedding gifts on display in the dining room, etc.  That's what it's like here.  We never have anyone bring cards or money or gifts or checks to the reception - what a hassle.

Ali092011

I'm a little worried about this myself. I might ask the coordinators at my venue if they can move the gift table to a more visible location. At first it seemed like a good idea to have it where it is, since they normally place it sort of next to the sweetheart table, but then I realized we will probably only be sitting there for a few minutes while we shove food into our mouths, and the rest of the time there will be no one around to keep an eye on it. Probably need to rethink that...

KSerafin17

I worked at a hotel and we saw this happen a few times. Mostly because at a hotel you really can't control "wedding crashers". We always advised that someone the bride and groom trusted, frequently empty the box and bring the cards and money to the front desk where we could lock them in a private lock box and they could retrieve them in the morning.

What a shame that this is something we even have to worry about!

bunni727

We had a birdcage. The cards slide between the bars, so I just wired the lid shut and secured the whole thing to a stack of giant books. It was also in a very noticable area near the grandparents' table, so we had no problems at all.

megannie

Our venue offers a locked card box for our use, that is very subtle. They started offering this years ago when these type problems became more frequent, so one thing we don't have to worry about.

pedulaney

All I have to say is WOW. Honestly... your friends and family should not be on your guest list if you even vaguely have trust issues like that with them. What is our world coming to when we have to buy lock boxes for our weddings so people don't steal our gifts. WTF? Seriously, this thread has my head spinning. Just had to say a little prayer about our world.

KellyBrian2013

In Response to Re:Anyone lose cards or money?:[QUOTE]All I have to say is WOW. Honestly... your friends and family should not be on your guest list if you even vaguely have trust issues like that with them. What is our world coming to when we have to buy lock boxes for our weddings so people don't steal our gifts. WTF? Seriously, this thread has my head spinning. Just had to say a little prayer about our world. Posted by pedulaney[/QUOTE]

For many people, it isn't just family that has access to the area card boxes may be kept. We had a fairly private reception and still had two women crash it and help themselves to our open bar. We bought for unfinished boxes from hobby lobby, cut out the bottoms, painted them to match our wedding colors, stacked them, and hot glued them. It was secure so that no one could get into it without noticeably trying and large enough that it couldn't just disappear. DH's parents took it home with them after the reception ended and we picked it up the next morning.

mattycam

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-recap-withdrawal_anyone-lose-cards-or-money?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:12Discussion:51ccc0fc-5827-4ab0-a867-10b0d408ecbfPost:1725f024-ce2d-4edb-81ec-91d51b9c24ff">Re: Anyone lose cards or money?</a>:
[QUOTE]While it hasn't happened at my venue - I did ask them about it, and they just suggested having someone (you trust, obvisouly) empty the box at certain points during the night and placing the cards in a safe location.
Posted by pinkdocmartens[/QUOTE]

I agree with this. Once all the guests were seated for dinner, our coordinators moved the box to a locked location. That is a shame that gifts are being stolen at weddings. 

ninamyspace

One of the things i learned from my wedding is you need to make sure you have a plan with what you're going to do with your gifts after everyone leaves the area (when the bride and groom leave). I didn't have this planned out and my coordinator just handed all the stuff to my drunk father, who could have and might have easily lost some cards. Also, my mother missed our exit because she was too busy carrying the gifts to her room.

I would recommend doing this sometime during the reception, not toward the end.

entropicbeauty

About an hour after all the guests had arrived and had a chance to sign the guestbook etc. I asked my DOC to move the cardbox and gifts into a locked room so I could retrieve them the next day.

As far as I know nothing went missing. I don't feel bad about taking this precaution either because Detroit most definitely has a reputation.