Stolen card box????

jackie8582

Am I just sheltered? Have any of you heard of this actually happening? My friends is getting married next weekend and said they have to bring one of their own tables in so they can anchor down the card box. She said she has heard horror stories of people coming in a walking off with the box. I have NEVER heard of this before! Thoughts?

temerityjane

Of course, it happens. Can't say it's happened to anyone I know personally, but I've heard stories. It just kind of... walks off.One of the venues I looked at offered a secure box and another offered a locked room to keep it in.

Aimee8314

I have heard of it happening but more in an urban legend "my friend's sister's second cousin" sort of way.  I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry.  I think it's more likely that someone would take a card or two (like someone working at the venue) than someone actually taking the entire box.

ac_in_dc

Yes, this happened at my first wedding in North Carolina. My ex was from NYC and everyone on his side gave us envelopes. It was awful having to tell each person so they could cancel their checks, and decide not to call folks that we were guessing gave cash (thankfully my ex-MIL made the calls for us). It really depends on the venue, etc. though.

Stackeye210

I've heard of this too.  We kept our card box in the furthest corner away from the main exit.  Sometimes it isn't your guests that you have to worry about, it's the other people that have access to the area. 

ac_in_dc

Sometimes it isn't your guests that you have to worry about, it's the other people that have access to the area. This.

tlv204

I've heard of it, but it hasn't happened to anyone I know personally.

mandyandmike2009

The place I am getting married at suggests that after the ceremony is over to leave the box out for a little bit, but then have someone lock it up in the car. They haven't had anything taken before, but no need to take chances. With a large wedding people can walk in and no one would notice if they werent supposed to be there. We will be locking ours up in someones car.

anna.oskar

We're securing our because it's in a museum that will be open to the public until 5pm.

ac_in_dc

My first wedding was in a room at a big hotel, so there were definitely folks walking around from all over. My wedding with DH was in a freestanding location, so no one except the catering staff, etc was wandering around the venue. And the catering and venue coordinators were very diligent. Soo...evaluate your risk based on the situation.

jackie8582

Wow, I guess I must be too trusting, I never would have thought of this on my own! Guess I will have to keep it in mind for my own wedding. I suppose there really is no reason for it to sit out all night anyway. Now that I know, we will be locking ours up!! Thanks!!

ring_pop

I don't personally know anyone it's happened to, but think about it - it could literally contain thousands of dollars. So it would be dumb to think that it *couldn't* happen.What I did was have a couple of friends and cousins take turns watching the card box / guest book table as guests were arriving during cocktail hour (yeah yeah, I know). Then once all the guests had arrived, I asked my brother to take the entire box up to our hotel room just before dinner started.

Hello Sunshine

I was at a huge Italian wedding a few years back (600+ people) where they had security guards (dressed in tuxes, looked like "regular" guests) hanging around the card box for this reason.

NuggetBrain

We are going to have the cardbox set up during dinner, and then afterwards we're moving it to a room in the manor that they will lock for us until after the reception along with any gifts people bring.  We're also going to make our card box either big or uniquely shaped, because it's pretty hard to sneak out of a wedding with a huge cake shaped box or something.

SwedishChick2011

Jackie, I love your proposal pics.  It's awesome that you have photos of the actual moment!

goheels05

I don't know anyone personally IRL who this has happened to, but we took precautions against it.  Originally our gift table was right by the exit, in a hall outside the banquet room.  We insisted that the gift table be moved inside the ballroom as far from the exits as possible. 

sucrets4

Our venue placed the card box kinda behind our sweetheart table for more security.

SwedishChick2011

You could make it so that if someone touches the card box, they get an electric shock.  Although, then people might not put cards in the box, so maybe not.

aerinpegadrak

Also, look into wedding insurance policies.  Many of them have coverage for gifts being stolen from the wedding site, so you'd be reimbursed for any cash or checks in the card box (though figuring out the exact total would probably be a fairly long and annoying process).

*Rebecca & Chris*

We didn't have our card box stolen, but we did have a card stolen. One of the guests put the card on the gift table instead of in the card box. My cousin stole the card along with other things (1 of our toasting glasses, a vase, the bathroom baskets...).

jackie8582

Thanks coco! We had so many people there who were in on it with their cameras ready. I really lucked out!

dianenjnj

i like the idea of a large oddly shaped box...cakelike, giftlike, etc. that has a hole that isn't too wide as to allow someone to remove anything and does not have a removable top...maybe something you would have to cut to open.  also placed in plain sight away from exit.

chosen175

I was at a wedding when I was in H.S. and they had the card box stolen. I forget if it was during cake cutting, first dance, or what but I remember someone saying "Hey, what happened to the card box?" and a bit later, the police were there.