Is anyone doing a formal gift opening?

beckyh77

FI isn't sure if he wants to be in front of people and be on display opening gifts. We aren't leaving for our "mini-moon" until the evening after our wedding so technically there would be time but I was curious what the rest of you ladies have in mind.

Swazzle

Do you mean at the wedding?

If so, no we will just open them that night or the next day, just the 2 of us. In my area, it's common/normal to only receive cards with money at the wedding. I actually have never seen an actual "gift" at a wedding. 

Carson386

I've seen actual gifts at wedding, wrapped up and everything. Usually it's more cards though. Either way, we aren't opening at our wedding. If we do get gifts instead of just cards, we have it planned out with my brother to take them to my mom's house for us. We aren't leaving for our mini honeymoon for a few days after the wedding, but it will give us the chance to relax and be able to just pick up gifts from my mom's house instead of worrying about us getting them home.

beckyh77

I guess I meant having a gift opening the day after your wedding with other people there such as immediate family. I don't think I've ever seen a gift opening during the wedding reception either.

turtleslove

I have seen this done once, and I neither FI or I are comfortable with it. I understand it is tradition some places but just seems like overkill to me. Most weddings I go to have a mix of gifts and cards.

rswans

Nope. We do have a day before we leave for our honeymoon, so we may open some of the gifts then, but I'm not sure. My mom is worried about leaving large amounts of money at their house while we are gone (even in check form apparently), so my parents have offered to deposit all the checks for us while we're on the honeymoon.  She just mentioned it the other day, so I need to talk to my FI and see if he wants to open all the cards on that in between day or let my parents do it. I'm thinking he'll lean towards the first one, but it would likely just be us.

Carson386

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_is-anyone-doing-a-formal-gift-opening?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:7c93ac59-54f1-4cfa-835d-8bbd34e08c17Post:938b97c1-d1da-4141-b7e5-9330e5f71e2b">Re: Is anyone doing a formal gift opening?</a>:
[QUOTE]I guess I meant having a gift opening the day after your wedding with other people there such as immediate family. I don't think I've ever seen a gift opening during the wedding reception either.
Posted by beckyh77[/QUOTE]

I've never heard of doing this. I would honestly be rather uncomfortable just knowing how much cash people get for weddings in my family and as much as I love my family and FI's family, it honestly isn't their business as to how much money we get. FI's mom would be counting the money as we opened and telling all of her friends how much we got. She has no filter. I'm actually a little nervous to be opening shower gifts in front of her.

melb2013

I had never heard of this until I started on TK.  We're not doing it.  I think it's strange.

bburkel

My family has always done gift openings with family.  FI isn't thrilled about the idea.  So, we'll probably have something at our house the day after the wedding for our parents and siblings, if they want to come.  We're just worried about how we're going to keep our gifts safe on the wedding night.  We don't feel comfortable leaving them in a car, so we'll probably end up hauling them to my mom's hotel room.  

Annas2013

We aren't.  My sister or parents will take the gifts home with them until we get back from the honeymoon.  

It's not common around here to open them in front of people, and it's also common to see more actual physical gifts at the wedding.  I'm also not comfortable opening gifts in front of people in general.  

jmozul01

I've never heard of this either. I personally would not want to do it because I know that I get bored when others are opening gifts (except at baby showers!) so don't want to put others through that.

Sharpschruter22

It is considered rude to open them in front of everyone at the reception.

bburkel

I think I've mentioned this before, but my FMIL claims that back when they got married in the early 70s, it was customary to assign someone to open your gifts for you and display them at the reception.  Glad that tradition isn't around anymore!

turtleslove

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_is-anyone-doing-a-formal-gift-opening?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:7c93ac59-54f1-4cfa-835d-8bbd34e08c17Post:0bf9db60-c59c-4032-88b6-d2c0d470dbf5">Re: Is anyone doing a formal gift opening?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think I've mentioned this before, but my FMIL claims that back when they got married in the early 70s, it was customary to assign someone to open your gifts for you and display them at the reception.  Glad that tradition isn't around anymore!
Posted by bburkel[/QUOTE]

AMEN! How weird and tacky!

unclaimedpants

I've been to a few, always after brunch the day after the wedding. One was laid back and I actually had fun-- it was like a shower without the games. (it was laid back enough that we all made fun of the really strange great aunt gifts and nobody got offended).

We won't do anything planned, but I'd be fine with my parents or bridesmaids being there...heck, they can take notes and manage the trash!

beckyh77

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_may-2013-weddings_is-anyone-doing-a-formal-gift-opening?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:ea657a87-d1dc-4588-999f-31c9deeef720Discussion:7c93ac59-54f1-4cfa-835d-8bbd34e08c17Post:5c252785-e39b-4f97-88ae-20330a9acd2b">Re: Is anyone doing a formal gift opening?</a>:
[QUOTE]My family has always done gift openings with family.  FI isn't thrilled about the idea.  So, we'll probably have something at our house the day after the wedding for our parents and siblings, if they want to come.  We're just worried about how we're going to keep our gifts safe on the wedding night.  We don't feel comfortable leaving them in a car, so we'll probably end up hauling them to my mom's hotel room.  
Posted by bburkel[/QUOTE]



There was a theft near PEC earlier this year in October. I guess they were being watched loading gifts into the car and were followed to the hotel ramp. That creeps me out!!

HoneyBunny13

We aren't. Our flight leaves before 10am the day after the wedding, so we won't be opening anything until after we get back. I haven't even decided if I'll be having my parents keep the gifts at their house or take them back to our apartment. I haven't actually known anyone who's ever done this.

SSaltzman87

My mom's brought up doing one, but I too feel uncomfortable with the idea. When both of my cousins got married they did one, but it was super casual more of a next morning brunch kind of deal.

VJones1981

We are not. We are leaving the following day for our honeymoon. Our plan is to open any cards we may get and deposit any money we may receive before we leave. We are doing that mostly because we will be out of the country for 2 weeks and don't want to leave anyone waiting for checks to clear. I think FMIL would love for us to bring any physical gifts over to their house to open, but hope we don't have to. She insisted we bring gifts we received at the engagement party over to open them, it was a pain to have to put everything in and out of the car a few times. Lol. I also don't really like opening gifts in front of others.