To those who are married.

Beachy730 · November 2010

We paid off the credit card balance from our reception, paid a few other cards, and put the rest into savings. In my area wedding gifts are generally monetary gifts, and the shower is where we got mostly wrapped gifts. Plus I think with everyone knowing we were moving cross country right after the wedding we got even more monetary gifts.

georgia_bride09 · November 2010

Our HM was paid for already, but we used what little money we got while we were there. We got a crapton of plates and towels for our wedding.

mandysmear · November 2010

Exactly Emily! We bought a couch on one of those don't pay for a year credit cards with no interest or whatever and just paid it off monthly, but we told our guests that we put the money towards a new couch. Because yeah, people wanna know what you did with their "gift"! Fo sho! And our money is our money... if we put the money towards a couch and then $100 into savings (the payments we would make monthly) what the hell is the difference anyway?

bellebride116 · November 2010

debt & savings

FutureMrsTR · November 2010

We took some cash for our honeymoon, but put most of it into our savings account. It's mixed in with our other savings that we've drawn from to buy things for the apt so I guess we did a combination. We got more money than I would spend on home items and I'm not going to spend it just to spend it so it's staying in savings for now.

tidetravel · November 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_those-married?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:288e764c-21bb-40a1-bcb7-f88fa951f98cPost:9d2bb6ed-ccca-4579-8566-03a116724a61">Re: To those who are married.</a>:
[QUOTE]Thanks Ricks, you too :) We're sig twins? Make out twins? Whatevs :) That's great Tide, glad to hear it. Can you believe you have TWO BABIES in your belly? That's insane. Very exciting. I think if I were to get pregnant with twins, I'd be stoked. One time deal. Done. Taryn's going to be pretty excited I bet. Wait a sec though, are all 3 going to be in diapers at the same time?
Posted by mandysmear[/QUOTE]

It's pretty unbelieveable still. The boy is the more active of the two (surprise, surprise.) I think Taryn's going to be excited when they get a little older, but DH and I both think she's going to be upset when the twins are little. She likes being the center of attention, and when the other two get here, I can forsee a drama queen meltdown.

We're hoping Taryn will be potty-trained by then, but there's a good chance that they'll all be in diapers, at least for a little bit.

mandysmear · November 2010

Oh man, you guys are going to be a busy busy family!

Are you taking any mat leave? You took a little last year right?

tidetravel · November 2010

I was able to take 10 weeks last time, but this time it may only be 6-7. I think I'll only have 8 or so weeks of leave saved up by then, barring anything major happening. Plus, if I'm going to keep my K9, he can't be out of work for more than 60 days, so there's that to consider as well. Basically, I'm just trying to take it one day at a time.

mandysmear · November 2010

Oh I am sure that everything will work out just fine! EEeeeee!

my cousin got her daughter super stoked about her new baby sister by hyping her up. and the baby sister got her big sister a present the day she was born.

mkrupar · November 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_those-married?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:288e764c-21bb-40a1-bcb7-f88fa951f98cPost:0bee7bb0-c259-483b-94c8-0dce55ace38a">Re: To those who are married.</a>:
[QUOTE]Oh I am sure that everything will work out just fine! EEeeeee! my cousin got her daughter super stoked about her new baby sister by hyping her up. and the baby sister got her big sister a present the day she was born.
Posted by mandysmear[/QUOTE]

That's so cute Mandy. I would have never thought of doing that for an older sibling. I don't have kids, but if I ever do I'll remember this.

noodle_oo · November 2010

We got some pretty nice cash gifts. We are using a small amount of it to buy the stuff off our registry that we really wanted (the china and a few other things). I also really wanted that stuff and was bummed our registries were barely used! The rest we put in savings but I think we'll use some to buy furniture for our house (we've been wanting it for a while). But it is also really nice to have a bunch in savings since we paid for the entire wedding ourselves.

MissLeahM · November 2010

We put most of it in savings and then we recently bought some things for the house with it. We put it away and actually kind of forgot about it, so thats cool.

I think we're going to keep adding to it a bit at a time and eventually use some of it to take a trip.

[Deleted User] · November 2010

We bought some things we still wanted off the registry and put the rest towards bills. I wish we would have put it in savings, but paying off some bills isn't a bad thing I guess.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · November 2010

A combination of paying off debt, honeymoon and savings.

Galaxy8227 · November 2010

We had borrowed some money from my parents for our down payment so we payed them back, put some towards home repairs (new roof, windows) and some fun money for each of us.

Pirata13 · November 2010

We did use some for the honeymoon. But we'd had to use some of the money his mom gave us for the HM for things when we moved, but I have the amount and we are putting it back into our savings. We did use a lot to buy things off the registry we didn't get. We got a lot of cash, but we really wanted and needed a lot of those registry items, mostly kitchen stuff. But we love to cook and bake so we really did want to have what we needed for the kitchen. The rest is in the savings account! But a lot that we spent aside from HM spending was to the house/home improvement. We both had our own places for years, so everything we had was kind of old and icky. So there it is.

number55 · November 2010

We spent it all (I don't know what is considered 'a lot' or 'not much'). We bought things on our registry that hadn't been bought and then stuff that we didn't register for but wanted (tv, blue ray player, computers, etc). If we had debt to pay (serious debt, we do have some, but nothing that has to be dealt with right now) we would have paid that off first rather than pay high interest rates. Our HM is hopefully happening in March and is a gift as well but I don't have anything against HM registries. I figure a gift is a gift is a gift. I give cash so people can pick to spend it on w/e they want.

tenofcups4me · November 2010

1st wedding: bought a dining room table and chairs and put the rest in short-term savings -- where it was still sitting when we divorced so we divided it up

2nd wedding to dh -- much smaller wedding and although we got some nice checks, it didn't amount to more than a couple thousand, which got merged into regular spending money

TriSaratops10 · November 2010

Since DH already bought a house (ok, a condo) and we don't really have any debt to speak of we decided to have fun with all the money we got - so we will buy things off the registry (yay for BBB having a 20% complete your registry event soon!) and just generally have fun with the $$

DramaGeek · November 2010

We took some of the cash with us on our honeymoon. We figured we were either going to spend it out of our account or we could spend the cash, and spending the cash was easier.

The rest went to buy registery items we hadn't received, or other house things that we needed. We didn't live together beforehand and H lived at home until the day we got married, so we needed a bunch of stuff- dishes, pots and pans, a microwave, a blender, etc.

lauralaur · November 2010

Some went to the honeymoon since the hotel went on the credit card at check out, some went to pay off H's credit card debt, some went to get stuff off the registries like cookware, I'm not really sure how much was left over after all of that, but we paid off a small personal loan that H had and then, well, we bought a house.

Kristin789 · November 2010

I agree totally with this previous response:
in general I try to spend gift money on something other than just sticking it in savings - my parents always just told me to do that since it's more interesting to get a thank you note that says "thank you so much for the birthday money, I got the boots I've been eyeing" than "thanks for the money, it's still just sitting there as money."

In my circle, here's what everyone does:
You take the exact amount of money that someone gives you, and you buy something that costs exactly that amount of money. They you write the TY telling the giver exactly what you bought with that amount of money.

I would never just throw it in the bank or blow it on the HM, and tell the giver that their specific gift was not important enough to get us something specific that will forever be in our home as a reminder of that giver's commitment to us as a couple.

2dBride · November 2010

We got only one cash gift. Everything else was either boxed gifts or gift cards. Then again, we didn't have any older relatives attending, and they are the ones who normally give cash.

phut_action · November 2010

We just decided the other day on this! We had to reach a compromise because I am a bit of a compulsive spender and wanted to use it for fun, and the FI wanted to use it for debt payments or savings, so heres what we came up with:

1. Pay off my credit card (which I may have already paid off by the wedding if I'm really good and keep up with my payment plan)

Then with whatever is left I want to split 50/50 between fun things and savings. Fun things include:

2. Buy whats left on the registry

3. I really want a road bike for crosstraining. I'm a runner and the only crosstraining i do right now is yoga/pilates, and I really ought to do something else, especially after big races when my knees and ankles are ready to give out.

kjones84 · November 2010

I actually just registered for our Honeymoon through Sandals resorts much to the dismay of my mom and FMIL. I own my own home and live with my fiance. We've lived together for the last 2 years and both lived on our own 4 years before that. We don't really need anything for our house, and the things we registered for are upgrades from stuff we already had.

With over 200 guests invited to the wedding, I felt that we needed more stuff on our registry or we would run the risk of getting stuff we didn't want. I registered for stuff through Sandals, and its not actually a check. They just put a credit on your hotel bill and you can use it for what you want. We're registered for horseback riding, zip lining and rafting, as well as a couples massage and a romantic private dinner on the beach. I feel like its a better Thank You to say we had a great time on that horseback riding trip, thanks for sending us!

anwallette · November 2010

We don't want gifts or money. Instead we picked 4 charities that mean a lot to us both and asked that people donate instead to them.

To those who are married.

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