Maid of Honor gift to bride

Re: Maid of Honor gift to bride

• jmarro12 member

  

  May 2012

  I have to travel across the country for my friends wedding and I am her maid of honor and my husband is actually officiating the wedding. Typically, I would give her $300 as a wedding gift but since we are both flying in and it will cost us approximately $500 for plane tickets and the additional cost of a rental car, is there any specific etiquette about this and how much I should give her. I would love to give her as much as I can but I don't know what we will be able to afford.

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• Lambbop member

  

  May 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_moms-maids_maid-of-honor-gift-to-bride?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:357Discussion:dfb98079-0c43-405f-8412-1cb802b3cdc8Post:13d15e75-f7de-40d7-a5c5-9c5ad4e107da">Maid of Honor gift to bride</a>:
  [QUOTE]<strong>I was under the impression that typically the maid of honor buys the bride her toasting glasses, serving set, garter & guest book.</strong> I am a co-maid of honor in an upcoming wedding and for the past few weddings I have been a maid of honor I have bought these items so I just wanted to make sure I was right. Her mother is very involved so I wanted to give her a heads up just in case she was thinking about buying these items but i wanted to be 100% sure I was right before I reached out to her that the other maid of honor & I were going to get these items together. 
  Posted by jmarro12[/QUOTE]
  
  I have never heard of this....

  

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• GoodLuckBear14 member

  

  May 2012 edited May 2012

  I have never bought any of these items for the bride when I was a MOH nor did my MOH buy any of them for me.
  
  I will also add that our wedding here in Philadelphia was a destination wedding for all but two of our guests.  DH and I didn't expect anyone to get us anything because of what they were already spending.  Most people gave $50 - $100 anyway.  I will tell you that when I was the Best Woman in a D-wedding in Ireland, I did not give a gift.

  Proud to be an old married hag!!

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• Maggie0829 member

  

  May 2012

  I have never heard of the MOH being required to do that.  If you want to buy them for her then that is great but you are most certainly not required to do so.  Anyhoo, a lot of brides like to pick out their own toasting flutes, garter, serving set and guestbook.
  
  As far as a wedding gift goes, there is no set amount, but you should only give what you are comfortable with.  You should never go into debt or make yourself uncomfortable for someone elses wedding.

  
  

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• jmarro12 member

  

  May 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_moms-maids_maid-of-honor-gift-to-bride?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:357Discussion:dfb98079-0c43-405f-8412-1cb802b3cdc8Post:6f186fb3-40b9-4d62-9222-b4ffce17eb16">Re: Maid of Honor gift to bride</a>:
  [QUOTE]I have never bought any of these items for the bride when I was a MOH nor did my MOH buy any of them for me. I will also add that our wedding here in Philadelphia was a destination wedding for all but two of our guests.  DH and I didn't expect anyone to get us anything because of what they were already spending.  Most people gave $50 - $100 anyway.  I will tell you that when I was the Best Woman in a D-wedding in Ireland, I did not give a gift.
  Posted by GoodLuckBear14[/QUOTE]
  
  <div>omg its so weird. i have no idea where i got the idea from but I was 1st a MOH when I was 23 in my friends wedding and I got her all those items so I did it again for my cousins wedding 2 years later when i was her MOH then for my wedding my sister who was my MOH got mine for me so I guess i always just assumed. Thanks for the input on the items as well as the money issue. I appreciate your thoughts!!</div>

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• jmarro12 member

  

  May 2012

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_moms-maids_maid-of-honor-gift-to-bride?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:357Discussion:dfb98079-0c43-405f-8412-1cb802b3cdc8Post:4968463a-7511-4431-9bde-2a397d4887d3">Re: Maid of Honor gift to bride</a>:
  [QUOTE]I have never heard of the MOH being required to do that.  If you want to buy them for her then that is great but you are most certainly not required to do so.  Anyhoo, a lot of brides like to pick out their own toasting flutes, garter, serving set and guestbook. As far as a wedding gift goes, there is no set amount, but you should only give what you are comfortable with.  You should never go into debt or make yourself uncomfortable for someone elses wedding.
  Posted by Maggie0829[/QUOTE]
  
  <div>I don't know where I got this from but I did it for my friends wedding & cousins wedding when I was MOH, but that was 10 years ago and I have no idea where I got the idea from originally now. And for my wedding, my sis, who was my MOH, got mine for me. I picked them out but she told me she wanted to get it for me. I guess it just depends on the bride & groom. Thank you for your input on the items & money situation. I appreciate it!!</div>

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• MairePoppy mod

  

  May 2012

  I don't think there's any rule about who buys those things for the bride. If you know what she likes and want to do it, then go ahead. Keep the receipt and if you find out that someone else has bought them or there is a family heirloom cake knife, or something, that will be handed down, the bride can return them. That means you shouldn't have anything monogrammed.
  
  To answer your other question. The bride knows you are spending a fortune to be in her wedding. She shouldn't expect a gift from you. If you decide to buy the cake set and champagne flutes, that would make a very nice wedding gift from the bms.

                     

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• jemmini6 member

  

  May 2012

  I've never heard of that, and quite frankly, I didn't even use any of those items in my wedding, so it would have been a complete waste of money if my MOH bought them anyways.
  
  Gifts are ALWAYS optional.  You could be Bill Gates and still choose to not give a wedding gift, so just because you are the MOH doesn't mean you have to do anything specific.  In my experience though, the BP usually gives less of a gift due to the expense of being in the wedding in the first place.

  
  

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• getaclue44 member

  

  May 2012

  I had never heard of that either--my MOH has asked if she can buy me my garter, we are using my parents toasting flutes, and we are not using a guest book--signing Red Sox jerseys instead:)

  
  

  
  

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