Wedding gift spat spirals out of control after bride demands to see receipt

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I always enjoy the looks on southerner's faces when they order tea at a restaurant that doesn't serve Sweet Tea and they take that first sip...

 
I always enjoy the looks on southerner's faces when they order tea at a restaurant that doesn't serve Sweet Tea and they take that first sip...


I have seen that face before! Believe it or not, there are restaurants down here that serve unsweetened tea unless you ask for sweet. They are sobs of a high and aggravated nature.

I'm one of those rare southerners who can drink tea hot or cold, sweetened or unsweetened.

By far I prefer ice cold sweet tea.

 
RG's comments remind me of this:

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Went to a friend's wedding last August and didn't get a thank you card until January. I thought that was pretty ridiculous.

 
My family has a bad habit of going out to buy the thank you cards, get about half way through filling them out, then completely forgetting about them. Personally, I think a thank-you card is only warranted if you don't open the present with the giver right there (like at a wedding where you open the gifts afterwards). If you're standing next to me when I open your gift, I will tell you thanks on the spot.

 
we got married young and poor, we got towels, toasters, plates, forks, kitchen ****, bathroom ****, etc, and we were damn happy to get it, we received very little cash.. we wrote thank you cards after the honey moon, maybe that's just a southern thing...

I still laugh when I go to a typical modern wedding where the bride and groom are already well into their careers, make good money, most of the times one of them already owns a house, and then listen to some preacher talk about how difficult it is to "start out" in a marriage.. what I remember the difficult part was being on the "roman noodles every night for dinner cause you HAD to...."
This as well. I was still in college and my wife was just graduated with an arts degree from a private school (marriage gave me a second set of student loans...)

Ramen was a way of life for a little while :)

 
<--- still eats Ramen on a fairly regular basis. Not because I have to, but because it has become a comfort food.

 
we got married young and poor, we got towels, toasters, plates, forks, kitchen ****, bathroom ****, etc, and we were damn happy to get it, we received very little cash.. we wrote thank you cards after the honey moon, maybe that's just a southern thing...
This.
+2. We still get excited about getting towels as presents.

 
In addition to manners the brides need to take a math class. 210*$150 =$31500. She says the cost of the wedding was $34000. They're still in the hole. ( pun intended). Then she says "I lost out on $200 covering you and your dates plates...". That would be a total cost of $21000 not $34k.

The brides are complete d-bags. Now I would not be overwhelmed if someone gave me that "gift basket", it is pretty cheap, but the brides should have just let it go.

Way back at my wedding (which was in April 28 blissful years ago), I invited my boss and his wife. I had been working there about a year and a half at the time. He did not give a gift at the wedding but Emily Post says you have a year to give a gift. Around November he gave us a Waterford "our first Christmas" Christmas ornament. I thought it was pretty cheap but what are you going to do? We sent a thank you card and called it a day.

Just out of curiosity what do you guys think us the going rate for a wedding these days? Say friend or extended family (not close or immediate family). $50, 75, 100/ head? More?

What about high school or college graduation?

 
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I'm going to my cousin's wedding today. Idk how much it costs but I do know she invited around 300 people many of which are her parents church friends, distant relatives etc. If I get married, I'll just invite close family and EB.com members.

 
It is NOT the price of the gift, but the THOUGHT that you gave a gift that counts, at least in my mind. I think that it depends on how well/how close you know the couple getting married. If I am REAL CLOSE to the couple or their parents, that is one thing, however, if not, then a $25-50 gift is fine, at least in my mind.

I attended my nephew's wedding 3 years ago, spent $1700 to go (flight, hotel, change reservationis because their hotel goofed up their reservation for the day of the wedding, etc) and never received anything, no thank-you, no note, no nothing. I called the little ******* and asked if he got my check ($150-- I hand delivered it)-- he suggested that I check with the bank, like it was my problem. Yes, the check cleared the bank. I called him because I wanted to guilt him into a thank you note-- no way. Guess who is out of the will?

I am waiting on a thank you note right now-- it has been 8 weeks-- I do not know the kid, worked with his dad 30 years ago in the Air Force-- and have gotten an invitation to every one of their kids weddings. Yes, I sent $50 to every one of them, this one included.

Color me old fashioned, however, I expect a thank you note. Nothing fancy, however, something that says, "We appreciate what you did, Thanks." Don't think that is too much to expect, after I either send money or a gift???

 
I'm wondering if there is any point in telling the clueless rude ingrates about thier lack of manners and the resultant lack of future generosity, or is that a waste of time and effort?

 
If it is a close friend, we typically do $50 for each of us (the wife and I). If it's someone we don't know, maybe a little less or just something simple from the registry. Agree with all the comments on thank you notes being common courtesy.

we eat ramen noodles without the seasoning packet quite frequently for some asain inspired dishes.
+1. The seasoning packets have all kinds of junk in them anyway. I would make chicken bouillon with the noodles instead of using the packet if I wanted to make soup with it.

 
We did not keep score on who gave us what. We paid for the wedding fair and square. In fact, a close friend left a basket on the porch that we saw when we got home from the reception. It had wine and other goodies and I thought it was really sweet that she left it there. My husband was in a fraternity, so we also received a card that said, "This is better than a toaster," and was filled with random bills that you could tell they had just combined and thrown together.

Keeping track is like having people buy tickets to a party they didn't really want to go to anyway.

 
A friend of mine who got married in his native Taiwan said he didn't invite a lot of his friends since he felt bad they would be compelled to give him monetary gifts, while he hadn't done the same since he wasn't able to attend their weddings. IMO these social customs sometimes ruin what's really important (being able to celebrate with loved ones), but that's life I guess.

 
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