How To Keep Your Wedding Gifts, Cards and Money Safe At Your Reception


How To Keep Your Wedding Gifts, Cards and Money Safe At Your Reception

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Sad story out of a local couple’s wedding this past Saturday, from NBC10: After tying the knot at a friend’s private home in Springfield Township, Amy and Jason Wright woke up the next morning to find that their gifts and about $10,000 in cash and checks had been stolen. They just assumed that someone had put them all away after the reception, but as it turns out, they were left outside in the tent. The couple had to call all of their guests to find out how much each gave, so that it could all be included in the police report.

Oof.

That got us thinking, though: Short of having, like, an armed guard stationed next to the DJ, how can you make sure that your gifts are under watchful eyes at all times at your wedding?

Come up with a plan ahead of time, says Philly wedding planner Lynda Barness of I DO Wedding Consulting. If you’ve got a wedding planner, then he or she will know who is moving the gifts and where they’ll be at all times—and if you don’t, then you’ll need to put something in place yourself.

The first step, she says, is to make sure that the gift and card table is never unattended. “That means if the party moves from one room or space to another, that the gift table is moved, too.” And it should be someone in particular’s job to do that—whether it’s a parent, friend, or member of the bridal party; they’ll make sure that the table gets moved from the cocktail area to the reception room, so that the table is in a safe place at all times.

That person should then make sure the gifts get collected and transferred somewhere safe at the end of the night, so that there’s no assuming involved. “This means that the gifts are moved to a hotel room, a safe, or even a car’s locked glove compartment or trunk,” says Barness.

Here’s hoping this local couple’s ordeal gets solved—and that it’s the last we hear of something like this.

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