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Wedding Bills Are Ringing
This is our first (and we hope, only) marriage. My fiancee and I are both in
our thirties, in management jobs, with two full households of nice stuff that
we'll combine after the wedding; hence, there isn't much of interest to
register for. We could, however, use some help with our expenses (reception
and honeymoon), and my fiancee wants a wide-screen TV. Is it appropriate to
ask for appliance warehouse gift certificates or help with the honeymoon? We
hope there's some better option than returning a bunch of toasters. --Groom-To-Be
REGISTERING FOR wedding gifts would make more sense if you and your fiancee
were recent college grads with only a chipped mug and a heating coil between
you. But, now that you're successful thirty-something executives, what gifts
can your friends get you that you don't already have in duplicate --
Tupperware by Hermes? Diamond-encrusted refrigerator magnets? A breadmaker
that comes with Julia Child attached on a little silver leash?
There are, indeed, a number of online sites where you can register for a
honeymoon. Surely, there are appliance warehouses that will let you register
for a wide-screen TV. There might even be a caterer who will make guests dig
into their own pockets to pay for their dinners. But, maybe, just maybe, the
couple with everything shouldn't ask for everything else.
Consider a novel idea: Instead of asking your friends to finance the few
luxuries you still lack, tell them that love is all you need, and ask that
they turn your wedding into a windfall for your favorite charity. At your
reception, thank everybody for their generosity, then take a moment to ponder
what it all means: For just pennies a day, you can buy your way out of
materialism!
Copyright ©2001, Amy Alkon, from her syndicated column, Ask The Advice Goddess, which appears in 60 papers across the U.S. and Canada. All rights reserved.
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