What should you give the bride and groom?
In the UK, it’s usual for the bride and groom to prepare a list of domestic items of varying cost that they would like friends – and especially guests at the wedding – to purchase for them. This has now become so organised that usually the list is accessible online and often associated with a particular department store or company.
Many cultures find this arrangement very odd and it seems that, even here in Britain, the practice is being questioned [see this article]. The alternative to gifts is, of course, money and in many cultures the giving of money in various means is the standard arrangement.
I’ve just returned from a trip to China which ended with my wife and I attending a traditional Chinese wedding where we – like all the other guests – gave the bride and groom cash in a special red envelope [account of the wedding here].