In 2018, the average cost of a wedding in the UK reached £32,273 - a truly eye-watering amount for most couples!

If you are just at the beginning of your wedding planning journey, that figure may well be daunting as well as scary! Even if you don't voice it out loud, you can be forgiven for thinking "would it be rude to ask our guests to contribute towards the cost of our wedding?"

The answer, I'm afraid, isn't a simple one!

Most couples would be horrified at the thought of asking guests to pay towards their wedding. In fact many couples feel uncomfortable mentioning gifts at all. In the past few years, the news seems to be filled with one horror story after another regarding this very subject . Remember the Bride and Groom who tried to CrowdFund for their perfect wedding or the Bride who demanded their guests pay $3,000 to attend so its understandable if you want to steer clear of this clearly divisive subject.

The fact remains, however, that most guests WANT and EXPECT to provide a gift. Although it is completely unacceptable to ask guests to pay towards the cost of the wedding itself (this is a celebration after all, not a ticketed event!), there are ways that you can subtly ask for gifts that will specifically be useful. So what, realistically, are your options? Lets start by looking at the place of the traditional gift list.

Traditional Gift Registry 

The days of the traditional gift list registry are pretty much numbered! Most modern-day couples have already set up their own homes and may have even started their own families. As such, traditional gift lists are becoming obsolete as couples no longer need to ask for a gravy boat or a 24-piece crockery set! Larger stores such as John Lewis still offer gift list services but they are few and far between with most couples not wanting to restrict their gift list to just one location.

Online Gift List Service

Online sites such as Prezola specialise in providing a modern approach to the gift list. Couples can choose from over 50,000 gifts with hundreds of different brands to choose from. You can even upgrade your account to enable you to add cash gifts and honeymoon funds which can help you out immediately following the wedding.

Honeymoon Fund

If you decide that you would like your guests to contribute towards your honeymoon fund then take a look at this list compiled by Brides Magazine. It lists their top suggestions for honeymoon registry sites with many of them allowing guests to contribute towards specific items such as airline tickets, days out, romantic meals and more.

Cash

This is a tricky one. There isn't really a polite way to say "we'd prefer cash" although there does seem to be division as to whether it is acceptable etiquette to do so. In fact, wedding website Hitched asked guests what they really thought about being asked for cash gifts and the responses were definitely interesting with the majority agreeing that it felt impersonal. What is evident, however, is that if you are determined to ask your guests for cash, they would appreciate to know where it would be spent - if it is for white goods for the kitchen or a new shed, most people would happily provide cash. If, on the other hand, you want to splash out on Louboutin shoes and Mulberry handbags, your guests probably won't appreciate it! In fact, sites such as Zank You allow you to specify what you want to purchase with guests transferring money into your wedding account to cover the cost of a particular gift.

Contributions towards your Photography

If you don't like the idea of asking for cash and feel like contributions towards a honeymoon are also too much, then there is an alternative. Why not ask your guests to contribute towards your everlasting memories instead?

My "Gifted Memories" photography package has been created with this is mind. By requesting that guests contribute towards the photography costs, they are providing you with the gift of everlasting memories. This package also includes a personalised frame which contains messages from everyone who has contributed. Contributions start from as little as £25 but, the best thing is, the breakdown of the amount contributed is not revealed so your guests won't feel pressurised to contribute large amounts if they don't want to.

There are lots of other benefits to choosing this package, both for you and your guests, so if you want to find out more, please take a look at this page