I've been trying to get myself motivated enough to finish the Wishing Well for our wedding reception, so I thought I'd do a teaser of Wishing Well Inspiration, in the hope that it gets me motivated to finish our one. Our wishing well is more of a bird cage but it still is going to be used as a wishing well. I know that Wishing Wells are highly debatable, thought tacky of, can't believe your asking for money type of things according to Vogue Forums. But I think it is appropriate in our case. We have a lot of people coming from overseas and interstate and who wants to bring a bulky present in your carry on if you've picked up one of those cheap deals to Sydney and are just bringing carry on luggage for the weekend. And also we have been living together in an apartment now for nearly two years and have furnished it just the way we want it.
So no qualms about having a wishing well, and to be honest I really don't care if anyone thinks bad of me for having one, it is more about what is appropriate for us. We aren't going to use the money to pay off the wedding or honeymoon as they are already budgeted and paid for. It will supplement bonus tours while we are on our honeymoon, and we will send a photo or a little note saying that your gift paid for an extra experience that we had on our honeymoon, so thank you very much.
We are not expecting people to put money in our wishing well. We included cards with a wishing well poem on them in our invites saying that you can contribute if you want to, or if not a gift is fine. So really we don't mind either way. We really only want our guests to attend our wedding and have a fantastic time with us. I know that when I go to weddings, and we have two coming up next month, that I'm quite happy to pop $100 in a card for the couple to buy something that they like with. If we couldn't afford $100, it would be $50 and so on. So not a problem for us at all. Saves us lugging a present around the place and having to go to the shops to find one with the busy lives that we have.
Any ways enough of my rant and justification of why I have a Wishing well, plus its bad that I had to justify why I'm having one, but that is the way of today's society. You just do what is right for you.
So here are my inspirations for wishing wells, there are so many beautiful ones out there....
So that is my inspiration for my wishing well. I've just hit a rut in the decorating part of it, so hopefully this post will inspire me to finish it.
Ain't no shame in having a wishing well. At least I don't think so... because we're having one too!
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I know that the etiquette police think it's terribly tacky and so on, but we have attended about 9 weddings in recent years and every SINGLE couple had a wishing well.
They have all been in a similar position to ourselves; having already lived either together or independently for many years and already in possession of everything you could possibly need around the home. I am also really grateful to open an invitation and see a request for cash. It's sure as hell easier than spending weeks agonising over whether the couple will truly like a certain gift or have 12 of them already. Even registries can be tricky. You always want to buy the beautiful gifts and not the "token cheapies"... but don't always want to spend $300-400. Besides, if you use a registry the couple still know precisely how much you spent. I really don't see the difference.
We also have SO little storage space in our apartment that receiving gifts would be potentially a nightmare when it came to housing them. So rather than leave it to chance, we included a little card with our invitations simply saying that we don't need or want anything other than to share their company etc. But that if they wished to honour us with a gift a SMALL contribution towards our honeymoon would help us to create memories that would last a lifetime.
I'll admit I did feel weird sending these. I almost didn't. Until I realised the likelihood of receiving 8 sets of towels and 5 salad bowls if I didn't. Also, most of our guests have requested wishing wells at their own weddings, so no fear of them being "offended".
The only people we didn't send these to were some older family members. If they want to buy us towels, so be it :)
Like you, we've already booked and paid for our honeymoon and intend to buy experiences with whatever we receive from our guests. Special things that we can then specifically thank them for, so they know it went somewhere tangible.
I'm dying to see your finished wishing well! At this stage I think we'll just hire a nice cage from our decorator and I may ask the florist to put a few flowers on it.
Wow, thanks for your comment, it made me definitely feel better about choosing a wishing well. We are in the same type of spot and wouldn't be able to house all the gifts either. We are looking at a house next year but wouldn't be able to store the gifts in the meantime.
DeleteI felt weird about sending the wishing well poems too as I put 50 odd of them together and by the end of it, was almost not wanting to put them in the card as I was hating it. But I'm glad I did, so hopefully it makes it easier for the guests. I've told my sister and grandma not to worry about it, as they asked what it was. So not really fussed as to what happens, just using it really as another decoration for the reception room :)
Our decorator was throwing in a complimentary wooden wishing well, but I kept seeing bird cages everywhere and absolutely loving them, so managed to convince FH that we were going to have a bird cage instead haha.
I'm glad you feel better. Trust me, there are a LOT of people who are very comfortable both requesting a wishing well and receiving the request. I honestly feel that it's becoming more unusual for people NOT to make a similar request these days. I've never received a wedding invitation in the last 10+ years that didn't include either a registry card or a cash request of some sort.
DeleteI don't find the idea of a wishing well any more offensive or crude than registering your wishlist of wedding gifts.
You'll never please everybody... so I think if you work out what works for you both, that's a good starting point :) I'm sure your wishing well will LOOK gorgeous too. I love the bird cages as well... I bet in 20 years we'll be looking at our wedding photos and going "wow, that's so 2012"... but I still love them *laughs*
I don't think there is shame in having a wishing well! I actually prefer going to weddings that have them, because really most people already live together before they get married these days. They have towels, toasters, kettles and all those other 'traditional' sorts of wedding gifts. We are having one at our wedding with a poem that will explain that but of course let people still give gifts if they so choose. Can't wait to see how yours turns out! I've seen such pretty cage ones with little lights on it that just look so pretty.
ReplyDeleteYay, its good to hear others opinions that are the same as mine. It makes it so much easier to give cash than a gift.
DeleteI feel awful when I read the Vogue forum regarding wishing wells. I am having one because we could use the money towards our future house, which will not need registry gifts if it doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteVery Pretty Bird Cage.
Yeah I know what you mean, I felt awful as well when I read the vogue forum thread, its almost like a slanging match against those who are having wishing wells. But in the end, I decided not to read it anymore as it was getting out of control!
DeleteThose Wishing Wells are gorgeous! I love the bird cages just gorgeous!! I think its great, its gives people the easy option and not having to think about a present or worry about having only expensive things left on the gift register. I believe it is a good idea, as most people these days have been living with their partners for awhile, so you really don't need another 2 toasters hehe!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with finishing the wishing well :)