Personally, I wouldn't think very much of getting money as a wedding gift. It seems a little tacky.

It'a cultural thing. Some cultures see it as the best possible gift, as the new couple will probably be putting toward something like a house. In my WASPy family it would be Not Done.

I have been MoH once, for my sister. Never a bridesmaid.

I have been to one wedding shower, for my sister. I threw a Bachelorette Party weekend at Foxwoods for her, along with my cousins. It was on the expensive side, and I hope we weren't assholes about it. Man, I forgot about that. Yikes!

I abstained from all shower and bachelorette party experience with my own wedding, 'cause, eloped.

It'a cultural thing. Some cultures see it as the best possible gift, as the new couple will probably be putting toward something like a house.

Or the wedding.

OK, so do I let my Thursday boss know that I've seen the frantic emails, or do I pretend I don't check that account when I'm not there? WHAT TO DO???

But I'll leave it up to tommyrot which is more important. It's his big day on Mars, after all.

Damn straight!

Also, ice on Mars will need to be melted, or else water brought from Earth, so my sweetheart and I can honnymoon in a nice cottage on the shores of a Martian ocean... We'll sail there in a gondola pulled by a genetically-engineered dragon.

"Rove should get a medal".

Proof that "blame the victim" is always a good defense strategy in the neo-con handbook.

Personally, I wouldn't think very much of getting money as a wedding gift. It seems a little tacky.

I've seen it done a lot -- envelopes on the gift table, not like dollar bills stufed down cleavage or something --, so I imagine it's just one of those cultural/familial things.

Of course, I come from a family where I was pleased and amazed to get new tires for my car one Christmas. Different strokes, you know.

"Rove should get a medal".

The You Succeeded in an Image-Driven Business Despite Being Lumpy and Funnylooking Award? The Whitaker Chambers Memorial Backstab Medal?

This is like that thing where somebody gave Antonin Scalia a Freedom of Speech medal. It is a Missing-The-Point Award unto itself.

Heather, job-vibes are coming your way!

It'a cultural thing. Some cultures see it as the best possible gift, as the new couple will probably be putting toward something like a house. In my WASPy family it would be Not Done.

What Robin said. Here, it's not only not-tacky, it's sometimes even taken into account when planning the wedding. So many differences. People are confusing.

Jesse, I have both skipped and skimmed, and therefore I have no advice. Also, I should not even be here right now, and therefore I should post no more today.

re: money at a wedding. I think for the wedding we've got coming up at the end of the month, we'll give a check, and a little thing, like, a cast iron skillet.

My friends are starving artists; I know they want cash. So that's what they'll get!

For the record, the silver chafing dishes appeared at my buffet. I do not recall anyone mentioning them.

I have a wicked urge to hire a stripper to appear at amych's office now. Or possibly her wedding par-tay. Luckily I am a very classy person so I won't. Also, amych knows how to use a sword.

Trudy! In the kitchen at work, there's a box of Jersey Shore saltwater taffy! My co-worker who went on vacation last week did NOT, apparently, go to North Carolina, like I assumed -- she went to Ocean City. The taffy is all soft and perfect. Yum.

I wouldn't do my own makeup, especially given there will be pictures.

Huh. It's certainly possible that I looked like ass in all the pictures of all the weddings I've been in, but it never occurred to me to go get my makeup done professionally. They tend to make me look like a hoor.