gifts for groom : I would recommend something like that. Very laid back, notify those youwant there by word of mouth. I think you inlaws hosting it sounds great.We had a very good time.My FBIL and FSIL took their honeymoon a week after their wedding and highly recommend it. They got all their thank-yous done, rested up from the wedding, and were relaxed and happy on their honeymoon. The day after the wedding, his family (with me included) gathered at his sister's house to watch them opengifts. We had a terrific time. In contrast, I have a cousin who left on her honey-moon the night of the wedding. Her sister opened all her gifts, packed them safelyand sent them to her home. I would much prefer the former experience in my own wedding. Another advantage: if you open the gifts right away, you know immediately what you recieved, and will know when you return if anything is missing.I first saw this done at my best friend's wedding years ago, and decided I'd want to do it too. So, my parents hosted an informal brunch the day after our wedding (3 years ago), and everyone thought it was great. Both my husband and I had a ton of out-of-town/out-of-country family and friends who came for the wedding, and it seemed a shame for us to leave to leave right as the *whole* family finally got together (this was actually the closest we've come to having a true family reunion, since our family is spread so far)! And we definitely enjoyed having a few days to 'recover' from the festivities (; , before we left on our honeymoon, so that we could *really* enjoy it.
gifts for groom : I wouldn't recommend doing it the same day as the wedding though -- I think that could be a little much to pack into one day. Our wedding/reception was on a Saturday, and then we had a very casual light brunch (catered locally, so my Mom would be able to relax too!) at my parents house the next day, where we all talked and took pictures and really visited with everyone, and then opened gifts. We had brought back many of the floral decorations from the church/reception to the house, so it looked *really* festive with very little effort on my parents part. My dad and MoH picked me and my husband up from the hotel that morning in the old family car decorated with tin cans and streamers and balloons, etc., and we were bombarded with birdseed and confetti when we got to my parents house. (: I don't think the gift opening has to be a *major ceremony* or anything -- we just had the gifts in my parents living room, and after finishing eating we opened them, and anyone who wanted to watched. It doesn't have to be *painful* at all (as I've read in other posts) -- there's no need to spend 20 minutes opening each gift(!), and I wouldn't want to read cards out loud anyway; those are personal messages to the bridal couple. Everybody really enjoyed it, including me and my new husband (kind of like having Christmas in August!), especially the grandma's and aunts who were really into seeing what sort of things we were given.
gifts for groom : We just sent separate, very informal (laser printed on cool paper) invitations, after we got most of our RSVP's back, to the out-of-town guests we wanted to attend (I think it's good to let people know in advance, since it may affect their travel plans). We also used the relaxation of the brunch to set-up two friends we'd been wanting to get together for years -- *and* they got married this past August, and continued this 'new' gift-opening Sunday brunch tradition, since they'd *enjoyed* ours so much! But that's another story . . . Good luck and have fun -- spreading the festivites out over several days makes for a very relaxed, very good time!I first saw this done at my best friend's wedding years ago, and decided I'd want to do it too. So, my parents hosted an informal brunch the day after our wedding (3 years ago), and everyone thought it was great. Both my husband and I had a ton of out-of-town/out-of-country family and friends who came for the wedding, and it seemed a shame for us to leave to leave right as the *whole* family finally got together (this was actually the closest we've come to having a true family reunion, since our family is spread so far)! And we definitely enjoyed having a few days to 'recover' from the festivities (; , before we left on our honeymoon, so that we could *really* enjoy it.
gifts for groom : I wouldn't recommend doing it the same day as the wedding though -- I think that could be a little much to pack into one day. Our wedding/reception was on a Saturday, and then we had a very casual light brunch (catered locally, so my Mom would be able to relax too!) at my parents house the next day, where we all talked and took pictures and really visited with everyone, and then opened gifts. We had brought back many of the floral decorations from the church/reception to the house, so it looked *really* festive with very little effort on my parents part. My dad and MoH picked me and my husband up from the hotel that morning in the old family car decorated with tin cans and streamers and balloons, etc., and we were bombarded with birdseed and confetti when we got to my parents house. (: I don't think the gift opening has to be a *major ceremony* or anything -- we just had the gifts in my parents living room, and after finishing eating we opened them, and anyone who wanted to watched. It doesn't have to be *painful* at all (as I've read in other posts) -- there's no need to spend 20 minutes opening each gift(!), and I wouldn't want to read cards out loud anyway; those are personal messages to the bridal couple. Everybody really enjoyed it, including me and my new husband (kind of like having Christmas in August!), especially the grandma's and aunts who were really into seeing what sort of things we were given.
gifts for groom : We just sent separate, very informal (laser printed on cool paper) invitations, after we got most of our RSVP's back, to the out-of-town guests we wanted to attend (I think it's good to let people know in advance, since it may affect their travel plans). We also used the relaxation of the brunch to set-up two friends we'd been wanting to get together for years -- *and* they got married this past August, and continued this 'new' gift-opening Sunday brunch tradition, since they'd *enjoyed* ours so much! But that's another story . . . Good luck and have fun -- spreading the festivites out over several days makes for a very relaxed, very good time!I know someone who did the Sunday-brunch thing and I really liked the idea- however, our wedding is on a Sunday, and several of the out-of-townguests (just the close relatives that I know about already, not evencounting most of them yet) are having to catch redeye flights home to getto work/school on Monday. However, we may decide to go home Monday andhave brunch or lunch with whoever's still around and interested - Ken'sfamily is almost all local anyway. (We're spending Sunday night at thereception site.) That would give us a chance to remember the things weforgot to pack! ;-) It'll depend on the departure schedule for the traintrip we're taking as the first part of our honeymoon.
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