When It Comes to Wedding Gifts, Keep a Register
You can be incredibly close to the bride and groom, but that doesn’t mean you should stray from the roster to give something a little more personal. Recent research shows that this is sending the wrong signals.
Morgan Ward , professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University, says close friends leave the wedding registry for several reasons. They want to show the couple, the world and themselves that they have a special relationship with them. But Ward’s research shows that these signals are actually perceived differently by recipients. NPR social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam explains:
… that close friends do not listen to our preferences because they want to show us that they are close friends. But this is sending us a completely wrong message. We say: you should respect me and what I say what I want, instead of signaling to me that you know what is best for me.
In fact, couples who are about to get married think a lot about the things they need to start a new life. Going beyond those boundaries shows that you don’t care how much time they spent planning, even if you have the best intentions. If you want to do something personal, it’s probably best to do it in addition to what your friends have kindly asked for. You can hear the whole story at the link below.