- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee Blog
(That’s my attempt at a funny but dirty title.)
But yeah, my box is sealed. The card box, that is.
People tend to bring cards to weddings, many of which include generous items like gift cards, cash, and checks. Ideally, these lovely items go in a box, of course. And many of you bees, including Mrs. Cola, have been very creative with your card boxes, it turns out! A September ‘09 bride pal used an old mailbox, and, true to her DIY nature, added special touches like a “special delivery” sign on it. A friend’s sis used a little white birdcage from the craft store. Kinda like these:
Source: Trash2Treasure
This same friend took steps to cover the holes in said birdcage with wedding-colored paper to dissuade any sticky fingers from finding their way into the gifts. Sticky fingers, I asked?! But they’re guests! Bummer alert: she went to a wedding once where someone stole the card box. Straight-up stole it. And didn’t return it after pleas on the microphone to give it back, even anonymously.
Sadly, it seems to happen more often than I thought, to varying degrees. Most wedding venues, be it hotel, public building, or banquet hall, are pretty easy to wander into unless you spring for security. So, since our card box looks more like this:
Source: Self-Sufficient Urbanite
…I decided a top, some hinges, and one of our luggage locks would be just the ticket. We might even tether it to the table, if we can find a not-ugly way to do it. The handy Mr. Taco is on it.
They say locks just keep an honest person honest, right? Is security of any kind (for your gifts, your cards, or, dare I say, against a persona non grata) an issue at your wedding? As a guest, would you be offended by measures to keep everything private?
I wouldn’t be offended at all. I have seen all kinds of card boxes, even a card box attendant.
I just posted these same questions on my blog yesterday. Part of me is so trusting, but I’ve been to two wedding now where things have been stolen (not the card boxes, thank god). I definitely wouldn’t be offended as a guest in seeing a secure card box.
I still say all cards should go straight to the fathers of the bride and groom to be passed on at the end of the night. My mom has told me a million times that all cards went to her father and at the end of the night he took all the cash out of them and gave it to my dad for their honeymoon spending money. Checks went in the bank when they got back. And I don’t think they did gift cards so much in 1987 haha.
is it hotel staff that you think would take it? i would feel uncomfortable as a guest if the bride thought that one of her guests would rob her . .
Well that’s a scary thing to think about. How sad that we live in a society where we have to lock our card boxes and chain them to a table to keep our guests (or any random person for that matter) from stealing. I was considering a card box attendant but I don’t really want to stick any of my buddies with the lame task of standing next to a table guarding a box all night. Maybe I should start thinking of a way to tether it to the table…
I’ve also been thinking about this. The only solution I’ve come up with so far is arranging the card/gift table in a highly visible area - so that anyone even considering crooked behavior would reconsider. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the safety of your cards. And I wouldn’t be at all offended if I was a guest and saw this.
I ended up not doing anything and it was fine (our gift table was even kind of near the exit, which made me nervous, but we just ran out of time to come up with something better), but one thing I was considering was putting a couple of bricks inside the card box. That way the box would become much heavier and harder to just casually stroll out the door with, and the security measure would not be visible to the guests.
That said, I would not be offended by it being strapped down or something. t’s not that far-fetched to think that someone - not your guests or the staff, just someone who knows that people give away a lot of money at weddings - would wander in unnoticed and slip out with an easy-to-carry box.
We had some cards lifted from our card box (which was basically just an open box). I had wanted to cut a hole into the lid for dropping cards in, but we just ran out of time, and I didn’t think it would be a problem. Well, turns out it actually was a problem. We’re not missing a ton of cards, but now there’s also the awkward guessing game of figuring out whether or not someone gave us a gift that was stolen or gave us no gift at all.
we had a whicker box that i tied the lid shut with ribbon and just left a small gap, once all the guests had arrived my mom safely tucked it away
We are actually REQUIRED to hire security by our venue. However it’ll be an appropriately dressed police officer so I don’t think it will be too obvious. I kind of like knowing we’ll have someone there in case of any problems.
we attached bells on our cardbox. if anyone took it I think people would have heard them.
we also had my godparents watch the gift table. and immediately after dinner they brought all the gifts and the cardbox to a safer location.
We’ll probably have the card table close to us so anyone who would think to take it would have to walk across the dance floor or through a crowded area to do that. Plus, FI’s BM and many of his GMs are cops, so if anyone did try anything they’d be on it!
half our wedding is law enforcement so if someone wants to come in and try and steal something - they do so at their own peril. i would looooove to see someone try and make off with the gift card box - would be kinda fun to see 20+ people chase after him with guns LOL
We removed our cardbox after everyone had been seated for dinner so that it wasn’t unattended throughout the evening.
hmm I havent really thought about this yet…maybe I should! I’ll probably just have my mum whisk it away to a safe place after everyone has arrived….but I like the bricks idea lol 
If it make you feel better, I laughed out loud at the title. But I also have a pretty dirty mind!
I’m struggling with what to do about the whole cardbox issue. No one will be able to get into our venue from outside during the ceremony - and afterward, I’m having the cardbox put away. I wasn’t concerned about it being messed with but people keep bringing up this issue and asking me my opinion on it.
I’m think I’m going to leave it open a crack and make sure it only opens partway.
Wow, isn’t it shockin’ sad to even have to think about things like this!
Nobody here actually uses card boxes, even though pretty much everyone gives cash gifts nowadays. Everybody just hands cards to usually the best man, or either set of parents, or anybody obviously in the bridal party, and they then pass them on to the hotel safe. So sad.
hmmm. Now I don’t know. I showed my pre-FI the “card monster” idea, and he totally fell for it. But with that design, there’s no good way to keep the cards away from someone with said sticky fingers.
Ugh, I haven’t even thought about that yet! I know that as a guest I would not be offended in the least to see some sort of security, though!
I think this is one of the things I like about Vietnamese tradition. Usually the bride and groom have to make rounds to all the tables and that is how they get their gift which are usually cards.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Mrs. Taco, San Francisco Age and Occupation: 29, writer/editor Fiance's Age and Occupation: 37, editor Engagement Date: May 13, 2009 Wedding Date: August 2010 Venue: The Green Room at the War Memorial Veterans Building About Me: I like laughing and talking with good friends over good food and good drink, be it wine, cocktail, or brew. I write and edit things for fun and profit, but I rarely "write" these days without a keyboard and high-speed internets. Favorites include Mr. Taco, my Boston terrier, San Francisco, getting out of town, and the Roaring ’20s. I was kind-of planning a wedding since roughly 2006, when I discovered "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" on the WE channel. I ran and didn't look back with a theme I called "urban vintage," and it culminated in the most magical day a taco could ask for.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
Latest Gallery Pics