What's a suitable price tag for a royal wedding gift? [Poll]
Kate Middleton and Prince William have famously asked their wedding guests to donate to some favorite charities instead giving the royal couple gifts off a registry.
While that is generous and practical (what do you get a prince anyway?), can a guest really show up empty-handed? And either way, how much should a guest spend? We asked an expert:
"Typically when people are invited to a wedding it does involve travel and airfare and expenditures," says Lisa Gaché, manners expert and chief executive of Beverly Hills Manners. "For this kind of a wedding -- for any kind of a royal wedding -- it is considered a great honor. In order to show or convey respect and that gracious feeling for being invited, the ante is a bit more."
Gaché would put the sticker price at $500, what she called "a nice investment while not breaking the bank." Or, she says, you could get off a little cheaper by giving a gift with a personal touch.
"I just read that as a gift, George Michael is performing a song for the happy couple and that there is also a Royal Wedding Charity Fund. ... [T]hese two types of gifts fall under the category of getting to know the couple and presenting them with a special gift they would truly enjoy," she said.
"If you cannot offer something creative and unique such as a live performance, then the charity option is an excellent opportunity for guests to contribute their support monetarily. In this case, I believe a $500 donation would be considered generous."
Do you agree that $500 is an appropriate gesture in honor of Kate and her prince?
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-- Whitney Friedlander
Photo: Prince William and Kate Middleton, photographed soon after their fall 2010 engagement. Credit: Mario Testino / AFP / Getty Images
every royal should have an orb and a scepter in their throne room, and as a royal myself, i would be happy to give them replicas of mine. my orb is a roll of john paper, and my scepter is the plunger.
Posted by: prince bruce | Apr 23, 2011 at 10:49 PM
The best gift the world could give would be to depose the royal family and the government.
Posted by: smdahl | Apr 24, 2011 at 06:24 PM
I don't think the royals should accept wedding gifts - or any other gifts.
The are already given what is far and beyond anything that regular people would even dream of - They should have more class that to accept gifts - and it should be part of portocol. - just normally known information that they are above accepting gifts from their guests.
Posted by: Woody McBreairty | Apr 24, 2011 at 09:33 PM
If Prince William and his beloved really want to let their wedding guests off the gift list, they should make a formal announcesment, "No Gifts." To ignore this royal proclamation would be the ultimate faux pas.
Posted by: claudine willis | Apr 26, 2011 at 08:31 AM
Zip! Nada! Nothing! That is the appropriate 'gift'.
I will never understand pathetic humanity at its worse.
The media stuff's your little heads with this drivel, and on queue you weirdo’s drop to your knees and grovel, bow and scrape the pavement before this pretentiousness. get a real life!
and PS: she's hot, and he looks as dim-bulb punkey as the rest of his clan.
Posted by: NorthValleyJoe | Apr 26, 2011 at 01:12 PM