What Makes the Perfect Wedding Gift?

As the great British summer approaches, so too does wedding season. While there can be no guarantee that summer will provide the desired wedding weather, we would like to ensure you can provide the perfect wedding gift.

It is estimated by the team at TRULY that far too many toasters and blenders are gifted to newlyweds each year. With the wedding season beginning, stay away from kitchen appliances and give the bride and groom a gift that won’t be passed onto the neighbours for Christmas with our wedding gift guide.

See Our Favourite Wedding Gift Ideas

Experiences Make the Best Gifts

Harvard marketing professor, Michael Norton, and Elizabeth Dunn, professor of psychology at Vancouver, take the idea of gifting well very seriously. Their book, Happy Money: The New Science of Smarter Spending, posits five steps to spend money in ways that will make you happy.

One of the steps is buying and gifting experiences instead of material things. A new TV provides a thrill at first, but the novelty soon wears off. The vast majority of Britons aspire to own a home, yet research in Happy Money shows that even home ownership and happiness don’t usually correlate – a good experience provides more satisfaction.

Material things, be it that fancy new home, an expensive pen or another toaster, turn out to provide less happiness than experiences, such as a trip to the theatre, a city break or a special meal.

It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. When the bride and groom return from their honeymoon, they don’t have to settle for a life of mundanity. Despite the research, we don’t want to stop them buying a new house but, no matter how big the new home is, it probably won’t need five toasters.

Set them on the path towards happiness instead and give them an experience for their wedding gift.

Provide the Newlyweds with Everlasting Memories

Why do people connect with experience gifts so much more? Because experiences provide lasting memories. Research in Happy Money shows that people value good memories immensely, and will go to extreme lengths to protect them.

Nostalgia born from these good memories is today seen as a kind of existential resource. As Clay Routledge writes, in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, thanks to nostalgia the past can make the present meaningful: if someone feels a sense of meaninglessness, fond memories act as a shield against diminished well-being, increasing vitality and reducing stress.

Of course, it doesn’t require reams of research to understand that good memories are worth having. It’s readily apparent to everyone.

And what better time to embark on creating the best memories than at the beginning of a new life for the newlyweds? The first wonderful memories from the couple’s marriage will be something they cherish for evermore. That has to be the greatest gift imaginable.

Traditional Wedding Gifts Are Outdated

Wedding gift lists began during a period where couples did not usually live together before marriage. The traditional idea of the gift list was that it would provide the newlyweds with what they would need for their new marital home.

Since then, times have changed. A University of Southampton study shows that, in just the last thirty years, the number of people in the UK cohabiting before marriage has risen from 31% to 80%. Couples nowadays live together and furnish their homes before marriage, hence the traditional wedding list becoming outdated.

Back when it was more common for couples to move in only after their wedding, they genuinely needed a toaster. Since this is no longer the case, in recent years wedding lists have changed and evolved. There is more demand for the interesting and the unique.

Step Forward the Minimoon

Some of the newer approaches to wedding lists have included house registry, to help fund a new home, charity registry, donating to worthwhile causes, and universal registry, allowing registrants to place items from a number of different sources on a single list.

Couples have also sought to use wedding gifts as a contribution towards their honeymoon. One of the results of this has been the rise of the ‘minimoon’ – a short break that provides grand experiences.

Instead of one long and overblown trip, the minimoon is a recce on different areas, taking the form of a short, romantic and immersive break. The minimoon coincides with the modern urge to seek to experience different parts of the world  Indeed, some newlyweds have indulged in a series of minimoons over the first year or two of their marriage.

So if you’d like to blow the minds of the special couple, with a gift more valuable, emotionally at least, than an entire kitchen, the minimoon awaits.

Wedding Gift Collection

Luxury Picnic with Wine for Two

Immortalised in British literature from Emma to Women in Love to Wind in the Willows, a luxury picnic is the ideal summer retreat for the bride and groom to one of London’s tranquil royal parks. Enjoy a classic picnic hamper, including a selection of sandwiches, salads, scones with jam and cream, fruit salad and cupcakes, with a house bottle of wine and homemade summer drink.

French Michelin Star Tasting Menu for Two at Club Gascon, London

Treat the newlyweds to a thrilling gastronomic journey with Club Gascon’s stunning Michelin star tasting menu.  The menu is carefully selected by revered head chef Pascal Aussignac, whose Gascony roots are evident in the creative and imaginative dishes he dreams up for his seductive menu.

The food and produce, directly from Gascony, is monitored by Le Comité Rénaissance, who maintain the highest standards of freshness and authenticity. Wine pairing from the restaurant’s expert head sommelier is available to complement the bold and inventive flavours.

Sea View Villa Retreat with Sunset Beach Horse Riding for Two in Andalusia, Spain

Send the newly married couple on a tranquil trip to the southernmost point in Europe: the stunning, unspoilt coast of Andalusia, with its crystal clear sea, golden beaches, romantic sunsets and world-class food and wine. They will stay in the award-winning, luxury sea view Villa Mathesis, with fine dining and sunset horseback beach riding.

Find out more about this sea-view villa minimoon break. 

Or see our entire range of wedding gift experiences.