Wedding Etiquette for Men

Gentlemen, does it seem as if all your friends are getting married? Are you receiving a wedding invitation nearly every week? Joe is getting married on the beach; Susie is having a formal wedding in a cathedral. What is expected when you attend these weddings? How should you dress? What should you not do?

These questions and more have been answered in an article, How to Behave at Weddings, published by AskMen.com and found at http://www.askmen.com/money/how_to_150/195_how_to.html The article provides recommendations for responding to a wedding invitation, choosing a gift, and goes into ceremony and reception etiquette. The author does a good job of covering the issues with one exception. He states that gifts be chosen as follows:

"The rule of thumb is to give the equivalent of the cost of your meal, so if you're attending as a couple, double the amount."

That information is inaccurate. Gifts are chosen on the basis of your budget and how well you know the bride or groom. You would give your cousin or close friend a more expensive gift than you would give a casual work acquaintance. To try to guess the cost of the meal is tacky and assumes that you will not take the time to choose a gift in advance, but will stuff bills into an envelope after dinner. To try to find out in advance how much the meal will cost is the height of rudeness and is just plain nosy.

That said, the article is worth a read by both men and women, who will also gain ideas from it.