Beware of Wedding Gift Thieves Spoiling Your Big Day

The last thing a newlywed couple thinks about on their wedding day is some wedding gift thief sneaking into their reception, and pilfering the gifts their friends and family have given in love. Unfortunately, it happens too often for newly engaged couples not to be informed or take action. There are several tactics newlyweds can employ to foil wedding gift bandits, forcing them to leave empty-handed.

Wedding gift thieves come in all types. Sometimes it's an unscrupulous employee from the wedding venue. It could be a seedy contractor hired by the wedding party. It could also be a stranger, who wandered into your event. Lastly, it might be a professional wedding crasher committing robbery. How they operate is simple. The thieves not employed by the wedding party or the venue usually infiltrate a wedding dressed for the occasion. They might even talk to the wedding guests and to the newlyweds. The newlyweds might even see them in the background in pictures. They seek to steal wedding envelopes, cell phones, cameras, and any items they can inconspicuously cart away.

Wedding gift thievery isn't a new concept or a product of the economy. In 1979, newlyweds were alerted to a wedding gift thief when a trail of personal checks written to the bride and groom was discovered outside their Holiday Inn reception site. The wedding gift thief wants cash, and will often leave checks behind. One couple, who married in July 2009, suspected that they were light on wedding cards from their collection box. When their reception venue reopened, they traveled there to discover 31 cards and envelopes in the trashcan in the ladies' room. Personal checks from some of those cards had also been found in the trash bin.

While no couple can completely bandit-proof their wedding, they can take some proactive steps to make it harder for the wedding gift thief to make off with their wedding loot. Some people advise wedding insurance, but if you're having a small wedding, the insurance cost might amount to the cost of the stolen gifts. For example, the couple in the last scenario estimated that they'd lost $400 in cash and gifts. Wedding insurance can cost $150 to $500 and more, depending upon the wedding size. So weigh your needs, and purchase the insurance if it's practical, but still take these precautions to keep you from having to file for a wedding insurance claim:

Don't publicly announce your wedding date and venues. Professional thieves, who are even cunning enough to show up in your bridal colors, probably look for wedding announcements in the paper, in church bulletins, or online. If you plan to use any of these media to announce your wedding, remember to stay vague about specific details that only your wedding guests need to know. The public doesn't need the exact date, time, or venue for the wedding or the reception. Keep this in mind even if you're posting on your own personal wedding website or a social forum like MySpace. Simply put on those forums to check their invitation or call you for details.

Deter guests from bringing gifts and cash to the reception. You might consider writing something that tells your guests about the potential for wedding gift theft, and advise them to never leave their belongings or wedding gifts and cards unattended. If you register your gifts, you can specify that the gifts be mailed to a certain address, and not brought to the reception site. Some guests insist upon taking their gifts to the actual event, but requesting that gifts be shipped cuts down the number of packages to keep track of at the event.

Set the gift table up in a secure location. Never put your gift table near entrances or exits. Placing it near the entrance is convenient because guests sign the guest book and drop off their gift. However, it's equally convenient for a wedding gift thief to slip items off the table, and leave. Ask the venue if they have a lockable room to store the gifts in. Choose a location for your gift table that won't cause it to be so far out of the action that no one sees what someone standing by it is doing.

If you have room for it, you might consider placing the gift table behind the bride and groom dais, or in the area right in front of it. That way, guests take their gifts to the newlyweds, take a picture with them or greet them, or sign the guest book at the same time. To put the gifts in front of the dais, you might need to have the dais on a raised platform and the gifts on the floor in front. If that's not possible, consider putting a bench or two in front of the dais, but make sure whatever you use doesn't obstruct the newlywed's view.

Designate a gift attendant. Choose two or three people you really trust to be your gift attendant. You need more than one, because depending upon the length of the event, the attendants will need to take turns watching the gifts. Show the attendees news articles about wedding gift thieves to help them understand the seriousness of the matter. Your gift attendants should also be responsible for transporting the gifts to your home or whatever secure place you desire until your return from your honeymoon.

If you have a large wedding, you definitely should consider the wedding insurance and hiring private security for your function. Don't forget to check that the wedding insurance covers theft and theft of cash in particular. It might be a good idea to have a guest list at your reception, and to deny access to anyone not on the list. Wedding gift thieves can strike whether you're holding your wedding reception at a fancy hotel or in someone's backyard, but you can do your part to foil these dastardly wedding crashers before they ruin your big day.

Sources:

Gifts stolen at Madison Wedding

What Wedding Insurance Might Cover

Trail of Gifts in Wedding Theft

Wedding Gift Thief Take His Own Picture