My big sis did have a shower for gifts... but holy cow there were a TON of presents at her wedding. I brought mine to the wedding itself because I couldn't make the shower. I think they were all going home with her parents for the night.

I didn't even realize that this wasn't the norm until afterwards! *blush* And yes, we did display everything! :)

I remember being a kid and the bride and groom used to open their presents in front of everyone at the reception... does anyone else remember this?
Everyone oohed and aahed and clapped.
It was a lot of fun!

If you were not specifically invited, whoever is bringing you is responsible for the gift.

I wish people had brought our gifts over before the ceremony. I had time to write the notes then. I'm still finishing them now because we had so many at the wedding and I'm trying to catch up :(

We wrote our thank-you cards on the plane on the way to our honeymoon.

We had a spreadsheet (what? I'm a computer geek :p ) with all our guests' names and addresses. As we opened gifts, we filled in what each guest or couple had given. We then printed it out and threw it into one of our carry-on bags along with several packages of thank-you cards. While we were in flight, we wrote out the cards and envelopes.

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We actually did the same thing - it worked out great when we were checking off thank-you notes.

Also, one of the registries kept a list of who bought what and what their addresses were. If we weren't as organized, that would have helped.

Oh, we've got the spreadsheet :) There was just a little while where the harddrive crashed before we could print it so it causd a huge delay.. I'm aiming to have them done by next week!

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I've been to several weddings where there is a pseudo buste at the reception but nothing full on with a la borsa or anything like that.

/edit: A buste is when the bride receives cash filled envelopes from the wedding guests and traditionally they are placed in la borsa (bag).

I actually had this situation a couple of weeks ago. I simply signed my name to the card but didn't contribute. I got the bride something little--you know how brides always like those special gifts. My big sister introduced me to this trend when she got married. She actually got a take-out box menu holder--you have no idea how cool it was(okay im kinda cheesy).I actually got the bride and groom little beanie babies that were bride and groom. She wrote me a nice thank you note saying that they put them in their photo box next to their invitations. Good luck!

If you aren't invited by name, then your date is responsible for the gift. I signed my date's name on the card at the last wedding.

As far as giving money as a gift, its all I've ever known to do. I got called a North Jersey Snob at one sister's wedding because myself and another person from North Jersey were the only 2 people who gave money.

I was also always lead to believe you give money in the amount you believe your dinner is worth, typically $50 per person. Naturally, if its black tie you are supposed to give more than an afternoon buffet.

Plus, if you give cash as a gift, and the couple wants to buy something that they didn't receive from their registry, a lot of places (like Pottery Barn, where I work) will offer some type of "registry closing" discount. Your gift of cash just goes that much further!