Danette Kenneth Photography: 2011

Brides and Grooms out there, beware of the suspicious guest(s) at your reception!

What's becoming a highly popular subject with thieves - stealing wedding gifts - it's on the rise, and YOUR WEDDING could be their next target!!!

Though it's unpleasant to think you're vulnerable at your own reception, the reality is that a wedding crasher or staff member can all-too-easily get away with stealing your gifts when everyone else is distracted and having fun.

Sad to say, this happened at my own wedding. We had cards and gifts stolen, that totalled up to being over $1200 missing and gone. :(

Prevention tips - my top 3 suggestions, followed by other tips:

1) Create an Online Registry: Have the presents sent directly to your house. The BEST way to prevent your gifts being stolen, is to get the word out and about that you prefer gifts to be sent/delivered to your home, or your parents' home(s).

2) Place your Gift table far away from any exits: It may seem out of place, but I suggest to place it near your cake table - somewhere where it'll be closely watched! This also makes it more difficult for someone to walk up and steal the gifts!

3) Hire Security: If you are expecting 200+ guests to attend your reception, or you are having it in a high-traffic place, take into consideration to hire a Security guard. This will prevent possibly theft, and he's also there to help control those rowdy drinkers, that may decide that your reception should be a drunk-fest! :(

Other tips:

A) You can forgo having a gift table all together. Make sure to make note of this in your invites - that guests may either hand their cards directly to you (at reception), or mail their cards/gifts to your home, or noted address.

B) Ask a close friend or relative to be the gift attendant, and make sure they do their job, by placing all gifts in a secure locked room, or trunk of car, distant from the reception.

C) Consider buying Wedding Insurance. This will cover, should any gifts get stolen - but make sure to report your stolen wedding gifts immediately!!! (This was something we didn't do, because we didn't open up all our gifts until after a couple days after our wedding!).

D) Open your gifts at the end of the reception. Make note of this in your invitations, that you'll be having a gift opening after all the celebrating - invite guests to stay for the fun!

And should you spot a wedding crasher/thief, make sure you're not nicey-nicey to them. Alert family members to keep an eye on them, have someone tell them to leave and/or call the police.

If this happens to you, please report it to the authorities IMMEDIATELY. Unfortunately, we didn't do this, but wish we would have! Contact the reception site manager to see if they found any gifts and/or if their security camera system (if any) picked up any unusal looking guests.

The toughest part will be when you're about to send out Thank You notes to your guests. It will be hard to explain the situation to them, not knowing if they got a gift for you/what they purchased for you. Send handwritten notes to each one of them, thanking them for their attendance at your wedding and helping to share the joy with you both. We found this part to be extremely hard for us. Be prepared to answer plenty of questions, should you both decide that you want to tell your guests about the situation.