What to do when you can't make the wedding...

Sometimes you just can’t be there... whether you’re off travelling the world, have an important prior engagement, or you live in another city.  When you’re invited to a friend’s wedding it is always a sad feeling when you realise it just isn’t feasible for you to make it.

So, what do you do next?

We recommend being as open and honest with the engaged couple as possible. Explain how much you would truly love to be there, but that unfortunately you can’t make it for certain reasons (good, we hope!). If you can do this by phone or video call rather than just in a message, even better.

We also think it’s important to let the bride to be know you have to decline the invitation as quickly as possible. When you’re planning a wedding, budget and the invite list are at the forefront of your mind - it can be a pretty stressful time making sure the right friends and family are included. If you can’t make it, the bride might be able to quickly offer your place to another guest!

An invitation to a wedding is such an honour. We understand you might want to do something special for the bride to be in place of being able to be there in person. Sending a gift to the bride is a great way to recognise the importance of the occasion and your relationship with the bride! The team at Clarence & Co. has created the Bride to Be Gift Box with the New Zealand bride in mind. We wanted to put together a gorgeous and practical present for engaged ladies that they will love and actually use:

Being a local New Zealand company, we can ship your gift for the bride straight to their door without the hassle and cost of international shipping. We also offer a free personalisation service! Write a message telling your girl how much she means to you and upload a photo of the two of you and we’ll include a cute polaroid and a printed card.

If our bridal gift box isn’t quite what you’re looking for, we are also able to customise gift boxes for the engaged lady in your life - just get in touch.

Hopefully these tips have helped you figure out what can be a bit of an awkward situation! If you have any other ideas for friends who can’t be at a wedding, we’d love to hear them - leave your tip in the comments below xo