If anyone asks what you want for a wedding present, you might try ‘cash.

June and May is the busiest month for weddings, and a forest’s worth of invitations either already has been mailed or soon will be sent. A lot of couples want money for wedding gifts.

There are formal and informal rules governing gifts of money to help newlyweds. First, the informal rules: Is it OK to ask one’s wedding guests for money?

“It’s not rude to request money as a wedding gift,” says Peggy Post, author of Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette. “However, it’s extremely important to ask politely.”

“If you are asked point-blank what you would like for a gift, you might say, ‘Whatever you choose will be wonderful, I’m sure, but money is on the top of our wish list,’” Post says.

It’s OK to say what it’s for
Go ahead and tell people what you want the money for. Who knows? If you let people know that you plan to spend the money on rather than on a honeymoon in Tuscany, they might be more willing to open their pocketbooks.

Wedding guests who insist on giving you yet another toaster or wicker picnic basket or a set of rosewood corn holders should be thanked anyway, even though they aren’t helping you with what you wanted the money for.

“You should always accept any gift graciously, and remember that the choice of what to give really belongs to the gift giver,” Post says.

We have recently attended a number of weddings, birthday parties and other celebrations. With little time to shop for gifts we resorted to giving cash or gift cards in most cases, but from now on I think I’ll opt for simply giving cash. Here are a few reasons why:

• Cash can be spent anywhere. Unlike gift cards to specific stores, cash can be spent anywhere. I always appreciate receiving a cash gift because I spend it in whatever manner I want. Gift cards and gift certificates do not provide the same flexibility.

• Cash can be used for things other than spending. Depending on what stage you are in of your financial status, it might make sense to hang on to the cash gift, or use it to pay down debt. Newlyweds may be particularly appreciative of cash gifts to cover honeymoon expenses. In fact, cash has become such a popular wedding option in Israel that couples are renting ATMs that allow wedding guests to transfer a sum of money in the newlywed’s bank account with the swipe of a credit or debit card.

• Gift cards may get lost. I am notoriously bad at keeping up with gift cards, and the remaining balances. If I toss the cash gift in a separate envelope I know exactly how much of the gift is left by simply counting the money.

• Giving cash to kids helps reinforce spending lessons. It is true what they say, spending with cash hurts. When you hand over that $20 bill you got in your birthday card and get three pennies back it registers. When you swipe the same amount on a gift card it just doesn’t create the same kind of mental lesson of separating you from your money. What a better time to reinforce this lesson than when kids are young. courtesy indianweddingcard.com