Dan Abel > wrote:

>I went to a wedding a few years back, and didn't know what to get. I
>didn't get anything. At the reception, I was talking to a mutual
>friend, who said, "Well, they're *registered* at XYZ!. That store knows
>exactly what they want and what they've already got.".

Thinking about it, the etiquette stricture against saying
"no gifts required" is partly a ploy by the department
stores. It means, in most cases, you'll be contacting
a department store when you receive any invitation, thus
reeling in business that way. Plus, if gifts are required,
since per etiquett you can't say *that*, as a host you
are more or less obligated to sign on at one or more
department stores, just as a backdoor way of communicating
to guests that you want gifts.

I'm not complaining... I own Macy's debt and made a nice
bit of change out of Nordstrom bonds a few years back.
Thank you Miss Manners!

Steve