Your wedding gifts will probably start trickling in soon after you send out your first wedding invitations. As you get closer and closer to your wedding date, this trickle turns into a steady stream, and it is exciting to come home from a hard day at the office and open a beautiful package. Most guests will shop from your registry, but there are always some who choose to send you whatever they think you need or would like, no matter how offbeat that is.

Protecting the Gifts

How can we ensure that gifts brought to the reception will be safe? Generally, guests should send gifts to the bride's home. However, many guests do bring gifts to the reception, so you should ask a trusted friend or relative to act as a gift attendant, keeping watch over the gift table. Once the reception is in full swing, she should lock the gifts in a secure room. Also, if the reception is in a hotel, lock any money envelopes in the hotel's safe deposit box. If you're leaving for your honeymoon straight from the reception, have someone take the gifts from the reception site to your home.

Can we exchange duplicate wedding gifts? Of course, but it's a good idea to wait until you've received most or all of your presents before you begin exchanging them; you don't want to exchange a toaster for a cappuccino maker only to get another cappuccino maker a week later. Also, some duplicate gifts are worth keeping — you can always use a few extra glasses or another set of towels.

Not-So-Perfect Gifts

What if we've received gifts that we don't care for? This is a very tricky issue. On one hand, what on earth are you going to do with an oil painting of your uncle's horse? On the other hand, how can you possibly get rid of it when the sender is your fiancé's favorite uncle who stops by once a month? In this case, the easiest solution would be to keep it accessible and take it out whenever this uncle comes over. In cases where the sender is not such a frequent visitor, you can probably get away with returning the gift in question for something a little more in keeping with your taste.

What do we do if we receive damaged gifts? If the gift came through the mail and was insured, let the person who sent it know so that he or she can collect the insurance money. If the gift was not insured or did not come through the mail, try to find the store where the gift was bought and exchange it; don't tell the sender that the gift was damaged. If you're not sure what store the gift came from, try to discreetly find out from the sender where the gift was purchased.