VIDEO: How to Give and Wrap a Wedding Present

How to Wrap Wedding Presents -- powered by eHow.com

Gift giving at weddings varies by culture. In some cultures, traditional gifts are rarely given. Instead money in the form of a check or a gift card to a store or a multi-use pre-paid credit card is given in a greeting card to the couple. This gift is given when the couple goes from table to table to greet their guests. The envelopes are generally then turned over to a trusted family member for security.

For other cultures, traditional gifts, often from gift registries, are given.

If possible, traditional gifts should be sent to the bride's home before the wedding so that the couple or someone else from their family or bridal party isn't required to have to transport the gifts from the reception site to the couple's home or a parent's home to await the couple's return from their honeymoon.

However, it's also not unusual for a gift table to be placed in a secure area of the reception venue. When setting up a gift table, but sure that it is placed in an area where a passersby can't just wander in and steal one or more presents.

It's also possible to send the gift to the couple after they are married and back from their honeymoon.

While etiquette says that you have up until a year to give a gift, in reality if you wait any longer than a week or two after the wedding to send a gift, you are putting the couple in an awkward situation should they start unwrapping presents and writing thank you cards. They won't know if you gift was lost or misplaced or if you simply didn't give one.

Gifts can be decorated in many ways, of course. This video shows just one way. Just try to put as much care into how you decorate your package as you did in choosing the gift.

The most important thing, however, is that the gift card either be securely affixed to the gift or it should be enclosed in the gift box itself so that there is no way that the gift card and the gift can become separated. It would be wise, in fact, to put a gift tag both on the outside and inside the package to ensure that the couple knows that the gift came from you.

Whether your gift is fanciful or practical remember that being a part of the couple's wedding and always being there for them and loving them is the greatest gift you can give.

Thanks to Panache, a Classic Party Rental Company, for use of their beautiful linens and rentals seen in this video.

VIDEO: How to Plan Wedding Shower Games

Planning Bridal Shower Games -- powered by eHow.com

Of course games are an important part of planning a bridal shower. Otherwise, the only activity would be watching the bride-to-be open her presents.

Some games, like the Bridal Bingo Game, featured in the video should be done at the beginning of the shower so guests can mingle and get to know each other.

Other games, like the bridal trivia game, can be played before the bride opens her presents or, if there's a large shower and many gifts, as a break in-between watching the gift giving.

There's also the ever-popular toilet paper wedding gown game where guests are divided into teams and are given one or more rolls of white toilet paper, tape and some pins and must create a wedding gown (and perhaps a veil) using only the toilet tissue, tape and pins on one of their team members. Then the bride chooses the design she likes best and that team wins prizes.

Another activity is that each woman there is given a piece of paper and she must write down a piece of advice about marriage or relationships in general for the bride. Then, as her gift is being opened, the guest reads her advice. The slips are then given to the bride or put into an album as a gift from all of the guests to the bride.

For a "Jack and Jill" or co-ed shower, several men line up (no male relatives, please) and, while blindfolded, each man, in turn, gives the bride-to-be a (respectful) kiss. The bride must then guess which of the men is her fiance.

A variation on that game is that several men sit in chairs and the blindfolded bride most feel a body part (an arm, face or a leg) of the men and choose which one she believes is her fiance.

Or, in the case of a same-sex shower celebration, adjust the games accordingly.

And don't forget to have one of the bridal attendants make a bouquet for the bride out of all of the bows and ribbons to be used at her wedding rehearsal.

Here's wishing showers of happiness to all the happy couples.