3 Steps for Picking the Perfect Sentimental Wedding Gift for Your Best Friend

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Picking the perfect wedding gift for your best friend comes down to honoring her relationship with her spouse-to-be and doing it in a way that’s totally non-generic. A little bit of sentimentality goes a long way when you’re gifting this wedding season!

Step 1 : Make it personal to the couple

Focus on details shared between the couple. A wedding gift for your best friend that plays to their unique love story shows that you remember the important things your bestie tells you and that you back them as a couple. Here are some interesting wedding gift ideas for your best friend’s marriage.

Related Reading: 20 Thoughtful First Anniversary Gift Ideas for Couples

Where did they meet?

Did they meet in the Big Apple? Gift them a New York scented candle to commemorate their first encounter. If they’ve since moved away, create a basket with date-night essentials inspired by the city.

(In the case of New York, maybe that means a six-pack of Brooklyn Lager and sweets shipped from Magnolia Bakery, but there are hundreds of ways you could take this.)

What’s their favorite restaurant?

A great way to set the couple up for a life of fun and romance is to give them the gift of fun things they can do together once all the insanity of wedding planning has died down.

Consider a date night out, perhaps, with a gift card to their favorite restaurant and tickets to a show.

What do they bond over?

Sports, concerts, food, video games, a sitcom from the 1990s that they both know inside and out?

Think it through and include a few nods to their shared passion as you’re selecting the just-right present.

How do they spend their time?

Whether it’s traveling, gardening or hopping from city to city to see their favorite band play, it’s never a bad idea to give a new couple an activity-focused gift they can do together.

We love the idea of tickets to a play or concert or a gift card to a travel website.

Step 2: Celebrate your friendship

Get a wedding gift for you best friend that acknowledges the bond between the two of you. Don’t get us wrong–your bestie’s wedding day isn’t about the two of you, but it’s your best friend, so whatever you give should come totally from the heart and be inspired by your relationship. Anything else just feels generic.

Related Reading: 15 Relationship Milestones That Are Worth Celebrating

Think about your favorite inside jokes.

Incorporating an inside joke you share with the couple is one of the best ways to bring to life a basic or seemingly uninspired gift. The key is to incorporate it subtly, not to make it the main focus of the present, and to ensure that it’s something your best friend’s future spouse understands, too.

Write the spouse-to-be a personalized note.

No matter what you give, make sure that your present isn’t 100 percent focused on the half of the couple-to-be that you know the best.

Even if your gift is primarily for your friend, at least include a handwritten note to her future partner so it feels extra sweet and supportive. The last thing you want is for your bestie-in-law to feel left out.

Remember all the places you’ve been.

Maybe the destination bachelorette party was one of your favorite memories ever or maybe you roomed together in college and are still diehard fans of your alma mater. Perhaps that one summer at camp changed the course of your lives forever.

A place-inspired wedding gift for your best friend can invoke the sentiments  you shared together at a special time and place (p.s. there are actually candles that smell like summer camp, if you were wondering).

Step 3 : Make it personalized

Personalise the wedding gift for your best friend, but do it tastefully. Not everyone wants everything in their home to be monogrammed (no judgment if you do, though). Make sure you’re clear on name changes and spellings before you order anything, and pick something that the couple will actually use or want to display proudly.

Have something made just for them.

Don’t get us wrong, we love Things Remembered and L.L. Bean as much as the next gal, but it doesn’t compare to having someone make something completely bespoke for your recipient.

A piece of art–a portrait of their dog or house or custom nesting dolls, for example—is a great start.

Personalized stationery is always a win.

They’re married now, which means they’re heading for a solid year worth of writing thank you cards.

Give them a set of custom-made notecards to commemorate the occasion.

Turn a part of their love story into a wedding gift for your best friend.

If you can somehow get your hands on a love letter they wrote each other or know lyrics to one of their songs, try to work it into something gift-worth—a wall-hanging, mugs or toss pillows are fun options.

This is a great alternative to the typical initial, monogram or last name personalization.

Think of ways they’ll be able to use their wedding pics.

There are so many cool ways you can display photos these days, from having them printed on glass to ordering them on a phone case.

With a gift card to a shop where they can print their photos into usable works of art, their pics won’t sit unseen in their Dropbox for years.

Why you should take the time

A wedding gift for your best friend that took thought is the material equivalent of a big hug or a pat on the back. It signifies that you’re paying attention, that you’re supportive and that you know your relationship is give and take.

Spending the time to pick out the absolute best gift for your best friend is an amazing way to show your love, and it’ll be worth all the extra time and effort you put into it.