Is this common?

[FutureKelley]

I'm just more curious than anything, but is it common for checks (as wedding gifts) to be written only to the man and not the couple? 90% of the checks we have gotten are written out to FH, which is actually a pain since I am the one who takes care of deposits/ect. I always thought they would be written out to the couple though?

Either way it doesn't matter, like I said, I am just curious!

[SkippyNXC]

i don't know if it's common or not but perhaps people felt it was "safer" not knowing if you would have a joint account or not? *shrugs* i've never given a check as a wedding gift... when we did a monetary gift we do it in cash... and usually in some creative way... (i.e. fh once gave a friend $100 but as a goof got it all in singles and put it in a nice box)

[WebLady]

I don't know how common this is; not sure that there is any etiquette that says to do it that way.

We have gotten a couple of check gifts; I am pretty sure they were written to both of us.

[Ninedays9]

I wonder if it's because people aren't sure if you've changed your name yet on your account? That's interesting..

[SerendipityCrafts]

I wonder if it's because people aren't sure if you've changed your name yet on your account?

That's what I was thinking.

We didn't get many cheques but those that we did were written out to the order of Mr. & Mrs. H. DH had to deposit them in his account because of it.

[gwenshack]

We had a similar problem. We got checks written to Gwen and Ron SameLastName. Well...that's not my last name! And we don't have a joint checking account - we don't even use the same bank! (We were splitting any money we received.) I, too, was in charge of that kind of stuff, but I had to leave those checks to DH, who is forgetful and disorganized, to deposit into his account since at least his real name was on them. Fortunately it worked out ok.

[HisDelightfulFaerie]

Are most of the checks from "his" guests? Maybe they were signifying where the gift came from?

Like everyone else said it could be because they weren't sure if you were changing your name. A lot of people don't do it right away. (I wish I could wait. I have to do it like the first business day after the wedding.)

[Mrs.Goff]

All of our checks were made out to either Mr. and Mrs. or Jeremy and Threesia ...

But I agree it's probably because your guest wasn't sure if you were changing your name or not.

[doris27]

I think I would be a little nervous writing a check out to two people, simply because I'm not sure how that works. From this post it sounds like either person can cash the check, but I'd be worried that they both have to be there and that that would be inconvenient. Or if they're being sent early maybe people are worried about which name to put for you (if you are changing your name) or as other people have mentioned, if you are not changing your name.

[PGDesigns]

We received checks made out all kinds of ways.

Mr & Mrs Hisfirstname Hislastname
Allison and Jahmal Hislastname
Allison Maidenname
Allison Hislastname

It created a bit of a problem, and I did have a bit of a problem with the checks with my married name since I hadn't been able to change it to my new name yet at the bank.

[Ashleyerin2]

When my father and stepmother were married, they received some checks, and because her family is the "look at me, look what I did" types, they made sure to write the checks out to her, because they came from her side of the family.

My Dads side of the family wrote them out to my father and stepmother, using my stepmothers maiden name, because they all knew that the name change wouldnt take place for several months, and the joint account was set up that way.

[EarlyBird]

Simple answer is yes :) It is completely common... basically its the ONLY name they are sure of!!!!!
However, knowing that you can still go by maiden or married name, alot of times guests of the bride write to the bride(maiden name), guests of the groom, write to the groom. some people wrote checks to my cousin ONLY with her new last name, and she never planned on changing it on her bank accounts but in the end, it was too complicated so she did.

[KristinGriffin]

It's probably because your guests didn't know if you were taking his name and when you would have it all worked out.

But don't fret, if you have a joint account, it will probably be fine if you do the depositing. I'm a bad example and haven't officially changed my name with my bank. I do all the banking deposits and have done deposits for my husband, myself (in both versions of my name) and our son (2 years old). I've never had a problem, and I'm sure if you explain to the teller, if you have a joint account it will be fine.

Worst case, your husband has to take care of an errand for you! ;)

[Jenna5366]

Some of our checks were made out to Mr & Mrs James lastname, some were Jennifer & James lastname, some were made out to him. I was worried about the ones with Jennifer & James lastname, because we don't have a joint account. He deposited them into his account, and it was fine though.

[sandy03]

All our checks have been made out to me, but they're also mostly from my friends/family. Plus, we're still a month out from the wedding so all the money is going to the honeymoon budget and name change isn't an issue yet. I'll be interested to see what happens closer to time though because I have never seen a check made out to a couple, that's just bizarre to me.

[lilmsjess]

i don't know if it's common or not but perhaps people felt it was "safer" not knowing if you would have a joint account or not? *shrugs* i've never given a check as a wedding gift... when we did a monetary gift we do it in cash... and usually in some creative way... (i.e. fh once gave a friend $100 but as a goof got it all in singles and put it in a nice box)


haha, my mom did that for my 21st! she got $21 in quarters, and $79 in singles, along with an eeyore piggy bank(i'm a donkey kinda girl lol)....

but all of my family always writes checks or mo's to me, his just deposits cash into his bank acct since it is in his hometown and that's where they live.....

[FutureKelley]

Oh it wasn't a problem at all... we have a joint checking account and even though I haven't changed my last name yet, everything made out to us with my married name just got signed with my new last name and deposited. ;)

I was just kind of curious... personally I would never write a check that was a gift to two people to just one of them, but I suppose everyone has their own way of doing things. ;)

[bridal411]

That's a good question. I'm not sure how common it is but with my family, we just write the check out to the person that we got an invitation from. If we're invited from the bride's side, we make the check out to her and if from the groom's side, then to him.

[princessbridezilla]

i don't know if it's the same outside of canada, but the person to whom the cheque is written can endorse it (just by signing the back) and then anyone can take it and cash it. i sometimes sign my cheques over to fh and he deposit's them into his account.

[WBandMe]

Well, I'm not sure because we've only gotten one check so far. It was from a relative of FH who sent it back with his regrets for the wedding, and the check was made out to just me. The responses were sent to my house so he probably figured that if it was going to me, it should be made out to me. Plus it was far enough before the wedding that there wasn't a risk of my name changing yet.