Re: Thank You - After You’ve had Your Dream Wedding…
I would simply pass along the gifts that didn’t suit my taste or were duplicated to someone in need. My mother had a process of gathering all such items that would not be used by us and donating them to the less fortunate either back home or sometimes even in our own community here through the mosque. The dinner sets and appliances were great for recently immigrated families that had to set up home with next to no cash. The clothing (sometimes we would get suits and sarees) and other items that were transportable were sent to Pakistan and given to a poor family that had a daughter and needed to gather a dowry for her marriage. Even a portion of the cash gifts was given away as sadqa from every event.
Nobody seems to find writing out invitations as “strenuous”. As someone suggested, have the thank you notes printed with the invitations and double up on the labels. Easy!
As for the wedding favours…this is yet another “western” tradition that is not from our culture. So if we’re gonna go western, let’s adopt all the good things, not just the ones we like…