With the increasing frequency of wedding websites and blogs to showcase your wedding plans, comes a new wedding etiquette question. On these websites, the brides-to-be can post links to any wedding registries they have signed up for, well in advance of when they send out their invitations.

This allows friends and well wishers to purchase presents for the happy couple, long before the guest list has been decided. Once the wedding gifts begin to come in, the bride may feel obligated to invite the giver, even if she wasn’t planning on it.

So should you invite more people to your wedding just because they send you gifts? Well, wedding etiquette says that it is entirely unnecessary. Especially in a tight economy, choosing to have an intimate wedding is completely up to you. Adding additional guests can be quite pricey, and there’s no reason to break the bank for people you weren’t going to invite in the first place.

Still, some people may feel slighted if they find out they were left off the guest list. To avoid this awkward conversation, get the word out that you are having a small, intimate wedding. Be sure to add this to your wedding website near the link to your registries, so that gift givers will be well informed when they purchase your wedding gifts.

Also, I would suggest sending out thank you cards in a timely manner. Before the wedding would be ideal, so they know that there gift was received promptly. This way they will be able to rest a little easier, knowing that they have helped you on your way to your new life together.

Have any of you faced this problem before? Let us know how you coped with this potentially sticky situation.