Quote:
In fact, it's worth pointing out that many people send gifts who do not attend the wedding at all. Usually that's people who would have attended but are unable to for whatever reason, but still. The wedding-as-event and the gift are not intrinsically conjoined; they are two leaves on the whole wedding tree.

True enough -- I've been shocked by the amount of money people, who didn't attend the wedding, have sent as, or spent on, gifts.