Do I need a cardbox at my wedding?

geometric card box cash registry can I ask for money as a wedding gift on offbeat bfride alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride) — This geometric cardbox is from Etsy

Offbeat Bride: do I need a cardbox at my wedding? I've tried to look up wedding card boxes, and they are these weird things that look like wedding cakes — except on Offbeat Bride, where they most often look like small monsters or TARDIS. (True observation, I swear!)
However, I'm still not sure exactly what a card box is for! Is it for people who want to give you cards, so you don't have to hold onto them? If so, are these “congratulations!” cards, or do they include money? We're trying to discourage people from giving us presents, but I'm totally down with handwritten notes of support.
I guess what I'm trying to figure out is – do I need a cardbox at my wedding? Are people going to expect it, in the “I brought you a card, where do I put it?” sort of way? Because if it's going to make everybody's life easier, I guess that makes sense, but honestly the whole thing confuses me.
Thank you. I feel like a dunce, but I honestly haven't been able to find a satisfactory answer. It's like the whole wedding universe assumes I already know this thing.
-selie

Generally, cardboxes are a place to put any cards you receive at the wedding. Many of them are meant to be somewhat secure so that if you receive money in a card it won't walk away. I used a box I happened to have that looked like a little suitcase because we had a small wedding, easy enough to monitor who was walking in the doors, and I hadn't had time or energy to be more creative about it.

You don't have to have one. You could use a basket, just collect them by hand, or tell people to set it on a table. It is utterly up to you. Guests probably will expect some place to put any gifts they might get you despite your preference or any cards they might choose to give.

Our readers way off on the question: DO I NEED A CARDBOX AT MY WEDDING?

“I think it is a good idea; even if you don’t ask for gift, you might have an aunt or uncle who will ignore that and stick $ in a card. It just seems a good idea to have them all in a place that IF someone decided to try and sneak off with the cards, it would be pretty noticeable. Of course, this is not something you HAVE to do, but I worked weddings for 4+ years and if there was not a birdcage or box or whatever, people seemed confused about where to put the cards. If I could avoid that easily and cheaply, I would (and did!).”
“I went to a wedding not to long ago where the bride and groom did not have a box to put cards in and it meant that cards and gifts were left in all sorts of places. It looked really messy and meant that gifts/cards might go a-wandering.”
“I’ve been two a couple of weddings that didn’t have card boxes, and guests had no idea who to hand their cards to. We didn’t want to burden the bride and groom with a stack of 100 cards, but we wanted to make sure that they received them. At least in our part of the country (New York City) it’s expected that people will give the couple a monetary gift to help offset the cost of the wedding.”
“I was at the wedding of my future brother in law and they hadn’t set up a card box, just asked those who brought cards to put them on the table. At one point, a couple of guests were refusing to just put their cards on the table, that there must be a place to put them in, so I swooped in, found an empty box and a couple table runners that hadn’t been needed and wrapped it up prettily and set it on the gift table. They ended their griping. I learned a lesson: it doesn’t have to be elaborate, it just has to keep it from falling off the table or being mixed up with someone else’s gift.”
“We also tried to discourage gifts. Thus, we did not have a gift table or card box. We did have guest book, where I hoped people would write their “handwritten notes of support.” Nonetheless, people brought cards. Lots of ’em. They left them by the guest book. They left them on the cake table. They left them on the head table. I *hope* we got them all, but I’m not sure because they were really left everywhere with no one watching them or collecting them until the end of the night. Many people honored our wishes, but many cards had checks or cash in them. If I had it to do over, I would try to have some kind of discrete place for people to put cards”
“Cardboxes aren’t required, in the sense that nothing at a wedding is required except two (or more) people professing their love and commitment. That being said, people will get confused if there isn’t somewhere for them to stow cards. They may even get a bit peeved, especially if there are monetary gifts included. When i worked at a banquet hall, we would often have couples that forgot boxes and they would hand cards to us servers or even just leave them in their table. If we didn’t see it, it would be quite possible that the couple or their family would leave before we could give it to them. So, in that vein, I would recommend it for both your own sanity and peace of mind.

Now, if you've decided you want to make a cardbox, of course we have no shortage of inspiration. And we're guessing readers will have even more in the comments!