How much do you usually give (in cash) as a wedding gift?

Drez

I apologize if this is a poll-ish thread, but I'm trying to get a sense of what people usually give.

Also, I'm purposefully not giving context (relationship to/with the person, how expensive the wedding may/may not be), because I want to hear a myriad of responses and whether or not relation and context even matters to how much you're typically "expected" to give.

And, yes, I am asking for advice despite the way I've formulated my question. I have a wedding to go to on Sunday and I just got into an argument with someone over how much a "proper" gift entails.

Descendant X

I think it depends on how close you are to the person.

I would say somewhere between $50-$100, but I just know that someone will come in here in a few minutes and call me a cheapskate...

Szechuanosaurus

Probably about £25 if we aren't closely related or they're a friend. Maybe £75-£100 if it's a direct relative like a brother or sister.

Probably at least £500-£1000 if it's was one of my own children, although that will very much depend on how much I am earning by the time I have children of age.

Context is very relative.

Drez

I don't. I don't want to be annoying by not giving the context this relates to, but I want to hear "context ranges" like you just gave, Szech.

Thanks, btw, to both of you thus far.

Canada_jezus

If money is an issue for you, try to just cover what the couple spent on you at the wedding (i mean what you plan to drink or eat at their expense, etc etc). If money isn't an issue, try to give them just a little more than they'd expect from you. Pleasant surprise and all that.

DrHookenstein

I usually try to pay for the cost of my "guesting." The more lavish the wedding, the more expensive it was for the couple to have me as a guest, so the more I try to match it.

In some cases, this may not prove feasible according to your budget, so just do what you can and get a great card.

Elessar Elfstone

I had a wedding 2 weeks ago for a friend and I gave $100. I would have liked to give more, but he knows that I'm a broke ass unemployed pilot, so I figure that $100 was enough to cover inviting me to the wedding.

JeffH

100 bucks is usually about right.

DiscGrace

It depends a lot on how old/job-having you are, too, I think. When I was broke and in college, I spent about $50 on a wedding gift for someone I was a bridesmaid for, and about $30 for someone whose wedding I just attended without being extremely close to. These days, we spend $75-90 on a good friend and $35-50 the time we sent a present to someone we weren't as close to for a wedding we couldn't attend. When my sister gets married, on the other hand, I expect I'll spend $200 or so for something nice.

localh77

I got married last summer (it was a daytime wedding); here's a random sampling of some of the cash gifts that we got:

uncle & aunt - $50
uncle & aunt - $100
uncle, aunt, 3 kids - $120
friend & boyfried - $100
close friend - $200
friend - $20 (didn't attend)
close friend - $120
grandma - $5000
uncle - $100
family friend - $35 (didn't attend)
friend & boyfried - $50
aunt - $50
friend - $100
close friend - $100
uncle & aunt- $100
uncle & aunt - $40 (didn't attend)
family friend - $35 (didn't attend)

AtomBomb

I would give between $40 and $100, depending on how close I was to the couple. If it was my brother-in-law (closest single family member who is single) it might be more like $200-250.

~edit, did I mention that my single brother-in-law is single? I should read before I hit post.

EggyToast

got married last year, and also been to weddings. What was said above pretty much holds true -- if you're a friend or acquaintance, between $20-$40. If you're a good friend, more than that. If you're a really good friend, close to $100ish. Family members tend to double whatever range they would fall into (as in, relative you don't know that well would give double the "friend/acquaintance" range, relative you really get along well with would probably give closer to $200).

If YOU really like the person, or are well off, you can give more. Also, if you're poor, you can give less.

marty_0001

I heard from someone at work, her husband's sister or something, they're Italian, they got a total of like $15,000 for their wedding. Apparently they go mad for inviting the whole, whole family, and the parents chip in cash with three zeroes after the first number.

Invisible

marty_0001 wrote: »

I heard from someone at work, her husband's sister or something, they're Italian, they got a total of like $15,000 for their wedding. Apparently they go mad for inviting the whole, whole family, and the parents chip in cash with three zeroes after the first number.

I can back this up. My mother's side of the family goes all out for family events, especially weddings (I wrote around 50 thank you cards for them just for my high school graduation). Obviously they don't expect family friends to do the same, but they usually give more than normal if they are part of the 'culture'.

EggyToast

Yeah i've got a guy at work who made it large at his wedding, but his family associates with high roller types who think nothing of dropping close to a thousand on a family friend's son. I don't know how normal that is, though, outside of well-to-do families and circles. For instance, I know there's plenty of poor italians, regardless of how big the family is

Entriech

My wife and I haven't been to too many weddings, but we usually try to choose something in the range of 50-100, depending on context. The only modifier I'd suggest is, if you received a wedding gift from them, matching it is a good jumping off point as well. Obviously this only works if you're already married and they were at the wedding.

LondonBridge

You can skip cash if they have a registry but cash is always nice too. localh77 pretty much hit it on the nail though Grandma gave $5000??? Nice!