How much do YOU give as a wedding gift?

[Sr. Mints]

Funerals sound like a better deal. No gift required and there's often food.

[malcolmk14]

I had a friend get married two years ago, and on the invitation it said, "In lieu of gifts, please make a donation in an amount you see fit to the Canadian Cancer Society."

I could definitely get behind that, sent $200 to the CCS.

I'm going to a destination wedding in Mexico in May, and I'm part of the wedding party. Spending about $3,300 for the two of us to go down there for a week. What's an appropriate gift in that case?

[pepper24]

Originally Posted by jar_e

I'm getting married in April and am not expecting a single penny. We saved up for the wedding, invited who we wanted, and we're just looking forward to celebrating everything. I'm not going to say no to gifts, but I am by no way expecting people to "cover their plate" or anything. Seems kind of ridiculous if that's what people are expecting when they have a wedding now.

I got married a few years ago in Calgary and those were exactly our thoughts. We saved up for the wedding and had "no gifts please" on our invitations. Our main reason was that we didn't want to burden many guests already paying big money for flights and hotel. Without a gift it's already an expensive weekend. The least we could do was relieve the financial burden a bit with a fancy meal, open bar etc. to help celebrate our special day with us.

The idea with our parents generation was to help out couples that had no assets and didn't live together yet usually with househould type gifts. Most couples today live together and usually already have their finances built up together. That was our case. We didn't go into debt at all.

We still ended up with something ridiculous like $6,500 and donated it all to charity. Kept the wine though and still have a few bottles left!

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

I had a friend get married two years ago, and on the invitation it said, "In lieu of gifts, please make a donation in an amount you see fit to the Canadian Cancer Society."

I could definitely get behind that, sent $200 to the CCS.

I'm going to a destination wedding in Mexico in May, and I'm part of the wedding party. Spending about $3,300 for the two of us to go down there for a week. What's an appropriate gift in that case?

The trip + gift will cost you $3,500, you set yourself a precedent.

I shouldn't have gifted those that I was part of the wedding party, I think being part of the wedding party and standing up for them is a gift enough. For myself there has been significant cost incurred by being part of the wedding party, not to mention the inability to pass on the event if I so desired.

[taco.vidal]

A related question:
Cash or cheque? Id like to hear answers from both those giving and receiving the gifts.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

A related question:
Cash or cheque? Id like to hear answers from both those giving and receiving the gifts.

Cheque. Giving or receiving.

Easy to track who gave what (for thank you notes), and easy to replace if it's lost.

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

I'm going to a destination wedding in Mexico in May, and I'm part of the wedding party. Spending about $3,300 for the two of us to go down there for a week. What's an appropriate gift in that case?

A card. My ex and I had a destination wedding and certainly didn't expect any gifts from those who came out for the event.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

I give Canadian Tire money or coupons from those Entertainment booklets.

[ResAlien]

Holy crap some of you are hardcore. I was best man for my good friend and all he got was that I bought an 8ball for his bachelor party. I thought weddings were supposed to be about the couple getting married, not their potential financial gain. Learn something new every day.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by taco.vidal

A related question:
Cash or cheque? Id like to hear answers from both those giving and receiving the gifts.

I was at a wedding where someone gave a few hundred loonies in a mason jar of honey. It even had a blue and white checkered cloth over the lid tied by a string.

Profoundly annoying, I imagine--if not clever.

[killer_carlson]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

I was at a wedding where someone gave a few hundred loonies in a mason jar of honey. It even had a blue and white checkered cloth over the lid tied by a string.

Profoundly annoying, I imagine--if not clever.

The only way I'm giving that gift is if I write some one else's name on the card.

Mind you, I've been to a few weddings where I've put gag gift bags at the table under "Aunt Mable" or unnamed. I've been busted each time though...

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

Holy crap some of you are hardcore. I was best man for my good friend and all he got was that I bought an 8ball for his bachelor party. I thought weddings were supposed to be about the couple getting married, not their potential financial gain. Learn something new every day.

Well, I now know who my best man will be, despite the fact that I've only ever known this person as a poster on a message board.