Wedding gifts: money

Hello,
We're going to a wedding of a university friend later in the summer, who has asked for donations as a wedding gift - instead of a honeymoon, they're going round the world for 8 months. Ithink this is a great idea, but we have no idea how much to give. What would be a respectable amount?
He's a good friend, but we're all on fairly rubbish salaries, so I think he'd understand if it wasn't loads... etiquette minefield or what!
xx

Money??

hi, the best thing really is to ring up the reception centre they are having it at and find out how much it is costing them to have you eating there. then put in a card the money of the exact equivalent. also bare in mind that you may have to invite them to one of your events, wedding, christenings that sort of thing and they'll probably give to you the same amount back that you gave to them.

Whatever you can

We're getting married next year and will be asking our guests for money as we'll be putting it towards our honeymoon in the states. Personally I don't care how much people give us. We're getting married because that's what we want to do, not to get a load of free stuff. I'd far rather that everyone came and had a good time and gave us nothing than woried about how much they could afford. I'm sure that's the way most people feel.

Wedding gifts

The usual amount to give if you are going to the full day do is £30 per person (not incl children)
If you are only going to the evening function, £20 per person is the norm.

Hi

That's a really nice idea, especially for people who have been living together already and probably have everything they need anyway.
I think the amount you give depends on how close you are to the couple. If you're all young and just starting about maybe £20 or £30? Try asking other guests what they think maybe?
have fun!

Poor weds

Hi,

I think you are a bit of a stingy looser going to a wedding with only a £20 gift. On a positive note it actually shows that you have true friends as they obviously cannot be after your money.

Have fun!

Looser? do you mean loser? loser.

Perhaps you need to ask for money towards literacy lessons. Learn to spell!!!

???

Have you thought that mayabe that's all she can afford?

Here's what i got!

We got married last month. Most of our guests were reasonably well paid professionals, and the 'typical' gift was between £30 and £50. Very close friends / family were sometimes (but not always) more generous.

The richer people were often the meanest... we know two families with income well over £100k per year and they each gave £50 as a gift from the whole family... the lowest amount of all our gifts! People on the lowest incomes (debt problems / big commitments / parsimonious lifestyles) tended to give closer to £50 per head - we feel quite guilty about accepting that when it was so much more than the richer people were giving.

A survey in the Telegraph this week showed the average gift to be £60 - this probably about right if you include the fact that there are a couple of very generous gifts around £500. But most are well below £60.

You could consider that it may be costing someone about £50-£80 per head to have you at the reception when you factor in all the costs of the wedding.

But if you're clearly not in a highly paid job, £20 is a perfectly acceptable gift... if giving that amount makes you feel any sort of pinch, your friends should be very grateful for it.

The best thing you can do is to give it in good time and with a nice card. The worst thing you can do is buy something they don't want (photo frames / albums / etc).

It's a struggle to make your gift memorable if you've been asked for money. One good way is to get a nice card from a group of friends - it's really nice to have one card with messages from a whole group. Each person can put their cheque in a small envelope with the card.

Fantastic ideas.

Were getting married and have asked for money, I have told people that I only want what they would of paid for a gift.
I also have a wedding list to give a choice and so that they can see what things cost.
My to be sister in law has asked for money when she ties the knot in Feb 08 and we will be happy to give her money.