What do you give now a days as a wedding gift.

For us it would be about 125 pounds for a friend and 150 for a relatives wedding gift, use to be just a toaster years back !

Do you know I have no idea!

When my parents got married, their friends gave them a cat! hmm. They lived in Germany at the time (in the British army) and the cat was black with a white face and a little black moustache. She was already named when we got her.

Adolf. Can you imagine the stick we got, especially trying to go through quarantine!

Lottie

it's completely dependant on circumstances.
Family or friends for a start, and secondly (and probably the biggee) how much you earn, or more precisely how much disposable income you have.
For a friends wedding personally i'd consider between £20 - £30, for family £50 - £100. I know my parents spent a lot more when my brother got married, but it's a different relationship.

Originally posted by poppins
What do you give now a days as a wedding gift.

For us it would be about 125 pounds for a friend and 150 for a relatives wedding gift, use to be just a toaster years back !

£1.25 to £1.50 seems reasonable get them some wine gums

The rule of thumb is to spend as much on them as they have spent on you. That is - as much as the meal is costing if you're a day guest and obviously less if you're an evening only guest. If you plan to send a gift but not turn up, it's your choice.

If it's your daughter/son/grandchild - considerably more is the norm.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

I've only ever been to one friends wedding and in any case only 1 wedding since I was 16. I spent about £50 on the gift for that and about £100 on getting there, getting suited up etc.

I never even really considered how much it should cost really, I just chose a few things off the list.

In recent years when friends have got married we have spent around £50...nobody in my direct/close family has got married since late eighties when my brother/sister got married (erm...to their respective partners...not each other!!) I wasn't earning very much then as only 18/19 years old so I think I spent around £30 and that was in 1989/90!

But as tslogf74 says ...quite often we spend over £100 on accommodation if the wedding isn't local and generally another £100 on travel expenses and another £100 on outfits/accessories.

I am quite happy that many of my friends have chosen just to live together.....it's far cheaper for them and us!


:P

Does it have to be cash? Cash is so impersonal, surely an actual gift demonstrates more time and care taken, perhaps something you were previously given as a f.......I mean, perchance you already have the perfect thing in the loft?
There again something you made yourself is soooo much more sentimental and will cost you around 50p for some ribbon ;)

Originally posted by Billie
Does it have to be cash? Cash is so impersonal, surely an actual gift demonstrates more time and care taken, perhaps something you were previously given as a f.......I mean, perchance you already have the perfect thing in the loft?
There again something you made yourself is soooo much more sentimental and will cost you around 50p for some ribbon ;)

No it doesn't have to be cash - personally I don't give cash I am just demonstrating how much I have spent on a gift usually there is a wedding list to pick something out to fit your pocket...although one friend requested Meadowhall Gift Vouchers which I think isn't too impersonal if it's what they want.

:)

Originally posted by Billie
Does it have to be cash? Cash is so impersonal, surely an actual gift demonstrates more time and care taken, perhaps something you were previously given as a f.......I mean, perchance you already have the perfect thing in the loft?
There again something you made yourself is soooo much more sentimental and will cost you around 50p for some ribbon ;)

we were talking about how much we spend on the gift, not how much cash we give. I wouldn't give cash unless I knew that the weddees were going to be short on cash when setting up house.

Originally posted by Shiesh
No it doesn't have to be cash - personally I don't give cash I am just demonstrating how much I have spent on a gift usually there is a wedding list to pick something out to fit your pocket...although one friend requested Meadowhall Gift Vouchers which I think isn't too impersonal if it's what they want.

:)

Indeedie - I asked for cold hard cash when I got lumbered!!! So don't listen to me ;) Still ended up with orange hideously patterned bath towels and a set of tupaware with lids that dont fit. Hmm, now what did Kristian buy me......oh yeah - nothing ;)

I gave my friend 40 quid last weekend, that was one whole weeks worth of benefits but was worth it.

No fags for me this week :(

I have found that I have given cah to the last 2 weddings I have been to as the couples have lived together for yrs so have all they need apart fom cash.

hazel

There was one wedding we went to that I decided that a bought gift was totally inappropriate (the happy couple being the creative sort), so I made a wooden bench and stencilled a celtic knot, their initials and the date on in stain before waxing the whole thing.

Other guests asked if I did it for a living and could they commision one themselves :blush:

A Bread Bin.

Always buy the bread bin from 'the wedding list' (usually a Dreabenhams speciality).

You are so generous, Deavon :thumbsup:

Bread bin (http://www.ancestralcollections.co.uk/open.php3?p=TIH977)

Originally posted by Strix
You are so generous, Deavon :thumbsup:

Bread bin (http://www.ancestralcollections.co.uk/open.php3?p=TIH977)

Ah, Lady Victoria Leatham's Bread Bin.

I couldn't find what she was after at Debenham's (somebody had already bagsied the George Foreman Lean, Mean Fat Grilling Machine), so I hot-footed it round to Sotheby's... luckily they still had the bread bin 'in stock'.

God, that was some reception round at Burghley house! Even the staff got tipsy!


(By the way, how did you know I had bought her that?)

Just a lucky guess ;)

Originally posted by Billie
Indeedie - I asked for cold hard cash when I got lumbered!!! So don't listen to me ;) Still ended up with orange hideously patterned bath towels and a set of tupaware with lids that dont fit. Hmm, now what did Kristian buy me......oh yeah - nothing ;)

Oi I heard that! We don't 'do' gifts though do we? :suspect:

Apologies for hijacking a thread!!!
I'm bridesmaid for my best mate in August, I've never done this before and never been involved (other than as a guest) in any other weddings!!! My friend has organised her own hen night(s) which is one thing off my 'eeeeek' list, but what do I do about wedding presents? (I'm just coming to the end of my masters degree and only have negative money at the mo) I know she has a wedding list tho I havn't got a copy of it yet.
Also, as bridesmaid is there anything else I should be doing that I don't have a clue about???
someone help!!!
Em
xx

Originally posted by em3978
Apologies for hijacking a thread!!!
I'm bridesmaid for my best mate in August, I've never done this before and never been involved (other than as a guest) in any other weddings!!! My friend has organised her own hen night(s) which is one thing off my 'eeeeek' list, but what do I do about wedding presents? (I'm just coming to the end of my masters degree and only have negative money at the mo) I know she has a wedding list tho I havn't got a copy of it yet.
Also, as bridesmaid is there anything else I should be doing that I don't have a clue about???
someone help!!!
Em
xx

As the lucky owner of 6 bridesmaids dresses ( I need to find better things to do on a Saturday) being a bridesmaid really means you have to ensure you look after the bride before the wedding ceremony. Make sure she eats before the ceremony and has her flowers, got her dress buttoned up ok and make sure you don't look a sight in the photos.

She might want you to arrange the hen night. But overall bridesmaids are there to look pretty and flirt with the bestman.

Present wise - as her mate you'll know what she and her partner like so buy something you want to buy them ( it really is the thought that counts). Wedding lists are great to ensure that you don't get 15 sets of bathmats but you don't have to stick to them.

thanks for all that :)

I think I can probably do the making sure she's ok thing... (I'm expecting her to repay the favour sometime;))

lol the flirting with the best man is out... partly cos my better half will also be there (accompanying my mum :suspect: ) and also cos I think the best man is a best woman, and although flirting with a woman isn't beyond me I think it might freak out the rest of the party ;)

The present really is the biggest thing (Though at least my b/f should be able to chip in a bit too) as I'm crap at present buying and its also her birthday 3 weeks later!!! (eeeek, two meaningful presents at once!!!!) Still, I'll have a peek at the list and see what there is and play it from there!
Thanks again :)

Personnaly its not the cost , its the thought that counts.
I think to make a wedding list is Rude ! As long as thought goes into a fitting gift that will be appropriate for the couple then it's fine.

Originally posted by pixii
Personnaly its not the cost , its the thought that counts.
I think to make a wedding list is Rude ! As long as thought goes into a fitting gift that will be appropriate for the couple then it's fine.

So you end up with 3 toasters, 4 blenders and lots of other duplicated gifts... Especially if you've already set up house as is now common.

A list isn't demanding anything, but it does give people the chance to ensure that gives are unique and useful to you. I sometimes buy something off the list and something else that i choose myself.

I must admit, I always thought that making a list seemed like more of a demand. I personally probably wouldn't bother with one.

However my friend has been in her own house now for about 4 years, her man moved in a couple of years ago, so technically they don't NEED anything for setting up home. However, their list includes the things that they want to replace, as grateful as she was for the things she was given when she first moved in, they now want things that belong to them both, and have some sort of 'matching' element just to make their house their own, in this way I think a wedding list can be a good idea...

personally I think I'll end up getting them a little something from the list and something else a little more personal :)

Originally posted by pixii
Personnaly its not the cost , its the thought that counts.
I think to make a wedding list is Rude !
Definitely not rude (assuming it's worded ok).
I went to a wedding last week and included with my invitation it just said 'we have a wedding list at Argos, number x'. There was a range of prices, from very cheap to very expensive.

Originally posted by SilentStatic
Definitely not rude (assuming it's worded ok).
I went to a wedding last week and included with my invitation it just said 'we have a wedding list at Argos, number x'. There was a range of prices, from very cheap to very expensive.

that's the modern way, makes life much easier (as long as you don't invite luddites). Debenhams (and probably others) also do online lists.

The bloke and me got wed nearly two years ago now, and we had a fantastic day.

Most of our guests were happy to give us mullah - and to be honest, we'd lived together for a few years previously so had acquired everything we wanted already.

Some of our guests used their imagination, we were given a Lean Mean Grilling Machine, a surround sound system and a few bottles of champagne.

A couple we know are getting wed this year and we gonna get em....

Not telling ya cos they frequent this board!!!!!!!!