how much should you give for a wedding gift?

My wedding was this past Saturday and someone gave us $26. They could have given us nothing but they gave what they could. If you don't want to give money, buy a personal gift. Gifts will be remembered more IMO.

Decide based on your financial situation and closeness to the bride and groom. FH and I gave $75 for each of us, to $200 for just myself based on my friendship with the couple

I start at $400 and work my way down based on etiquette breaches such as Honeyfund's and cash bar's.

I've never had to work my way down, apparently my family and social circle all have good etiquette.

I usually give $100

I think I got one gift of $40. If they look down on you for not giving up to their standards then shame on them. You could have gotten them nothing. And I'm surprised by these comments and how much you all typically give. I can understand giving $3-500 for someone who is super close to you but I think $50-100 is pretty typical. In my opinion anyway.

I usually give $200 if we are not super close to the person, $300 if we are. People understand you are also saving for your own wedding.

If you can't afford a lot, don't give a lot. Travel plus hotel...that adds up! Personally I would give 50...but that's because I just graduated college and am on a tight budget as well right now. When I went to a wedding in college I gave 30. Other friends didn't give any. I know that's bad "etiquette" but you shouldn't have decide between eating that week, or giving a wedding gift. Personal experience.

ETA: I'm already stressing about a wedding in June that requires hotel and travel.

We normally do 75 a person, so if its just me 75 but if its both of us going then 150.

FH and I are going to a wedding in a few weeks and we were having a hard time picking what to get them off the registry because nearly everything had been bought already. Then they added a few more things to the registry. One of which really stuck out to FH as something he would love to get for his friend.

I'd say wait and keep checking the registry every few days but be prepared to pick an amount to gift them in cash/check. $50-100 is fine, less if it's all you can afford, more if you want to and can afford it.

Give what you can afford !

My baseline is $100 per person attending. More for close friends or immediate family. If I gave a shower gift or was part of the WP then the standard $100/pp would still be the baseline.

But the key is to give what you can afford and write a heartfelt note in a nice card.

This is such a touchy subject that I think varies deeply depending where you're from or family traditions consider normal. In my culture anything less than $100 pp is just insulting. Helping the newlyweds break even is just the right thing to do. To us though! Speaking for myself!

But like I said, every family, culture, or tradition is different. Given travel expenses in your case, I would say $75 pp is acceptable.

Plus, I'm sure if she's a decent person she will return the gift amount come your day!

An Armenian friend had a somewhat lavish wedding. Soooo much food and alcohol available and the guest list was huge. She said in their families, which are large, everyone gives a ton of money as a gift, so they end up pretty much covering the entire expense of the wedding.

I think the amount you give varies greatly upon your culture, level of financial independence, and relationship to the couple or couple's family.

Out of monetary gifts we've personally been receiving gifts mostly around the $100 range from couples. But we've also been receiving physical gifts in the $200 range from close friends, parents of best friends, friends of parents, etc.

Yeah this definitely super depends. For me, personally, I usually give gifts, I rarely give cash because, even though I know that is preferable, I really prefer giving tangible gifts and I am a big fan of personalized presents. Personally, I love personalized gifts and every time I give them, people are so appreciative because no one thinks to do that for the couple.

For example, I was a BM in a wedding for one of my best friends in June. I spend a bunch of money on the actual wedding, including dress/shoes/a DW bachelorette party/a flight to the actual wedding. (She lives in NY where I am from, that's where we met but I moved to California 6 years ago). So combined, I probably spent about $1500 on all of that. She absolutely didn't expect a present and was actually shocked I got her one. I got her one thing off her registry (Julia Child's Art of French cooking), a personalized cheese board with her and her husband's name on it, a wine stopper and then a personalized poster with all pictures of her and her husband in a heart and I framed it. SHE LOVED EVERYTHING!

I also have a wedding I am going to in a couple of weeks and the couple didn't have a registry and I personally know they would just prefer cash. So me and my FW are gifting them $100 each ($200 total) and we also got them a personalized thick comfy blanket with their names and wedding date on it. (I really can't help myself, I hate JUST giving cash, I really want people to have something personalized with their wedding date/photos lol!) And this is a local wedding, though we are staying in a hotel for two nights for fun since there's a lot of activities going on for the day before and the day after the wedding. Just easier.

So you can definitely find gifts that aren't very expensive but still say a lot. If you do just want to give cash, I would say minimum $25. If you can afford $50, great. Just do what you can do!

I gave $75 for myself at my cousins wedding last year, and I think when it's me and my fiance together we usually give around $200. Totally region and family circle dependent. I can tell you that even within the east coast region, what would be the average in Buffalo would definitely not be the average in Boston. So give what you can and don't feel too bad about whatever that is -- the most important thing is that you're celebrating with them.

I try to do a $200 so its $100 per person

I don't give cash for gift. It is very impersonal. I always purchase a gift and the amount I spend is a reflection of how I was hosted, travel costs, etiquette breaches, etc.

$200-400, from the two of us. More if we're closer (like in the wedding party). We gave our siblings $1000 each, despite the expenses of being in the wedding party.

"the amount I spend is a reflection of how I was hosted, travel costs, etiquette breaches, etc."

I understand with the travel costs, but you admit to essentially "paying for your plate" and you fine people for etiquette breaches? WTH? Whose etiquette rule book?

@Dreamer "paying for your plate" is quite common and for many years that was expected.