Wedding Gifts Today

[DGS49]

In the Olde Dayes, when a "working class" couple got married they were starting out a new life, usually utterly broke, often with a financial net worth below zero, when student debt is taken into consideration. They had no children, of course, and if they were employed it was usually in a crappy job or two. They relied on wedding gifts, often, to pay off a lot of little debts, and to start furnishing their home, or possibly pay a portion of the costs of a honeymoon (if they were lucky enough to have such a thing).

And there you have it.

Speaking as an "uncle," in today's dollars, a wedding gift for such a couple might be, $250 if they are close relatives, $150 if distantly related, and $100 if they are friend-of-a-friend kinda thing. If the couple are your contemporaries, these rules don't apply. Give them what you are comfortable with.

Is this gift guideline impacted by:

• The age and prosperity of the couple,
• The residential and parenting status of the couple (e.g., they have been living together for years and own a home),
• First or subsequent marriage,
• The apparent cost of the wedding itself (firehall vs Country Club)?

Wedding gifts are not usually discussed with any candor in polite society; to do so is vulgar. But this forum is not polite society, it is a collection of anonymous people with strong opinions.

What do yins think? Do you consider any of the bulleted items above when deciding what number to put on the check that goes with the congratulatory wedding card?

 

[Moonglow]

I never got any dough when I got married, just a couple of toasters.

 

[DGS49]

I was Exhibit A when I got married in 1973. We needed every penny we got, and we got a considerable amount...about a third of a year's gross pay for me.

I will be attending a wedding this summer where both spouses are PHYSICIANS, they have been living together in Manhattan for two years and have a kid. The appropriate gift amount??????

 

[Moonglow]

I was Exhibit A when I got married in 1973. We needed every penny we got, and we got a considerable amount...about a third of a year's gross pay for me.

I will be attending a wedding this summer where both spouses are PHYSICIANS, they have been living together in Manhattan for two years and have a kid. The appropriate gift amount??????

Are you in a mafia family?

 

[The Duke]

I was Exhibit A when I got married in 1973. We needed every penny we got, and we got a considerable amount...about a third of a year's gross pay for me.

I will be attending a wedding this summer where both spouses are PHYSICIANS, they have been living together in Manhattan for two years and have a kid. The appropriate gift amount??????

A higher-tiered bottle of wine.