wedding gifts

[Gruntina]

Just a thought, maybe rather than geography, it is the type of social peers that you hang out with?

Like for an example, if you live in Silicon Valley, you might notice engineers, business executives hang out with each other while teachers and authors might hang. Incomes and lifestyle choices are very different among "clichés group"

Geography can play a small role, like for an example, you’re more likely to find producers and directors in Southern California a. But then again, people are people.

[mom-from-missouri]

Enough to cover your plate??? What about weddings where no meal is served..??? No gift??

I base it on how well I know them, friend, co-worker or relative? And our personal budget. I won't go into debt over a wedding gift.

[disneysteve]

What about weddings where no meal is served..???

Have you actually been invited to a wedding where no food was served? I've never heard of that. Was there a reception at all or just the ceremony and then you went home?

[mom-from-missouri]

Have you actually been invited to a wedding where no food was served? I've never heard of that. Was there a reception at all or just the ceremony and then you went home?

at ours we served cake and punch. It came out to about $1.23 a person. so, I guess if people followed the above theory, our wedding gifts should have been $1.23 each???

I have been to several weddings where they was no reception. I have also been to receptions where the wedding was private (one was held in a hospital room, and the other was sudden-a military one, held in the brides home and the reception was a non food affair except for cake when he came back from boot camp and before he was deployed.

I have also been to Amish weddings. At theirs, each family brings 2-3 covered dishes.

[kork13]

More typical for weddings I've been to is a buffet-type meal, which seems like a good middle-ground way to go... much lower cost than a typical sit-down dinner, but you still have a good meal for guests, often times which can actually be very nice. In fact.... I think EVERY wedding I've been to has been a buffet. I can't say in exact terms, but having arranged many various social events, my best guess for the cost of a nice buffet for 50-100 people would be between $10-$15 per person.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Have you actually been invited to a wedding where no food was served? I've never heard of that. Was there a reception at all or just the ceremony and then you went home?

I most definitely have been to receptions without meals. Thirty years ago in the South (USA) I never went to a wedding reception that included a meal! They all served non-alcoholic punch, coffee, cake, Jordan almonds, "wedding cookies" and sometimes mixed nuts in tiny paper cups. There was no music and no dancing. Receptions were short, kind of stiff, and kind of formal. I have not been to a wedding there in a long time, but I imagine that kind of reception is a thing of the past. I'm sure the Southern Baptist church was a big influence in that style of reception, even when there was no connection to that church.

In years since, here in the Midwest, I've been to receptions that were much more informal but still served only cake and coffee, punch, wine, or beer-- just a little! Those have been weddings of people with so little money that it was a stretch to have more than just a quick ceremony on a judge's lunch break. Not all my social world is middle class.

As to the original question, I don't think what I personally would give someone has anything to do with where they live or where I live. It has to do with how well I know them, how much money I have to spare, what I think their needs and wishes are. Last wedding gift was money, $75, and I was not invited to the wedding, but that did not make a difference in what I gave.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I too have never been not served food! Cool, learn something new everyday.

[whitestripe]

i've been to two weddings of close friends, and each time BF and I have given $100 ($50 each), as did most of our other friends that we talked to. single friends of ours felt obliged to give $70 as they felt $50 was too little - but that giving $100 as partners was ok. i thought it was weird that they thought that, but oh well!
these are AU$