According to a new survey on wedding gift practices by Brides.com, 90% of wedding guests gave a gift to the happy couple. The most popular price point for gifts is $US100-$US199 with the second gift price tier being the more frugal $US50-$US75.

But gift-givers and recipients have expectations on both sides. While 70% of respondents said the couple shouldn’t expect a gift, at the same time, 63% said they’d feel obliged to send a gift even if they weren’t attending the wedding.  It seems you’re more likely to get a wedding gift from kind old Grandma or crazy Aunt June than from your free-loading friends as 72% of those aged 65 years and over said they’d give a gift even if they weren’t attending, while only 53% of those naughty Gen Ys (aged 30 and under) would cough up for a toaster.

The sheer cost of weddings – not only for the couple but for all their hapless guests – which is a median cost of $US200 including gifts, travel, accommodation, clothing and other expenses, means only 37% would give a gift for the bridal shower and a measly 10% would give them an engagement present. About 37% of respondents reported they had travelled 100 miles or more to attend a wedding. Still, only 3% of the respondents would knock back an invite to the wedding because of the cost factor.

Women said watching the “I do’s” and the seeing the bride’s gown were their favourite aspects of weddings (73% and 72% respectively) while men most liked the food (55%). Men (regardless of income) were twice as likely as women to plump for beer and pigs in a blanket for the reception food.

See, you CAN cut wedding costs somewhere.

Tags: couples, engagement, wedding gifts

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 3:00 am and is filed under gifts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.