One of the most agonising questions is how much is the right amount to spend on that all important wedding gift, not to mention the shower and engagement gifts.

Well fear not, here’s a Wedding Etiquette Survival Guide that solves all of these vexing conundrums and more.

The handy, easy-to-follow table suggests appropriate amounts to spend on family members, best friends, friends, and, apparently at the bottom of the evolutionary ladder, acquaintances and colleagues. One-night-stands don’t get a look in.

The site also provides useful tips regarding other potentially difficult or delicate areas, such as the dreaded gift registry, which can often turn out to be a veritable Venus flytrap of social mores and expectations. Get in early for best pick of the gifts in your price range, the site suggests.

It’s also perfectly acceptable to “group gift” provided you spend the same amount you would have invested individually and that everyone contributes the same amount. Answers to tricky questions like these are worth their weight in kitchen appliances.

Creativity with your gifting also gets a tick. In other words, don’t be afraid to buy those kitsch flying ceramic ducks if the happy couple has a sense of humour that will appreciate it.

Bonus points if the gift is unwrapped in front of everyone else.

Do you have an upcoming anniversary, birthday, bridal shower, enagement, hen’s party or wedding that you’d like to delight someone with a romantic gift?
 
For a strictly limited time, you can buy an attractively boxed $99 LoveStars gift certificate for just $59 through Daily Deals!
 
Sign up with http://www.dynamicrewards.com.au/dailydeals/sydney (or enter your city) to receive this amazing Daily Deal.
 
Daily Deals work on group buying. A minimum number of people opt to buy the Daily Deal and once they reach that number, everyone gets the Daily Deal. Twittering, Facebooking, blogging or passing it on to your friends helps you reach that number.
 
After you buy your $59 boxed LoveStars gift certificate through the Daily Deal, Ill email you for your mailing address to send it to you (expiry 31 October 2010 or later).
 
You simply redeem your gift certificate at www.itsinthestarsonline.com for your own luxury hardcover 30-35 page LoveStars report delivered worldwide by Express Post.
 
Don’t delay – visit http://www.dynamicrewards.com.au/dailydeals/sydney now!

Bill Clinton used to be extremely powerful as the President of the United States, but not even he can overcome a poorly-chosen wedding date.

His and Hilary’s only daughter Chelsea is getting married on 31 July 2010. As soon as I saw the date my heart sank (and it must have spooked another astrologer, Jeff Warren, as well).

The date of your marriage – or starting a new job, house purchase, website launch, or incorporation of a business, for example – is the birthday of that event. Just like a person, an event has its own personality.

On 31 July, there is a tough, uncompromising Mars conjunct Saturn in Libra. Mars rules action, energy, sexual drive and anger while Saturn rules endurance, responsibility, depression, delays and maturity. A conjunction locks two planets together (like strangers in a lift.) Libra, of course, is the sign of marriage, relationships, partnerships and allies. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?)

Mars and Saturn are naturally at odds – Mars wants to floor it, while Saturn wants to slam the brakes on. This is a classic aspect for stress, blocked energies, obstacles and frustration. I’m not crazy on seeing it in a sign that rules marriage.

As well, the Moon is in Aries. The Moon is the planet of home and family, what makes you feel cosy, safe and nurtured. Aries is fiery, impatient, restless and egocentric. A marriage date with Moon in Aries can make it a battle royale of over-achievers at best, a selfish, cold and competitive arena at home at worst.

An aspect that occurs only two days prior, which still has plenty of punch - Mars in Libra opposite rebellious Uranus in Aries on 29 July - only adds to the impatience, restlessness and relationship upsets. And one that occurs three days later on 3 August, Jupiter in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn is equally indicative of pressure from authority (um, guess who?!).

To top it off, there are no water element signs in their marital chart to add some much-needed softness, emotional understanding, intuition and compassion.

Chelsea and her new husband, Marc Mezvinsky, will have to work very hard to not to fight to be top dog in this marriage.

Perhaps the US merchants have been lobbying hard, but the original deadline of 22 August 2010 for them to ensure all gift cards have five years expiry has been extended to 31 January 20111.

This new deadline takes it safely past a four-month holiday period when 90% of all gift card sales are made. 

Gift occasions on which gift cards are purchased include baby season (September/October), Halloween (31 October), engagement season (September-November), Thanksgiving (late November), wedding season (in Australia from November-December), and Christmas and New Year’s Eve (December) so merchants don’t have to destroy and replace an estimated 100 million cards which are already on the retail shelves.

Customers who buy gift cards during the six-month transition period between now and January 2011 will receive the full benefits of the new gift card rules.

This means no service fees or ATM fees can be charged until one year of inactivity (and then only one fee per month), gift cards have expiry dates of five years from the last load (aka deposit of extra funds), free replacement cards must be issued or the issuers can reimburse the cardholder, full T&Cs must be displayed and conspicuous disclosures regarding gift card use must be made prior to purchase.

Still, why would anyone wait five years? There’s inflation which will go up – but the value on your gift won’t – and the risk of the store closing, which happens.

I am quite sure the gift cards will outlast some relationships.

The Journal of Consumer Research has another interesting study regarding the psychology behind some of the decisions we make as consumers. It claims that certain brands have characteristics, or rather perceived characteristics, which make us feel better about ourselves when we use their products.

Since most of us would like to feel more glamorous, good-looking, confident and intelligent we subconsciously seek these qualities in the consumer brands we choose to associate with in our daily life. It’s this desire to cultivate positive qualities and attributes that lies behind the success and consumer popularity of some well-known brands such as Nike, Cartier and Harley-Davidson.

An engagement gift presented in a Tiffany box has a very different impact on the recipient than one from Target, in the same way that gift cards given at Christmas for clothing from Ralph Lauren will get a very different response than ones for Ripcurl.

Why? The authors of the study, Deborah Roedder and Ji Kyung Park from the University of Minnesota, describe these brands as having “personalities” with distinct traits that consumers respond to. “Using brands with appealing personalities can rub off on the way consumers see themselves, even if the brand is used for only a short time,” the authors say.

It’s this personification of brands that lies beneath their appeal, which confirms what we’ve already known all along – that is, how crucial good marketing of a brand or product can be in its success. Just as humans with appealing personalities tend to be popular, the same can apply to certain brands.

Another interesting observation that came out of the studies was that there appear to be two different types of consumers. The first type believes their personal character traits are fixed and can only be enhanced by association with certain appealing brands, while the second type believes their personality traits are mutable and can therefore be cultivated through self-improvement.

This second consumer profile is therefore less likely to be influenced by the perceived appeal of certain brands, the authors claim.

Either way, it goes some way to explaining why some people “wouldn’t be seen dead” wearing/eating/reading/using Brand X but will go to ridiculous lengths to obtain Brand Y that makes them feel a certain way. If you’re not sure of their taste, ask some questions!

Love to shop? If you and your partner become the Face of LoveStars at www.itsinthestarsonline.com, you could win a $AUD500 gift card to the retailer of your choice (or hey, 5 x $100 gift cards to 5 retailers – your call!) simply by entering the Be the Face of LoveStars photo competition.

Have a friend or family member take a high resolution (300dpi) colour shot  or two of you and your partner happily reading your hardcover LoveStars astrology report together.

If you win, you’ll receive the $AUD500 gift card. If you’re one of 5 x runners-up, you’ll win back the cost of your hardcover LoveStars report (from $89), credited to your Visa or Mastercard credit card.

LoveStars reports make ideal personalised gifts for couples for anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, engagements, Valentines Day and weddings. These 30-35 page reports help any couple – newly dating or married for ages – (re)discover the magic in their relationship.

The Be the Face of LoveStars photo competition finishes 31 August 2010.

In the potentially controversial and socially delicate matter of who to invite to your approaching nuptials and who to leave off that ever-expanding list, here’s a recently unearthed little statistical gem that may help you with your decision-making:  Scottish people spend the most on wedding gifts.

We’re joking, of course. Not about the statistic itself, which is among the actual findings of a recent study conducted by Moneysupermarket Vouchers in the UK, but at the outrageous suggestion that people are included on a wedding guest list primarily because of their spending capacity…

The study, which was conducted in June 2010 and canvassed the opinions of 3,000 UK adults, also found that wedding guests in general now spend roughly a third less on gifts than they did two years ago, the average now sitting at £28.26, down from £42.91 in 2008. A result of the Global Financial Crisis, maybe? And it appears that 2009 was the worst year, with the spending average at a low of £26.71 per wedding gift.

But back to those generous Scots. Is it something in the water? Something in the haggis? Whatever the reason, their spending average on wedding gifts topped the list at £40.48, almost £10 more than Londoners, who came in at second place.

Natives of Yorkshire were the most stingy (or maybe just cash-strapped), who budgeted only £23.15 on gifts. Still, this was an improvement on their spending last year of a miserly £19.08, so the research results indicate. There also seemed to be an age factor at work, as people over 55 spent almost double the amount (more than £40) as people in the 18-24 age group (£24).

So if you’re in the throes of wrangling over the wedding guest list, these survey results clearly indicate what kind of crowd will yield the best gift booty – stick to Scottish people born before 1955. Simple.

Have you ever sent a gift basket? If you have, who was it for? What was the gift occasion ie a new baby, Christmas, a housewarming, engagement gift or Mother’s Day – or was there some other reason you wanted to celebrate?

If you’ve never sent one, what items would you include? Chocolate? Champagne? Baby items? Flowers? Gift certificates?

Take a minute to fill out a fun gift baskets survey and you’ll receive a $20 gift certificate code to spend towards any astrology report on http://www.itsinthestarsonline.com.

The survey is at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GiftBasketsSurvey. The survey closes 31 July 2010.

If you’ve ever travelled through America, you’ll quickly become accustomed to their deeply entrenched tipping culture, which requires you to have a ready supply of dollar notes to tip waiters, doormen, cabbies, housekeepers, hairdressers, beauticians, the list goes on – in fact it seems anyone who provides you with a service, to boost their low wage earnings.

If you don’t have the right cash – or worse, you don’t realise you’re meant to tip generously! - you’re almost in danger of bodily injury. And if you’ve just landed and have only credit cards or large-denomination bills, what then?

A wonderful, inexpensive gift for people travelling to the US, honeymooners, or maybe your twentysomethings on a backpacking trip, is the Where’s My Tip gift card.

You simply hand out the gift cards each time you’re required to tip, and they visit the Where’s My Tip website to request their tip from you, even helpfully(!) providing a suggested tip amount. You then pay it via credit card or Paypal, which will then go to them.

It costs $100 to join, providing you with 100 x Where’s My Tip gift cards, with each extra gift card costing $0.50.

I think this could really catch on, and what a great idea for businesses such as travel agents to include in your suite of touring materials!

Cash gifts for weddings have been around for a long time, especially in many African and Asian cultures but perhaps it’s the more western association of cash with business transactions, and the phrase “cold hard cash” that makes us feel squeamish.

Apart from the fact your bride and groom know exactly how much cash you’re giving them which can be kind of embarrassing (especially if it’s not much!), you don’t tend to know how they’re going to spend it. Is it going towards your “rubber chicken” (aka wedding catering bill)? Will they splurge it on cocktails by the honeymoon resort pool?

A cash gift registry is nothing new, but DepositaGift.com caters for virtually any item (or service) that the couple may desire, even parts of their home, pushing the boundaries of possibility way beyond the once-traditional appliances and manchester.

Want a new bathroom cabinet? Enter the words “bathroom cabinet”, estimate the cost, upload a thumbnail pic of a desired cabinet, and it’s on your list for everyone to see.

Almost no item is too bizarre or non-traditional. For couples who are renovating, guests can symbolically direct their cash gift towards a particular part of the house. For example, they could help you have the mailbox, window frame or wine refrigerator of your dreams.

At a stretch, DepositaGift.com could even be considered environmentally friendly – there’s no need for wrapping paper as you’ll be ordering that item direct once you have enough cash.