Question · Cards & etiquette
How much should you spend on a wedding gift?
How much you spend on a wedding gift has no set figure — it depends on how close you are to the couple and what you can comfortably afford, not a rule anyone should feel bound by.
There isn't a fixed answer, and it's worth being wary of anyone quoting one as fact. How much you spend on a wedding gift depends on your relationship to the couple — a colleague or distant acquaintance sits at one end, close family at the other — and on your own budget, which matters more than any social expectation. Spending beyond your means to keep up appearances helps nobody, least of all the couple, who mostly want to know you were glad to be there.
A useful check: pick a gift that feels right for how well you know them, not a number you saw quoted somewhere. If you want to work through it by relationship and by band, wedding gift for the couple sets out practical options. For the wider etiquette questions around gifting, see wedding gift etiquette.
Written by Craig Fearn, Printed Weddings.