The cost of your seat
The starting point is the cost per plate at the venue. City receptions run considerably higher than countryside ones, and children usually count as half a cover.
Wedding gift calculator
How much money to give at a wedding
One unwritten rule holds nearly everywhere: your gift covers at least the cost of your own seat, then rises with how close you are to the couple. Set the cost per plate, say how many of you are going, and get an honest range instead of an invented number.
A typical figure for that kind of venue. If you know where the reception is, enter the real cost — the result gets far more accurate.
Venues normally charge about half for a child.
Are you attending?
How this is calculated
No fixed tables, no numbers pulled from thin air. Three factors — the same ones anyone runs through in the car on the way to the reception.
How close you are
A colleague generally covers the cost of their plate. A close friend goes about half again above it. The wedding party and godparents sit in their own bracket, at roughly double or more.
A range, not a figure
You get three thresholds — sensible minimum, recommended and generous. Custom is not a price list, and a single number would claim precision this question does not have.
Planning the wedding yourself?
The same arithmetic runs backwards: multiply the average gift by the number of confirmed guests and see how much of the catering it covers. In EventHub the guest list, the replies and the budget live in one place, so the estimate updates itself as people answer.
Plan the wedding budgetCommon questions about wedding gift money
- How much money should you give at a wedding?
- The most widely used rule is to cover the cost of your own plate, then add between 15% and 100% depending on how close you are to the couple. That means a colleague gives roughly the cost of the meal, a close friend about half again, and immediate family or the wedding party around double.
- How much do you give if you cannot attend?
- If you send a gift without going, the couple pays for no meal on your behalf, so the customary amount is around half what you would have given in person. Select "Cannot make it" and the calculator adjusts the range for you.
- How much should a couple give together?
- Count seats rather than envelopes. Two adults means two paid covers, so the total roughly doubles. Enter adults and children separately and the calculator shows both the combined figure and what it works out at per person.
- Does the venue really change the amount?
- Yes — after your relationship to the couple, it is the biggest factor. The custom does not change, the catering bill does: a city reception can cost twice as much per head as a village one, and the gift follows that cost.
- Are these amounts obligatory?
- No. A wedding gift is a present, not a ticket. A guest who gives less than the cost of the meal is doing nothing improper — couples invite people, not contributions.