Destination wedding

I dont think there is a proper. honestly i find every destination ive been too the resort costs a lot more than what we would normally spend. plus we dont get to to choose where we want to go. i normally give $50-$75

I think it all depends on people’s financial situations. I personally if I have the means I would still give a gift card with 100-200$ because destination weddings aren’t cheap and there is usually a guest limit. So I would feel honoured to be chosen to witness the marriage and give a token on my appreciation.

For me personally, it will depend on how close I am to someone with respect to how much I give.


I gave way, way more to my SIL at her wedding than I did to a friend of mine who invited me to their wedding 3 weeks before.
We still give, in our opinion, sizeable gifts otherwise but on a fixed income it’s hard too! We give what we can!
Depending on how much it cost us to go to a destination wedding - probably $50-$100 in terms of a gift.

View quoted message I agree with your opinion 100%. Thanks for confirming

If the wedding is local we give 400-500 dollars (from the two of us) just like you said.


For destination weddings I usually give $100 per person. In my opinion that’s enough, you’re already paying 1-2k for a plane ticket which is a lot of money. And destination weddings are cheaper as it is..... like my cousin had his wedding Costa Rica and I paid over 2000k for my ticket, and his wedding only cost him 12k for 45 people. I only gave $100 from me.
I think people who chose destination weddings already save money and their plates don’t cost as much as having a local wedding. Buts that is just my opinion!

Destination wedding gifts can go two ways considering your guests are travelling with the luggage weight provided by the airline.
1. Actual gifts given at the reception can be monetary easing on the guests to travel lighter without the extra cost to pay. Registered gifts arranged to be sent to your home after guests have paid the store. This allows you to open it when you return back from the wedding. The same choice my cousin chose to do when registering for baby shower gifts when living in another state and going to his family home to celebrate the gender surprise shower.
2. Shower party can be a gift registry so you get everything you want at the time being local and easier to take home. Wedding gifts can be monetary so it avoids more luggage taking back paying the extra baggage fee.

View quoted message Awwww absolutely! The wedding isn’t till next year and I know it’s “no pressure” but it’s my sister in law so I obviously want to do something but I also don’t want to spend an additional $500 on top of travel and bridal shower, bachelorette etc lol

View quoted message Noo- I wouldn’t say cheap- that’s standard we normally try and cover $100 per plate per person plus a gift so if it’s us two only we normally do around $400. If we’re super close then we do a bit more lol. But I know how expensive weddings are so I always try and go a bit higher if I can

View quoted message Yeah it's difficult because each couple is different and you don't always know what's expected of you if you're not told ahead of time. But yeah, I think the majority of couples know and expect to receive a little less than "normal". There was one destination wedding that I just couldn't afford to attend at the time, so I got one of the more expensive gifts on their registry, which was a lot less than the travel lol but because I was saving that money it felt right to get that specific gift

My lord no!! Oh my goodness that's a lot! Or maybe me and both my family as well as my DH's family are just cheaper?

For any wedding in province we would give enough presentation to cover the cost of our food/drinks and then a little something for the Bride and Groom. ($50/plate and then maybe $20/drinks = $70 to cover us X2 and the $30 as a gift X2)

It would normally come out to being $200 in presentation from the both of us combined. If it was a destination... (and not just out of province) we probably would give just enough to cover our plates/drinks though as we are already paying for flights and accommodations.

Oh - and this is the assumption that it's an open bar (it's kind of a requirement in our families so it's standard, otherwise presentation wouldn't include the $$ for drinks).

View quoted message That’s fair that’s what I was thinking as well but wasn’t sure if it’s expected that we do what we normally do or if it’s understandable that it’s slightly less give. That we already have to pay for the resort etc.

FH and I have a friend that's engaged and wanting to do a destination wedding next year. Our friend knows that we're also getting married next year on top of already having a mortgage so he spoke to us to let us know that it would be a destination wedding so that we'd have time to plan for that. He then said that they weren't expecting gifts from everyone because of the travel and accommodation price. But FH and I obviously want to give them something, so we'll probably give them a $100-$200 gift card for the movies or paintball or some other activity that we know they enjoy doing as a couple.
Basically, give what you're comfortable with giving. But out of town weddings, it's understandable to gift a little less than an in town wedding. Any sentiment will be appreciated even if it's just a card, in my opinion.