Wedding Gift Calculator
Answers 'how much should I spend on a wedding gift' with a relationship-tiered range, not one flat number.
Customary range
$100–$250
A custom, not an obligation — this is common practice, not a fee for attendance.
Based on the same relationship-tiered guidance as the full wedding gift guide. Not financial advice — if this range isn’t realistic for you, a thoughtful lower-cost gift is a genuinely accepted alternative.
How it works
Get a customary gift-amount range based on your relationship to the couple and the wedding's formality.
Select your relationship to the couple (close friend, coworker, distant relative, and so on) and the wedding's general formality, and the tool returns a customary range rather than a single number — because 'how much for a wedding gift' genuinely depends on both factors, and a flat answer would be wrong for most people asking it.
The ranges are pulled from the same relationship-tiered data used on the wedding gift guide itself, reflecting real, honest variation: a coworker's wedding and a sibling's wedding are not the same gift-amount conversation, and pretending otherwise is exactly the kind of generic advice this tool is meant to avoid.
If the number the tool returns is out of reach financially, the wedding gift guide's 'what if you can't afford it' section covers honest, non-judgmental alternatives — a suggested figure here reflects common practice, not a bill you're personally on the hook for regardless of your own circumstances.
Worked example one: a coworker you're friendly with but not personally close to is getting married at a mid-formality venue — the calculator lands on roughly $50-100, reflecting the 'coworker or casual friend' tier rather than the higher range reserved for close friends and siblings. Worked example two: your sibling is having a formal wedding and you're attending with a plus-one — the tool nudges toward the upper half of the $100-250 close-family range specifically because two attendees from one household is conventionally treated as one household gift, not two separate smaller ones.
The reasoning behind scaling by formality, not just relationship, deserves a word of explanation: a backyard wedding and a black-tie ballroom wedding don't actually carry different gift obligations under most honest etiquette guidance — the couple's own spending doesn't obligate guests to match it — but in practice, guests do tend to give somewhat more at more formal events, partly because formal weddings more often have a curated registry that naturally centers pricier items. The calculator reflects that real-world pattern without treating it as a strict rule.
Frequently asked questions
Does the calculator account for whether I'm attending with a plus-one?
Yes, in general terms — attending as a couple or bringing a guest is commonly reflected in a slightly higher customary range, similar to the guidance on the wedding gift page itself, since two attendees typically means a proportionally larger gift is customary.
What if I'm not attending the wedding at all?
A smaller gift or none at all is generally acceptable if you're not attending, particularly for more distant relationships — the calculator's ranges assume attendance, so treat a non-attendance gift as optional and scaled down from the suggested figure.
Is cash or a registry gift better?
Both are widely accepted in most of the US and increasingly recognized as interchangeable; the calculator gives you a dollar range regardless of which format you choose to give it in.
Does a destination wedding change the suggested amount?
The calculator doesn't automatically discount for travel costs, but it's reasonable to treat the suggested figure as an upper bound rather than a target if you've already spent significantly on flights and a hotel to attend — most couples having a destination wedding understand that guests are already absorbing real added cost.
What if my relationship to the couple doesn't fit neatly into one tier?
Pick whichever tier feels closest and treat the resulting range as a starting point rather than a precise answer — the tool is built to remove guesswork for the common cases, not to model every possible relationship nuance, so trust your own judgment for genuinely unusual situations.
Does the calculator suggest a different amount for attending the reception only, not the ceremony?
Yes — larger weddings sometimes invite a wider circle to the reception than to an intimate ceremony, and the calculator reflects the lighter customary range that applies to reception-only guests, since it's a real, if lesser-known, distinction some guests aren't aware exists.