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Wedding gift of money - how much?
Get them a toaster and tell them to be thankful for that
A gift is a gift is a gift. The giftee has no standing in requiring a gift and even less standing in requiring a specific type of gift. Traditionally one gives a wedding gift when one is invited to a wedding but that's as far as it goes.
Requiring a specific type of gift is as tacky as it gets.
If you are going to bend to this couple's demands, base the amount you give on the closeness of the relationship between you and them.
So I fully understand the replies, but after living here many years I have found it to be the practice and just go with it. I can't speak for Belgium, what we do is we pay approximately the cost of the dinner plus 20%. For example, a nice dinner we will give a 100+, a backyard bbq 50+. I will probably be crucified for this answer but it is what we do.
Gifts of money are the norm in Belgium and, as Nan suggests, covering the cost of the dinner/reception plus something (dependent on your relative wealth) is the way to approach it.
Giving the newly weds a toaster will, frankly, make you look stupid.
Gifts of money are the norm in Belgium but, as the wedding is in UK, this is irrelevant.
I will never give money as a wedding gift whatever the couple ask for. I want to give something that they can know that I have chosen for them and not simply that I have contributed to next week's shopping bill.
We refused to give money when our sons married - both asked - and, certainly in one case, we gave a more expensive gift that we would have given had we given money.
When we got married - in Belgium - we didn't ask for money.
Nan's answer is good!
Two years ago, London, we gave 100 pounds to the couple.
Gifts of money are absolutely the norm in the UK. The last wedding we went to we gave a couple of hundred pounds between us, which seemed about right. But obliviously it depends on how rich you are (and they are!).
Could you broach this with the parents and say you don't want to be embarrassed by giving too much or too little and ask what they are suggesting to family them give less unless you're incredibly close. I certainly wouldn't spend €100 on children of friends but it depends on your income as mich as anything. I would give a maximum of £50 it's less normal to ask for money in the uk I imagine many people are perplexed like you are
