Yahoo Finance Brits spend 10% less on wedding gifts than just five years ago
Brits are willing to spend 10% less on a wedding gift than they were five years ago, research shows.
Wedding guests in the UK are prepared to spend £44.97 on a gift in 2019, compared with £50 in 2014, according to an analysis of surveys conducted every year since 2014 by retailer Cosy Owl.
When broken down across the UK, wedding guests in Yorkshire and the Humber had the biggest drop in spending, with gifts costing 39% less than five years ago.
This was closely followed by those in Northern Ireland, who are spending 37% less on wedding gifts.
Comparably, Londoners are spending just shy of the same amount, as deflation was found to be just 5%.
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Cosy Owl also surveyed 2,500 married couples and found they would expect wedding guests to spend about £50.70 on a gift — 11% more than guests do plan on spending.
In Wales, couples had lower expectations, anticipating gifts worth just £35.53.
Some couples may decide to celebrate their big day outside of the UK. In this case, four in five (81%) Brits think it is unacceptable for couples to also have a gift list, since they are asking guests to travel abroad.
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A fifth (21%) of Brits said they would be put off if a couple were to ask guests for money rather than a gift. In fact, two in five (41%) Brits believe wedding gift lists are outdated.
This could be due to the belief that many couples are already living together by the time they decide to marry, eliminating the need for many items traditionally on a gift list.
Additionally, over a third (35%) of Brits said if a couple is having a second wedding, it’s not okay to have another wedding gift list.
