Other great New York area based comedians, like Tony Dabas and Goomba Johnny have discussed “The envelope” before. It’s a great debate. Do you give the same wedding gift at every wedding? Is the wedding gift the “floating $100 bill” or are you “paying your plate”?
Almost 20 years ago, I created the “I Hate Weddings.com Gift Calculator” which was a detailed formula to figure out how much money to give as a wedding gift.
I have always maintained that without bitterness, if the Bride and Groom spend more money at a wedding and make more of an effort for you to have a good time on their occasion you should give a bigger gift.
At my friend Mike R’s wedding, I wound up seated at the freak table. I opened the envelope of cash and took $50 bucks out. I put the envelope into the gift box with the little tear. I was asked how much money I gave at the wedding because the envelope looked damage. I told him bluntly “you put me at the freak table with mismatched and angry coworkers.”
If you use the IHateWeddings.com Gift Calculator . . . you will leave your hosts wondering what they did right . . . what they did wrong.
Good weddings should be rewarded. Bad weddings shouldn’t be punished but nor should they be rewarded.