Wedding Present?

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Okay, this question might not be what's normally asked here, but I've been invited to a wedding for two of my closest friends. Only problem is, this is the only wedding I've been invited to where I'm expected to bring a present, and not my parents. I have no idea what to get them, haha. My mom suggested just giving them a Walmart gift card, since there will always be something they need that they didn't get, but I don't know. I like my gifts to be personal, and gift cards are about as impersonal as you can get. So what do people usually get their friends for their weddings?

I always just put money in the card.

Traditional wedding gifts are often unnecessary for a lot of couples, who have already lived together for some time. Most, however, go on an (often expensive) honeymoon and could benefit from the cash for that.

We did ask for money for our wedding, but received quite a few gifts from people that maybe didn't feel comfortable with that. All gifts were really appreciated. There were quite a few more traditional gifts. One person did buy us a share bag of sweets. That gift really stood out because it was so different from the others, and it was lovely just to sit down and share it once the wedding rush was over.

But, honestly, your friends will appreciate any gift given. We loved every gift because they were generous presents.

The only one that we struggled with, personally, was a 'token' money gift for a very small amount. Not because it was a small amount, but because it was given to us by a family that would spend all of their time bragging about how much money they had. We'd rather they'd have given us nothing. It's not about the gift, in that case, but the message behind it.

Some people did give us nothing, and that was fine as well. It didn't leave us with any negative feeling.

It's good to ask the couple where they are registered. The bride has doubtless created an online wedding gift registry--you can just pick something in your price range from her list. In fact, there may be a very small URL printed on the invitation somewhere that gives you the link to it.

Families of wedding couples will always give what they think the "kids need." So, there will be the assortment of coffeemakers, toasters and microwave ovens. But, what good are such gifts if you have no coffee, no bagels and no frozen meals? Giving cash or gift cards is the best way to "marry" many of the gifts with actual food.