How Much to Give for a Wedding Gift in Canada (2026)

The invitation is on the fridge, you’ve sent the RSVP, and now you need to decide how much to give. In Canada, wedding pros put the usual gift at $100 to $200 per guest, in cash or from the couple’s registry. A coworker you don’t know well can stay at the low end, and a sibling or best friend usually gives more. The pros also say the old rule of covering the cost of your plate is outdated, so the right amount is the one that fits your budget and how close you are to the couple.

The gift is also only part of what a wedding costs a guest. In a 2026 BMO survey, guests expected to spend about $1,530 to attend a wedding, and the gift was $370 of that.

How much should you give for a wedding gift in Canada?

The usual gift is $100 to $200 per guest. Lenora Kingcott, who produces Calgary’s fall bridal fair, told CBC News (opens in a new tab) in June 2026 that about $100 per guest is a common benchmark, and that it goes up with your means and how close you are. A Vancouver planner told CBC she now sees $150 to $200 per person, up from $100 in years past.

Your relationship to the couple matters most. Nicole Natassha Goulding, a bridal stylist who runs an events company, told Neo Financial (opens in a new tab) that $100 to $200 a person is the standard gift for someone you’re not especially close to, and that a family member should get more than a coworker. The ranges below are our own rough guide, built from what the pros on this page suggest:

The amounts are per guest, so a couple gives about twice as much, and so does a guest who brings a plus-one. The $500 at the top of the last row comes from Quebec wedding professionals, who told 24 heures (in French) (opens in a new tab) that a gift can reach $500 per person for someone very close, like a brother, a sister or a best friend. Picking the low end of a row is just as normal.

Do you have to cover the cost of your plate?

No. Covering your plate means giving at least what the couple paid for your meal. Kingcott told CBC the rule is increasingly seen as outdated, and the Emily Post Institute (opens in a new tab) calls it a modern myth. The couple chose the venue and the menu, so their costs shouldn’t set your gift.

Some guests still use it as a starting point. Calgary wedding planner Amanda Figueredo told CBC that in the past, the rule was to cover the cost of the meal, but many other things go into what a wedding costs. Her suggestion was to start around $100.

What if you can’t go, or it’s a destination wedding?

A gift is still expected if you can’t attend, but it can be smaller. The same goes for a destination wedding, where the trip costs so much that a less expensive gift is fine.

If you can’t attend

The Emily Post Institute (opens in a new tab) says every wedding invitation carries the obligation to give a gift, so saying no to the invitation doesn’t cancel it. Etiquette expert Susy Fossati told Neo that the gift “does not have to mean a significant cash amount.” A modest amount or a personal token is enough, she said. A card with a cheque or an e-Transfer, or something small from the registry, is a normal choice.

If it’s a destination wedding

Travel and a hotel are already the biggest cost of attending a wedding. Guests in BMO’s survey who had those costs expected to spend $577 per wedding, and a destination wedding adds flights and several nights away. Emily Post says that when you’re spending a lot to attend, a less expensive gift is fine, but you should still give something. The exception is a couple who writes that your presence is your present. Take them at their word, and bring a card.

What does going to a wedding cost, all in?

About $1,530 per wedding, by guests’ own estimates. In a BMO survey (opens in a new tab) of 2,503 Canadians, carried out by Ipsos and released in July 2026, the gift was $370 of that. Travel and a hotel, the outfit, and food and drinks each cost as much as the gift or more.

Not every guest has every cost, so each figure is the average among the guests who did, which is why the five add up to more than $1,530. Two in five Canadians (40%) told BMO that going to the weddings of friends and family is a major source of financial stress, and 49% of millennials said the same.

What helps is planning the whole season at once instead of one wedding at a time. Say you have two weddings next summer, one in town and one out of town. If you budget $400 for the local one and about BMO’s $1,530 average for the out-of-town one, that’s $1,930. Between November and a wedding in mid-June there are about 32 weeks, so that works out to about $60 a week. If you’re getting your hair done for the day, add the tip too. Our guide to tipping in Canada covers what’s normal at the salon.

Do you also give at the engagement party, shower or stag and doe?

Usually yes for the shower, often for the engagement party, and a stag and doe is its own kind of contribution. All three come out of the same budget as the wedding gift, so count them when you plan.

• Engagement party. Gifts here used to be optional, but the Emily Post Institute (opens in a new tab) says bringing one has become the custom in many places. It doesn’t need to be expensive: a picture frame or a bottle of wine is plenty.
• Shower. If you’re invited to more than one shower for the same couple, Emily Post (opens in a new tab) says you only need to bring a gift to the first shower, and that goes for the wedding party too.
• Stag and doe, or a social. In Winnipeg, the wedding social is a long-standing tradition that helps couples raise money for the wedding, a local realtor said in a Royal LePage (opens in a new tab) release. Other parts of Canada call it a stag and doe. What you spend there goes to the couple’s wedding, so put it in your budget too.

Do cultural traditions change the amount?

Sometimes the way you give, and the digits in the amount, matter as much as how much you give. Cash is the usual gift at many Asian weddings, and CBC reports that giving money is a long-standing tradition in the South Asian community too. Some traditions also have lucky and unlucky numbers. If you’re not sure what the family expects, ask a friend who knows them. It’s a normal question.

• Chinese weddings. Lisa Lee-Truong, who plans Asian weddings in Vancouver, told CBC that money is by far the most common gift, given in red envelopes for good luck. In Cantonese and Mandarin, the word for four sounds like the word for death and eight is a lucky number (CBC (opens in a new tab)), so people avoid amounts with a 4 in them and often choose amounts with an 8 (South China Morning Post (opens in a new tab)).
• Jewish weddings. Gifts in multiples of $18, such as $180 or $360, are common, because 18 is the number value of chai, the Hebrew word for life (Reform Judaism (opens in a new tab)).

Is cash okay, and how should you give it?

Yes, and many couples would rather have it. In a 2026 Royal LePage (opens in a new tab) poll, 79% of Canadians who were planning a wedding, or close to someone who was, said they’d consider asking for money toward a home down payment instead of a traditional gift. Cash in a card, a cheque or an e-Transfer all work.

A card with cash or a cheque at the reception is still a common way to give. A cheque or an e-Transfer leaves a record, though, so the money isn’t lost if a card goes missing from the card box at a busy party. If you send an e-Transfer, mention it in the card so the couple knows to look for it.

If the couple has a registry, buying from it is always fine. Emily Post also says it’s fine to go in with friends on a bigger group gift, which can make a modest budget go further. And if you’re the one getting married, our guide to saving for a wedding in Canada covers the other side of the budget.

A head start on next year’s weddings

Setting aside $60 a week is easier to keep up when you get something for it each week. Lodavo is a free app that makes saving more rewarding: the bigger your savings balance, the more tickets you get in a weekly cash draw, with prizes up to $10,000 and at least $100 going to someone every week.

The money stays in your own savings or chequing account, so it’s ready when the trip and the gift come due. By June, a $1,900 balance would earn 76 tickets a week, and in the weeks before that, every $25 you’ve saved so far counts.

Start the wedding fund this week

Wedding season is easier when the money is already there. Download Lodavo free on the Apple App Store (opens in a new tab) or Google Play Store (opens in a new tab) and start earning tickets for the weekly draw while you save.

Terms and conditions apply. No purchase necessary (alternate method of entry available). Skill-testing question required. Open to legal residents of Canada who are the age of majority. Odds depend on the number of eligible entries received. Full rules and odds at our contest rules.