You are not alone...

If you're thinking that you might be the only one out there wanting to ask for money as a wedding gift, you're not alone in this.

As I had written in the last post, American Express developed a "Wedding Etiquette" survey with the help of Emily Post (emilypost.com) back in 2001 as part of a $20,000 Dream Wedding promotion in which American Express, WeddingChannel.com and The Emily Post Institute, Inc. offered two lucky couples $20,000 toward their dream weddings. The survey was conducted via WeddingChannel.com from January-March 2001, with more than 66,000 brides- and grooms-to-be responding. 42% of those surveyed were concerned with "how to request money as a wedding gift" so obviously, at least 42% of them wanted money as a wedding gift.

In 2000, the wedding web site giant corporation, The Knot conducted a wedding-gift poll and "today's brides and grooms would much rather receive cash gifts for their weddings over traditional items." 45% percent rank money on top of their wish lists.

As part if their survey, they asked how much did they expect their guests to spend.
66% expected their guests to spend $50-$100
18% expected less than $50
16% expected $100-$200
and 1.5% expected over $200!

Shameless plug for WeddingFutures.com here - the portfolio registries offered - Conservative, Moderate, and Agressive (all named for their unique risk tolerances) as well as the Socially Responsible and the Green portfolio registries all contain a wide range of stocks and mutual funds of varying prices so your guests are able to invest as much as they're comfortable doing.
-keaton