How much I spend at a wedding depends on how much money I have at the time and how close I am to the people (I've never known how much my food at the reception cost, so I wouldn't base my gift amount on that). I think that in most cases, around $100 is reasonable, although at weddings I've attended, $100 times the number of guests wouldn't come near to paying for the wedding.
Personally, I would never give cash as a gift, but plenty of people do. I always buy off the registry if there is one, because couples often go to a lot of trouble to register for gifts, and I'd much rather get them something they want than something I think is really cool and they might not like.
Also, it's one of the most common misconceptions in the world that you have a year after the wedding to send a gift. That's just not true, and the bride and groom do not have a year to send thank you notes. I think it's best to send the gift to the couple before the wedding, so they don't have the inconvenience of dealing with gifts at the actual wedding.
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A hiney bird is a bird that flies in perfectly executed, concentric circles until it eventually flies up its own behind and poof! disappears forever....
-Ken Harrelson
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