Gripes over gifts: wedding guests pay more to attend

The extra costs for wedding guests add up to a big gift haul for the newlyweds: 50 gifts at an average of £79 each would make for nearly £4000 worth of extra contents crossing the threshold with them, and a bigger crowd or more generous guests could easily drive that figure much higher.
Andrew Morrell, Home Insurance expert at Direct Line, says:

"Newlyweds and their parents know how expensive it is to put on a wedding, but they will hopefully only ever do it once, whereas guests facing a season full of invitations have to pay over and over again. The newlyweds should relax and enjoy their wedding and honeymoon, but when they get back they need to face the pile of presents and try to estimate the value to make sure they have enough contents insuranceto cover everything they’ve been given."

The survey showed a big difference in gift spending between men and women and between the regions of the country. Men proved to be the most generous, saying they plan to spend an average of £85 per wedding gift, while women look after the pennies a little more closely, spending just £73.

The East of England came in as the most miserly lot when buying wedding gifts, saying they will spend just £46 on average. Northern Irish people are the most generous by comparison, saying they will splash out £158 on each wedding gift they buy. Londoners were the second biggest spenders at £109 per gift, closely followed by Scottish people at £100 per gift.

UK Region – Amount spent per gift (average)

East of England - £46.11
Wales - £56.82
East Midlands - £60.77
South East - £66.45
West Midlands - £66.82
Yorkshire and Humberside - £75.64
North West - £79.68
North East - £81.18
South West - £83.73
Scotland - £100.43
London - £108.87
Northern Ireland - £158.22

Andrew Morrell, Head of Home Insurance at Direct Line, continues:

"A lot of money is spent on wedding gifts, even in the midst of a recession, although some parts of the country seem to be more willing to give generously than others. The results of our survey might give couples planning a wedding something to think about when making a final guest list."
Direct Line raises its contents cover automatically for the four weeks before and after the wedding of the policy holder or their family member. This is by 5% of the contents sum insured with a Home Insurance policy, and by 20% of the contents sum insured with a Home Insurance Plus policy.

For further details on home insurance from Direct Line, visit www.directline.com
For more information contact:

Erica Nelson
Direct Line Press Office
0208 313 5830
07919 218045
Email: Erica(dot)Nelson(at)rbs(dot)co(dot)uk

Notes to editors
*Opinium Research carried out an online poll of 2,017 British adults from 30 April to 4 May 2010. Results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria. [OP1524 www.opinium.co.uk.

Direct Line

Started in 1985, Direct Line became the first UK insurance company to use the telephone as its main channel of communication. It provides car, home, travel and pet insurance cover direct to customers by phone or online.

Direct Line is part of RBS Insurance, the second largest general insurer in the UK and is wholly owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Customers can find out more about Direct Line products or get a quote by calling 0845 246 3564 or visiting directline.com

Direct Line Insurance plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered office: 3 Edridge Road, Croydon, Surrey CR9 1AG. Registered in England and Wales no. 01810801. The Financial Services Authority's Register can be accessed through www.fsa.gov.uk.

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