May has begun, which officially means wedding season has begun too. And every year the same scene repeats itself - WhatsApp groups, Google searches, the dedicated question over coffee with friends: how much should I give at a wedding? Spanish tabloid coverage offers numbers. The Balkans, honestly, have the same numbers - except no one here dares write them down.

Gisela Principe, a Spanish wedding planner from the agency „Operación Boda", gives a direct answer: in 2026, a typical wedding gift in Spain falls between 150 and 250 euros per person. For a close relative or friend - more. For a work colleague or acquaintance - less. In big cities like Madrid and Barcelona - more. In smaller towns and at regional weddings - less. Same as in the Balkans.

The real cost per guest at a wedding - according to Principe - is between 200 and 350 euros. At luxury venues it can be even higher. That means a guest who gives 150 euros isn't actually covering even their own seat. That is important information for anyone living in the pretty illusion that „the gift covers the roast".

Principe adds something interesting: „A wedding is a celebration that the couple themselves decided to organise. The gift shouldn't be seen as payment for attendance, but as a gesture of affection." In the Balkans that line gets accepted on paper and rejected in practice. Give 50 euros at someone's wedding here and the gossip starts the same day.

Macedonian gifts in 2026 aren't as different as they look. Between 150 and 300 euros per person for relatives and close friends, between 100 and 150 euros for work colleagues. The difference is in how it's given - in Spain there's a discreet card with a bank account on the invitation or the wedding website. With us it goes in an envelope and into a dedicated box at the entrance. Same process, different finesse.

The question no one asks out loud is - how long does the marriage need to last for the gift to pay off? If the gift is 250 euros and the couple divorces in two years, do you get half back? There's no rule. In the Balkans, lawyers handle it. In the West, quiet forgetting handles it. But the real maths - at 100 weddings a year, the average person spends several thousand euros. A gesture of affection or a ritual that has become a compulsory expense? A question for your own conscience.