LONDON, June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

While organising weddings may be expensive, it is not just the happy couple who have to fork out for their nuptials. As we approach the wedding season, research from online bank firstdirect reveals that, at a time when people are looking to reduce their outgoings, the average amount spent on a wedding gift in the UK has actually increased from £47 to just over £51 in the last year.

With the average UK wedding hosting 96 guests, this is a total gift value of £4,896¹ per wedding, which could amount to a £1.2billion wedding gift bill for UK guests over the course of a year. That's an increase of around £129m since 2011².

The age group likely to give the most is 18-24 year olds who plan to spend a whopping £63 on each gift. At the other end of the spectrum it seems 55-64 year olds don't splash their cash as readily and plan to spend £46, only slightly less than 2011's average.

There is also a division between the genders, as men are far more ready to splash their cash when buying a wedding gift, spending £61 on average compared with just £41 for women.

Across the UK, people from London are the most generous wedding guests, paying out on average £80 for wedding gifts, while people in the North East spend the least, at just under £38.

Bruno Genovese, SeniorSavings  Product Manager said,

"We all know that paying for a wedding is expensive for the father of the bride, or the couple if they are paying for it themselves. However, it can also be expensive to be a guest especially when you take into consideration the cost of a new outfit, a stay in a hotel and drinks at the reception. If you're lucky enough to have lots of friends and family getting married, now might be the time to start saving."

Table 1: Average spend on wedding gift by region

    Region     Average Spend
    Scotland   GBP47.42
    London     GBP80.28
    North East GBP37.72
    Wales      GBP49.46
    North West GBP42.57
    South West GBP38.71
    South East GBP55.18
    Midlands   GBP48.35
    Yorkshire  GBP49.12
    Eastern    GBP44.02
    UK Average GBP51.01

Notes to Editors

¹ £51 x 96 = £4,896.

² Total number of weddings per year is 241,100 (ONS, 2010). Based on average 96 guests per wedding (You and Your Wedding, December 2010) each offering a gift worth £51 total value of wedding gifts is £1,180,425,600 versus £1,051,250,880 in 2011. An increase of £129,174,720 in one year.

The survey was carried out by Dynamic Markets on behalf of first direct between 25^th and 27^th April 2012 amongst 2,015 members of the UK population aged over 18 years.

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first direct facts

• Winner of the Which? Best Financial Provider award 2 years running
• Top financial institution in the Which? Customer Satisfaction Survey with an all-time high of 93%
• Ranked first in the Retail Banking Satisfaction Study by J D Power & Associates for two years running
• Recently (Feb 2012) received 90% customer satisfaction in a survey carried out by MoneySavingExpert.com

first direct provides both telephone banking and online banking services to its 1.2m customers. It offers a full range of personal banking products including its award winning Current Account and offset mortgages.

SOURCE first direct