whats a good amount to give?VERY LONG

Ok I have a lot of weddings coming upand am not sure what to give. The first one I am in and I have heard differnt opinions on this matter. I have heard that if you are in a wedding you are obviously close to the bride and or groom and therefore should give more money b/c it is an honor to be asked to be in the wedding party and you should give a nice gift. now the person I heard this from is in fact the bride but let me just say so you dont think my friend is nasty or anythig she said this long before she was engaged it wasnt like she was hinting to me anbout how much I should give her.
Now the other thing I have heard and I tend to agree with not to sound cheap or anythign id say that you give what you can aford basically of course within reason i am not talking $50 a couple but i mean with out being cheap give what you can afford. If you are extremely close then yes give some more if you can affford it. i mean whatever $$ i give to my friend whose wedding is coming up I wll certainly give more than let say to the wedding we have right before hers wheres its a coworkers of my FH. So any opinions are appreciated!! Sorry so long

I am a bit removed from this, because in my culture (I am Russian) money is the ONly appropriate thing to give to the newlyweds at the reception and the amount tends to get a bit larger. But from what I understand and from talking to a co-worker whos wedding we recently attended and who was also a guest at my wedding, $100 is the general amount one person gives to a couple. If you are really very close, it's obviously more. When my friend got married 3 years ago, I was her MOH. I gave them $400. It's a lot but she and her DH are also my very, very good and very close friends. Also, she didn't want any b-parties or anything of that sort, and i was the only person in her bridal party so I wore my own dress. So, i really wanted to give a very 'special' amount, because i couldn't really do anything else for her. (She specifically said -NO Bachelorrette party!)

I hope my rambling on helped you in some way!

I say give what you can - My close friends and family I try and save up for and give them something nice. For a not so close friend or Co-worker I would at least cover my and FH's plate cost and then try and give $50 - $100 extra on top of that figure.
If you are strapped for cash and feel like you would like to give more than you can afford at the time of the wedding remember (although most people do not do this) you have a year to give the couple a gift, so if you would like to save up a bit more you could hold on for a month or two. But be sure to tell the bride or groom so they don't think that you stiffed them or that they lost your card. And remember to send the gift as soon as you have enough !!!
If your forgetful this is not a good idea !

give what you can afford...

If you can afford $300 for the couple..that is generous...if you can only do $200 thats ok too..I would think that your friend understands and respects your financial situation

btw: my BM gave us a nice check but asked us not to deposit until the 1st of the month...lol...