x-post - what to give as a wedding gift when you cant go?

so friends of ours got married last weekend and me and FH couldnt make their wedding.

we're actually missing another one of FH's friends wedding next weekend due to FH's damn job . The wedding next weekend is one of my fiance's best friends (he was actually supposed to be a GM) and FH took it upon himself to buy up all their china that wasnt bought off their registry and send it them as a gift (i still cant believe he did this im afraid to look at the credit card bill ) anyway we obviously cant afford to do this for the other couple and they dont have a registry anyway, just wondering what we should send? should we send the same cash amount in a check that we would if we had gone to the wedding? whats appropiate? i always try to give everyone the same but him buying the china threw me for a loop plus we had to miss the wedding.

if i don't go to a wedding and it's not a close friend, i give a $50-100 gift. if it was a close friend, i'd probably still send the gift i wanted to give them at the wedding (generally in the $300-500 range), esp if i knew they were coming to mine in a few months...

but that's just me