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The best example I have is an aspect of the gift giving that Bruno hasn't covered yet: things the couple didn't ask for, and probably don't want. Now, I've heard that many people find registries offensive. I have no idea why!

Right, yes. I'd always thought wedding registries were a bit cynical and distasteful, until the first wedding I went to where I was "behind the scenes" a bit (my cousin), and all of a sudden I realised what the problem was they were trying to solve...
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bowls (each about two feet tall), and we have absolutely nowhere to put them.

...and in fact it was bowls that did my cousin in: all very nice bowls, mind you, but so many of them and so impractical. Four more side-plates for their dinner-service or whatever might not seem so glamorous, but they got used and cherished and so by any standards were the Better Gift.

The other thing I'll add to the whole price/performance side of weddings is that, of course, the expense of the event is largely determined by how wealthy the couple or their parents are, whereas the expense of the gifts is largely determined by how wealthy each individual guest is. Unless all your guests are from precisely your social stratum, there's going to be disparities there. And in fact a wedding conducted on a lowish budget can be a sign that maybe the couple could do with a bit of extra consideration in the gift department.

It also depends on the couple's circumstances: a lot of these traditions came into being at a time when couples were almost invariably setting up home for the first time simultaneously with getting married. Which still does happen, of course, but I bet it's not the majority case any more. Most weddings I've been to, one or both of the couple had been living independently anyway, and starting their lives together was more about getting rid of duplicate household items than any need for new ones...

Peter