TORONTO, June 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Between wedding showers, engagement parties and ceremonies, the cost of celebrating the happy couple can put a strain on guests' budgets during wedding season. In fact, according to a recent survey from digital offers site RetailMeNot.ca, Canadians plan to spend an average total of $776* on wedding-related gifts for each wedding they attend this year! This could be why a majority of Canadians (81 per cent) feel the cost to attend weddings has climbed and nearly two-thirds (65 per cent) think weddings are a financial burden for guests.

"Seventy-seven per cent of Canadians feel brides and grooms are throwing more lavish weddings to keep up with the Joneses, which puts pressure on guests to purchase impressive gifts," says Kristen Nelson for RetailMeNot, Inc. "When shopping from a gift registry, be sure to search for coupons and sales that apply to the items on their wish list. Additionally, going in on a big gift with a couple of friends or co-workers is a great way to maximize your budget and increase the overall impact of your gift."

It's not just gift costs that are wearing on wedding guests' budgets; new outfits also take a big slice of the cake. Wedding guests spend an average of $325 to look their best on someone else's big day. Surprisingly, men outspend women on new wedding attire by $334! To watch their bottom line, savvy ladies look for ways to save by borrowing outfits (33 per cent) and jewelry (39 per cent) to avoid outfit repeats and keep costs low.

Looking for additional ways to save this wedding season, 42 per cent of Canadians plan to research online before buying a gift in-store, and 23 per cent have searched for a coupon or promotion for wedding gifts in the past. In fact, the penny pinch is so intense that nearly half of Canadians (47 per cent) will opt out of attending a wedding altogether if they cannot afford a gift.

More than half of the country (53 per cent) believes brides and grooms expect too much from wedding guests, however brides and grooms are not the only ones with great expectations. According to the survey, guests decide the value of their gift based on the expected wedding experience. For example, Canadians spend more on gifts for weddings with an open bar versus those with a cash bar ($148 versus $103). Additionally, a close family member will also receive the highest value gift at $231 per person while a casual co-worker receives an average of $80, making for some potentially awkward water-cooler moments.

Other survey findings include:

• Cash is king: 54 per cent of Canadians prefer to give cash, making it the most popular gift option;

• Hostess with the mostess: 91 per cent of Canadians who have had a wedding in the past believe that today's weddings have gotten more expensive to host;

• Head-count headaches: The average guest count for a Canadian wedding is 102 attendees;

• Love-hate relationship: The reception is the part of the wedding guests enjoy the most (83 per cent,) while the high price tag to attend weddings is the strongest dislike (72 per cent);

• Save a little, share a little: Half of Canadians wish that couples or the store would let them know when a coupon is available for a gift on the couple's wish list;

• Couples pay for their own soiree: 55 per cent of those who have had a wedding paid for the majority of it from their own pocket.

Additionally, to help Canadians stretch their summer funds further, RetailMeNot.ca partnered with Smart Cookies co-founder, Angela Self, to get her advice on how to save money during wedding season. You can view the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1FR-JjCaUA

About the survey:

From May 6 to May 7 2015 an online survey was conducted among 1,507 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to education, age, gender and region (and in Quebec, language) Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

*total amount spent on gifts per person for all wedding-related occasions, including the ceremony gift, engagement party gift, bridal shower gift and stag and doe gift

About RetailMeNot, Inc.

RetailMeNot, Inc. (http://www.retailmenot.com/corp/) operates the world's largest marketplace for digital offers. The company enables consumers across the globe to find hundreds of thousands of digital offers for their favorite retailers and brands. During the 12 months ended March 31, 2015, RetailMeNot, Inc. experienced more than 720 million visits to its websites, and during the three months ended March 31, 2015, monthly mobile unique visitors totaled 18.4 million. In 2014, RetailMeNot, Inc. estimates $4.4 billion in paid retailer sales were attributable to consumer traffic from digital offers in its marketplace. The RetailMeNot, Inc. portfolio includes RetailMeNot.com, the largest digital offer marketplace in the United States; RetailMeNot.ca in Canada; VoucherCodes.co.uk, the largest digital offers marketplace in the United Kingdom; Deals.com in Germany; Actiepagina.nl, a leading digital offers site in the Netherlands; Bons-de-Reduction.com and Ma-Reduc.com, leading digital offers sites in France; Poulpeo.com, a leading digital offers site with cash back in France; and Deals2Buy.com, a leading digital offers site in North America. RetailMeNot, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker symbol "SALE." Investors interested in learning more about the company can visit http://investor.retailmenot.com.

For interview requests or more information, please contact:

Erin Banting
Citizen Relations 
416 934 8422 office 
416 414 8637 mobile 
erin.banting@citizenrelations.com

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