My mother has been invited to the wedding of the son of one of her friends. She is close to her friend, but doesn't know the son that well.
She happily accepted via response card. After accepting, she realized she needed a little more info regarding the time of day (her friend got a little confused and the invite was unclear), so I helped her log on to the wedding website.
The site laid out a timeline of about 10 hours. It also mentioned in no uncertain terms that they did not register for gifts because they just wanted cash for their honeymoon. My mother panicked because she is on a very limited income and really cannot afford to give a sizable amount of cash. It's a lot less awkward for a person with a small budget to just pick out the, say, $30 item off the registry than to shell out cash, as those amounts tend to be larger.
Because of the grueling day, and because of finances, she is thinking of changing her yes to a no. I have to admit, I'm on the fence here.
OTOH, she has said yes, and the wedding is 2 weeks away. It would also be nice for her to go and support her friend. On the other hand, she really doesn't want to show up with a small amount of cash. I suggested that she and the other elderly guests could leave after the cake-cutting but before the dancing, and that she could give some nice cloth napkins, as they are eco-friendly and practical, but she doesn't want to be the only one giving a non-cash gift.
Of course it's rude as hell that they are insisting on cash, but she doesn't want to out-tacky them by going back on her RSVP this late.