Newlyweds prefer cash, the new pandemic king

After the first year of the pandemic put many nuptials on ice, Americans started getting married with a vengeance when summer arrived.

Even now, couples are still rushing to tie the knot — albeit with additional precautions given the latest infection wave.

Were it any other time, this matrimonial flood would have family and friends scrambling to buy gifts, a prospect made worse this year because of supply-constrained retailers and pumpedup prices.

But there’s a silver lining to this race to the altar that may make your task a little easier: All newlyweds seem to want is cash.

About 80% of couples on wedding registry and planning website Zola receive money, according to the company. Meanwhile, roughly 30% more cash gifts were created and given via the online platform The Knot from

January to July compared with the same period two years ago, the company said. Honeymoon funds are the most popular ask, but virus-weary couples also are requesting money to pay for romantic dinners, massages and even fertility treatments.

“The pandemic has made society in general rethink priorities,” said Kristen Maxwell Cooper, vice president at The Knot. An experiences-over-materialthings mentality is “resonating with more and more people.”

COVID-19 helped accelerate the adoption of cash gifts, which already were gaining popularity as people became more comfortable with asking for money. After all, millennials and Generation Z came of age in the Gofundme era and thus are less likely than their elders to see crowdfunding as unseemly.

There’s also the fact that Americans are getting married older, which often means couples already have enough of the