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I'm going to a wedding back home in March that will be the most expensive to date. Airfare, dress, new shirt and tie, nights out, gifts, and activities for the "wedding weekend" will add up to approximately $700. I think I got off cheap as we are staying for free at my grandma's (she's in Palm Springs for the winter) and using her car.
I've been lucky to not have had to ever fly to a wedding, so travel costs have always been minimal. I have to say, though, buying a new dress, a shirt/tie for the hubbby can increase the cost quickly after you also buy the gift.
Probably about $1000 - airfare/hotel for Vegas bachelorette (I wasn't in the wedding, but still invited to the bachelorette party), airfare and rental car for the wedding (I stayed with a friend's parents to save money), and shower and wedding gift for the couple. I went on my own to save some money.
As a guest I spent roughly $400 for flights, $250+ for a hotel room (for 2 nights), $150 for a gift. I had dinner and drinks the first night (roughly $80) and food the next two days (roughly $100).
I drove to one where the hotel cost $150/night (and no other hotel options)... and the driving cost $450 in gas... so $300 for hotel, $450 gas, plus a hotel on the way ($100) and probably $150 of other misc travel expenses like food... so yeah, about a grand.
We went to Mexico for a wedding - hotel, airfare, transfers to the hotel for the 2 of us was just under $3,000 for 3 nights. We brought a small gift (under $50 to that). Then, they had a full reception about 5 hours from us, for that, we brought a gift (over $100), then for travel and hotel, probably spent another $400. So, around $3,500.
But typically, for an out-of-town wedding, we spend about $500 (if we don't have to fly)
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I think around $900 having to fly from the opposite coast and pay for a hotel, gifts, etc, but we were able to attend two weddings on the same day (one was a brunch wedding and one was an evening affair) so it was worth it. We would have spent around the same to attend just one, but this time we got lucky.
Hmmmm... so much that I'm scared to add it all up! :) Probably about $4000-$5000... it was all the way across the country, at a super expensive hotel, I was a bridesmaid so I had to have a particular dress, shoes, etc etc. But it was worth it!
I have had two that were super expensive. One outside London, in August (when flights are pricey) at a super fancy resort in the middle of nowhere ($500/night). It was probably $3500-4000. Not happy about that one at all, was quite self centered of the couple I thought - although they lived in london, were from CA and NY so had 90% of their guests fly over (and they mvoed back to nyc 6 months later!) They didn't get that not everyone is as wealthy as they are. Oh, and they registered and clearly expected gifts.
The second was in Argentina, with a ton of advance notice, and the bride & groom paid for all of our room and board for 3 days. No gifts allowed. For the flights we spend abotu $3000 and then I stayed another week, but not factoring in that money......
Every wedding we have gone to has been local. We end up getting hotel rooms, just because it is fun to hang out with all the other guests. For just the wedding day/night, I think the most I have spent is probably around $350.00. I would love if a friend chose a destination wedding in an exotic locale as well! I know some people are put off by destination weddings, but I think it is a great opportunity to go somewhere fun with lots of friends and family, which my family always talks about, but never does.
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I am not a big fan of destination weddings. I think it's a terrible thing to do to your friends and family based on my experience. It costs a small fortune for the guests, but the bride/groom get off pretty easy. Some friends of mine got married on St. Thomas at an "all-inclusive" resort. The bride and groom got their room comped for bringing in so many guests. The rehearsal dinner didn't cost them a thing because it was held at one of the restaurants on the property. Guests that stayed at other hotels had to pay $50 for a "day pass" at the hotel in order to go to the wedding. The hotel was $300/night and included food and drinks... if you can stomach cafeteria food for days on end. (The food was awful!) The flight was $500/person. As a couple, we spent over $2,000.
We just spent about $900 on a semi destination wedding (about an 1 1/2 hour drive away). $160 for the hotel, $200 gift, $200 on a new suit for FI (it is one of his best friends, and he sort of wanted a suit anyway :) ), misc money on food and gas for 2 days and a $200 (because it was a state trooper!) speeding ticket on the way there!
I would say about $1000, which includes bridesmaids dress, flight, hotel, gift, and other miscellaneous money spent on the trip.
I can't believe how much some of these weddings have cost to attend! Holy smokes. 
I would say close to $1000 when i've been a bridesmaid in the wedding. Luckily we haven't had to fly to too many weddings. We were sadly unable to attend one recently though due to cost of airefare.
I'm in a wedding as a bridesmaid this summer that will probably end up costing a lot...if I think about adding it up we're probably looking at about $500-$700. Wow, that's a lot more than I expected.
We have flown to Ireland for a wedding, which we turned into a vacation so $5,000. I had a wedding in San Fran (we live in NYC) so that was probably $2,000 ( I was in it with a $300 dress, $100 hair, $100 make up. I had another wedding in St Barths we used some miles for that but it was probably $4,000 all in. I had another one in Bahamas so that was probably $2,000. Come to think of it almost all my friends did desination weddings. We have another one in Mexico this year, the bride and groom are flying us there but we are paying for the hotel rooms so that is $350 a night. Wow it's really scary if you add all this up! Oh yeah and one in Nashville in a month. Yikes I don't want to think about what we have spent!
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same as EK, vegas bachelorette party (which I leave for tomorrow!) oot wedding, so another flight, hotel for three nights and rental car, shower and wedding gifts, plus i'm in the wedding so there's the dress, hair done, nails done etc, so probably closer to 1500. worth it for a best friend :)
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In 2007, Mr. Bee and I attended 8 weddings, most of which required flying. Each of those traveling weddings easily ended up costing over 1k to attend. Two plane tickets, 2+ nights hotel, car rental, wedding gift... it really adds up!
Luckily we're at the stage in life where most of our friends are having babies instead of getting married, so the number of weddings we attend have dramatically gone down. But I'd still love to attend a destination wedding at some exotic locale!
What's the most you've spent as a guest of a wedding?