are these an antiquated thing of the past or a nice gesture when you've received a gift?

got engaged recently and we made sure to send thank you cards to everyone who gave us a gift but it occurred to me recently i'd been to a couple of weddings and given mates reasonably expensive gifts and hadn't received a thank you card, i know of some folk who send these for birthday presents too

ever sent one? do you expect one when you give wedding/engagement/happy hump day gifts?