I just went to my fianc??? co-worker?? wedding yesterday and the couple getting married must have profited handsomely from the wedding.? Let me paint you the scenario.? The married couple held the weeding in a church, where they put out some benches and plastic chairs in one of the large rooms inside for about 100 people to have dinner.? The food was catered from some Korean restaurant (which was not enough for 100 people) and they bought some bottles of sodas where we could share using plastic cups.? To make the long story short, the wedding seemed more like a house party with friends.
Normally, there is no problem having an ??fficient??wedding but I saw many people at the wedding having a weird expression the whole time.? I asked my fianc? if she knew why and she explained to me that many Koreans are pretty generous with their gift to wedding couples as many of the wedding ceremonies they attend are held in high class establishments.? The gifts are often in cash and can range from $100 to even $500 per person!? She was guessing that the older generation probably did not like the fact that they gave out $500 dollars per person for a buffet.
To do a little calculation, let?? assume that they ended up getting $100 per person from 100 people.? This turns out to be $10,000, deducting the wedding expense of say $2000 (could even be $1000 if you really ask me); they pocketed $8000.
I know that Americans are into real gifts and lately have started giving out gift cards so many do not really give cash.? If you were getting married,?would you really want cash since it’s the most practial?? Would you want to give cash if you are attending someone else’s?
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I wish people I know would give me $500 dollars per person for my wedding!
I think I actually got cookies as a gift.
I believe your fiancee’s co-worker is more practical. He might have thought, To hell with what the world thinks.
He got the money and that’s it. But still $500? I wouldnt even want to attend a wedding where i would have to give a $100 gift.
I would simply excuse myself off. Am not going to waste so much money on someone even if they are my best friends. I rather gift something where the price of the gift is difficult to ascertain.
Yeah he is definitely very practical (if he intended to make so much money)
I was surprised when I heard $500 too but apparently that was true for some korean families.
I would be happy if everyone on average gave $50 for my upcoming wedding. I have heard of many gift card overload stories
I’m Korean and I did indeed get cash from my Korean guests. I didn’t mind the cash at all–I wasn’t really into doing the registry thing (do I really need china?) and so the cash was welcomed.
Your fiance is right–it is a tradition for Koreans to attend weddings of various friend’s children and give cash as a way to give them a head start in their lives together. They generally leave shortly after.. the Korean contingent at my wedding all migrated out together after the dinner.
I should add the avg was about $300 per person…
sadiebelle,
Geez! I thought this story was a little over the top but it is apparently true!
Great to hear that you also got an avg of $300 per person and hopefully you made lots of money with this! (give me some okay?)
Hehe… well considering we spent about $100/head, we didn’t make out as much as I’d like, but I think we did ok. Gotta love those Korean traditions
$200 per person is pretty profitable in my books. Considering a wedding of 100 people, that’s $20,000 dollars for something people don’t normally see as a profit opportunity!
I had a friend once who was half Korean. She received some large amounts like that at her wedding-she said that it is a cultural thing where people will actually pay back loans to the parents or to other family members by giving the money as a gift to the children at their wedding.
I’m not sure how true that is, it is just what she told me.
Jenn,
We might have to rely on our korean friend sadiebelle on answer your question, but I doubt many Koreans lend money out to everyone else. Even if it was the case, I’m sure the money people lend out is concentrated to a few people unless they own a bank or something in which lending to tons of people is a standard business.
Well, let’s not get crazy, it is usually a cash gift per couple, not person as I stated above, sorry about that. And the amount of money that you give correlates to what your relationship is to the family (if you’re close you give more). I received checks ranging from $50 to $500. My sister made out better than I did, she made over $10K and I made a little under $5K (she had a larger wedding).
Hmm, well I haven’t heard of the payback of loans, although funny enough, there is a Korean wedding custom called P’yebaek where brides/grooms bow to family, they exchange some words, then the family presents at the end of the bow a small gift of food or… more cash! woo-hoo!
5k is no small amount and 10k is even better! I envy your family!!!
I would be happy if we comes out even in our wedding!
P’yebaek, hmm.. I wonder if we can have that in our wedding too.
If I was Korean, I’d get married every other year!
You forgot about the fact that you have to share half your earnings with your ex-wives if you re-marry so many times
Disclaimer: I love my fiancee.
now i know i’m a little late in the convo but what about multi cultural weddings.. you’ve mention koreans traditions. now what if you include a chinese tradition tea ceremony.. the newlyweds get ‘Lai See’ and Gold jewellery from the families as well the extended families. would that tips teh scale slightly more? (assuming the family and relatives are generous)