A newlywed Malaysian woman recently took to the XUAN Play Facebook page to share her outrage after her wedding guests had apparently given her red packets that didn’t meet her expectations.
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The bride explained that she meant to get married 4 years ago, but the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and ruined her plans. Having waited until this year, she explained that she chose to opt out of her desired beach wedding due to the venue being too remote. She decided on a garden wedding instead.
But, she also encountered a new problem: the increase in prices of goods and services following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Everyone knows that the prices of everything increased after the MCO, especially wedding banquets and wedding photo-related expenses, which have increased by 2 to 3 times. The prices of many venues I originally looked at had also tripled. In the end, I reluctantly chose an ideal location,”
“Although it is not cheap, at least it is the place of my dreams.”
The bride then went on to share how her wedding had made her realise who among her guests she can truly consider friends, and this is all based on how much money they gave in their red packets.
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“My husband and I only invited 100 people, so everyone was considered a VIP in my mind. Though, the question is, when I treat people as VIPs, what do they treat me as?”
She went on to berate her colleagues for “only” giving her RM120 per red packet.
“HELLO! It is 2024, do they think the price of a banquet is still RM120 per person? Have you woken up? Do you think the prices from 20 years ago still apply? We have to pay 16% tax and for alcohol too. Do you think my wedding banquet is Haidilao? I think eating at Haidilao is more expensive than RM120,” she said.
She then placed one particular colleague in her crosshairs, a woman who is apparently the wife of a businessman.
“One of my colleagues said at the very beginning that she wanted to book 3 seats because she was bringing her husband and daughter. Her daughter is already 13 years old, so she is considered an adult. My dinner costs more than RM200 per person, will she pay RM600 for 3 people?”
“She always says that she married a boss, I believe that a boss’ wife should not be ignorant about market prices.”
However, the woman’s husband had to back out of attending the wedding at the last minute, and the bride asked if the husband should still pay for his seat as his place at her wedding dinner was already booked.
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In the end, the bride found someone else to attend so that she didn’t have to waste the cost of a guest’s meal.
“I found a really loyal person who was willing to attend and knew the market prices, and paid at least RM200. The colleague came with her 13-year-old daughter, and the 2 of them only paid RM228. You read that right, RM228! RM114 per person,”
“She really thought her daughter was a baby and didn’t have to pay because her husband didn’t attend. In the end, the total for these 4 people was only RM468! My wedding is lower in class even to Haidilao,” she ranted.
Cannot afford? Don’t come!
She ultimately decided that she was no longer going to be friendly with her colleagues at work and condemned people for attending her wedding when they “cannot afford” to.
“If they were fresh graduates, I might be able to forgive them. But, have you ever thought about why a bride should lose money for you? If you can’t afford it, don’t say you want to attend. After all, I also earned my hard-earned money and treated you like VIPs,”
“If you can’t afford it, don’t book 3 seats. Put yourself in my shoes. If I go to your wedding and only give you RM120, what would you think? It’s 2024, please wake up!” she ended.
Malaysians have since called out the bride for her rather skewed reason for inviting guests to her wedding.
“It turns out that your purpose is to make money from your wedding banquet. It’s okay, it didn’t work this time so just do it a few more times. Get up whenever you fall.”
“You shouldn’t need others to pay for your wedding! If you want it to be grand, you should fork it out yourself.”
“In short, if you can’t afford to spend, then don’t invite people. No one is obligated to pay for your dream wedding.”
“I feel very lucky that I am not your friend.”
What do you think of the bride’s mindset of having guests cover the cost of her wedding banquet? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
