SINGAPORE: Are wedding ang bao rates becoming increasingly expensive? A man in Singapore recently decided not to attend his partner’s friend’s wedding after discovering that the expected ang bao for the venue was around S$400.
In a post on the r/askSingapore forum, the man said the wedding would be held at one of Singapore’s top hotels.
“I have not met this friend of my partner’s, so it feels nuts to me that I am paying that much for a meal with them, and I’ll barely be able to talk to them.”
The man initially told his partner that he did not want to attend. However, after seeing how upset she was at the thought of having to attend the wedding alone, he changed his mind.
That was until he checked the expected ang bao rate.
“Upon checking market rates, it’s S$400+. Yeah, I’ve decided not to go. I would have loved to go to that person’s wedding, but I’m not paying S$400 for you when I’ve spent $150 max on myself.”
“I could afford it, but right now, I literally just got a job after graduating, and I’d rather treat my family and myself.”
At the end of his post, he asked, “My main issue with this is why is my ang bao tied to the wedding venue? I want to bless the couple with a small gift for their special day, but it was their privileged choice that picked an expensive venue to begin with and weaponised cultural norms so they don’t have to pay out of pocket or even subsidise their choice. It’s a stupid culture, and some practices don’t need to be preserved.”
“She needs to grow up and eat alone”
In the comments, most Singaporean Redditors agreed that his partner should pay for his share if she wanted him to attend.
One wrote, “If you’re your partner’s +1, then your partner should pay. I’m sure your partner has other friends she can sit together with during the wedding?”
Another shared, “Yeahhh, my partner has paid for me multiple times, and I only go if I want to. If I know I won’t have fun, I don’t go!”
A third explained, “My husband and I have this agreement that for all his co-workers, I won’t attend any of their weddings if it’s in those expensive hotels. Same goes for my side. Just communicate. Else, someday your expectations for your BTO renovation will be $60k and hers will be $150k, and then you all are doomed.”
A fourth added, “Tell your girlfriend to be a big girl la, if it’s her friend, then she should obviously have more friends there, right? And even if she doesn’t… She needs to grow up and eat alone, la. Weddings are so damn expensive for no good reason and a complete waste of your ang bao if you don’t know both of them well.”
In other news, a 28-year-old woman took to social media to share that she’s been rather hesitant about moving abroad due to “filial piety.”
Sharing her dilemma on the r/asksg subreddit on Saturday (Aug 8), the woman said her parents were unhappy when they found out about the opportunity and told her they were “unwilling to travel long distances to visit her” if she moved abroad.
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