Red Packets Please

I follow Jeremy Au Yong's column at the Life! section of the papers regularly. His witty, sceptical remarks never fail to amuse me. Today's discussion was on a recent case of an online rant made by this woman who just got married recently.Turns out that one of her invited guests failed to produce a red packet during the wedding dinner. This woman then twitted about it and asked the party the reason for failure of doing so. Her exact words were: Hey, my hubby and I checked through our red packets for our wedding dinner which nyou attended but we did not see any from you. Did you wrote your name on yours for our matrimony? In the event you cant give a love offering due to unforeseen circumstances, it is still basic courtesy to let us know as my family were counting against the guest list but we did not see yours. Reproduced from stomp.com.sg.

This has caused such a huge ruckus online. Again, look at the mess social media has created. Who in the right mind would post such a comment online? And not to privatise the message in the first place.... I believe the couple has the right to confront the party but please do it in private. Send the party a sms or give him or her a call instead of publicizing it online. I wouldnt exactly condone their acts because it reflects how narrowminded they are. Do you hold weddings dinners with the mindset that you gonna get back a portion or the full sum of the money you spent? Wrong, double wrong. You should be prepared that you are going to make a loss. Besides that, these are sunk costs. Red packets just signify a token of appreciation from the guests and there is no hard and fast rule which states that red packets are compulsory in such events. I believe the guest came with the intention of giving the couple blessings, that's why he or she  did not prepare red packets. Perhaps it's just a simple case of I-left-my-red-packet-at-home. Is it worth getting upset on such a happy occasion over this? If such a thing happened at my wedding, I think I'll just close one eye...and who tallies the red packets against the guest list?! Hmmm, maybe the older generation does that. If money is that important in the first place, then there isnt a need to hold a wedding feast. My mom feels otherwise though. Haha.... she says the guest should not have attended if he or she has no intention of giving a red packet. She thinks the guest just wants to have a good feast. There's really no free lunch in this world. Hahaha... Continue to eat la, you gonna pay for it someday. Hahaha. Moral of the story: Red packets are mandatory in Singapore during wedding feasts. Be prepared for some outlash if you do not give one. Be prepared for more outlash if you give one with only 2 bucks! Hahaha.