When I received a wedding invitation from my friends Jiyeon Kim and Olof Norlander this year, I knew exactly where I would pick up their wedding present: the bank.
The two had already married in Uppsala, Sweden, where they live, but Kim’s father wanted the newlyweds to have a second ceremony in Changwon, South Korea, where he had spent years attending the weddings of his friends’ and colleagues’ children.
As is tradition, he gave the marrying couples envelopes of cash known in Korean as chug-ui-geum, or congratulatory money. Having a wedding in South Korea would allow him not only to share the joyous occasion with his family and friends, but also to offset the costs of the event with reciprocated cash gifts from attendees.