Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo not related to article. [Getty Images Bank]

A wedding gift envelope bearing four names contained only 80,000 won ($52) — leaving a groom stunned after the ceremony.

The story was shared on JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a TV current-affairs program, submitted by a groom identified only as A.

A said he was sorting through gift envelopes after his wedding when one stopped him cold. Four names were written on the outside, but inside was just 80,000 won in cash.

That works out to 20,000 won per person. A said the per-person meal cost at his venue was 59,000 won, meaning four attendees would have run up a food bill of roughly 236,000 won alone.

"I'm not even sure the names written on the envelope are real," A said, expressing disbelief.

The incident has reignited online debate over a practice known as "wedding undercover tours," in which couples planning their own weddings pose as guests at strangers' receptions to inspect venues firsthand. Unlike official venue tours arranged by the wedding hall, these covert visits allow couples to assess conditions in detail — from parking access and lobby congestion to restroom cleanliness and whether interior pillars obstruct sightlines. Checklists for such tours have already spread across wedding-planning cafes and blogs.

Many online commenters said the case was "in effect no different from a wedding undercover tour," given that the four apparent guests left a gift that did not even cover the cost of their meals.


choigo@heraldcorp.com