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I'm immensely grateful that my wife is from Hong Kong. Wedding gifts there take the form of cash in a red envelope, and it's normal to get married at a profit. When I explained to her that American weddings are usually held at a considerable loss, her reaction was to set the wedding budget to as close to zero as possible. I think the Hong Kong idea makes much more sense--a newly married couple needs a financial boost, not a debt burden.

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Yea I did weddings in both China and the US. (Way cheaper city in China than HK too). US wedding probably cost us $13-15k including plane tickets. Chinese wedding we were way up, but gave all the money to parent. She was lugging a giant bag of cash though.

If most people around you get married, there's no profit. It's, roughly, a zero sum game. Everyone gifts everyone money.

No really, if a lot of them (gift givers) are older family members (already married). In that case, you will pay back much later when you are that older family, so, at best, it's like a long-term loan when you needed most.

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