How Much Money to Give at a Korean Wedding in 2026
In short
- The safe default for a friend is ₩100,000. The most common amount people actually give is ₩50,000, a single banknote.
- Koreans asked what the right amount is say ₩130,000 if they are unmarried and ₩290,000 if they are married. Nobody gives that.
- A Seoul wedding hall charges the couple a median ₩80,000 per plate, so ₩50,000 does not cover your seat and ₩100,000 barely does.
- If you bring a partner, double it. Two people eating on one ₩100,000 envelope is the single most resented thing a Korean guest can do.
Korea is the only country in this series where the honest answer requires two numbers, because what Koreans say the gift should be and what Koreans actually give are almost three times apart, and both figures are published.
What people say, and what people do
In August 2026 the matchmaking firm Gayeon asked 1,008 people aged 25 to 39 what a proper chugiuigeum, the wedding envelope, should contain for a friend’s wedding. The unmarried half of the sample said ₩130,000. The married half said ₩290,000. The results were reported by Segye Ilbo and Economist Korea at the end of the month.
Now the other number. NH Bank looked at what its customers actually transferred to wedding accounts between 2023 and 2025, and the 2025 average came out at ₩117,000. More usefully, here is the distribution:
| Amount transferred | Share of transfers |
|---|---|
| ₩50,000 | 42.3% |
| ₩100,000 | 39.7% |
| ₩200,000 | 7.5% |
Eight transfers in ten are one of two numbers. The stated norm of ₩290,000 appears essentially nowhere.
The averages are moving, though, and in one direction. Across 5.33 million transactions the ₩50,000 share fell from 46.5% to 42.3% between 2023 and 2025 while the ₩100,000 share rose from 36.1% to 39.7%, carrying the national average to ₩117,000 and the Seoul average to ₩134,000. When every gift is a recorded precedent, the number only ever ratchets upward.
This is not hypocrisy so much as a country in the middle of an argument with itself, and if you are a foreign guest it is genuinely useful, because it means ₩100,000 is unimpeachable. It sits at the top of what people do and comfortably below what anybody demands out loud.
Why married Koreans want more than twice as much
The 2.2x gap between the two halves of that survey is the whole culture in one statistic.
Ask an unmarried Korean how they choose the number and 76.7% say it comes down to how close they are to the person. Ask a married Korean and closeness still leads at 70.7%, but the second answer is the one that matters: 60.6% said they base it on what that person gave at their own wedding.
The envelope is not really a present. It is an entry in a ledger that both families keep, sometimes literally in a notebook, and it will be called in when your turn comes. Koreans call this pumasi, the old farming custom of trading labour between households at harvest. You are not congratulating the couple so much as lending to them, and married people have already been on the receiving end and know exactly what the market rate turned out to be.
The third married answer explains the rest of the gap. 39.2% factor in whether they are bringing a spouse, because they have stood at a reception desk and watched two people walk in on one envelope.
The plate is the floor, and in Seoul it is high
Korean weddings mostly happen in dedicated wedding halls that charge the couple per head against a guaranteed minimum. The Korea Consumer Agency surveyed Seoul halls in June 2026 and found a median cost of ₩80,000 per plate against a median guaranteed minimum of 200 people, which puts the median catering bill alone at ₩15.84 million, as reported by Segye Ilbo.
Set that beside the modal ₩50,000 gift and the arithmetic is uncomfortable. The most common envelope in Korea covers roughly two thirds of the food it buys, and a couple arriving together on ₩100,000 covers well under half of theirs.
So the practical rules, in order of how much they matter:
Bring a partner, bring ₩200,000. This is not optional and it is the mistake foreign guests make most often.
Hotel wedding, go up. If the invitation names a hotel rather than a wedding hall, the plate costs considerably more than ₩80,000 and ₩150,000 to ₩200,000 from a single guest is the right band.
Not attending, go down. ₩50,000 sent without eating anything is a perfectly respectable gesture and is what the ₩50,000 tier is largely made of.
The bands
| Your relationship to the couple | Attending alone |
|---|---|
| Colleague or acquaintance | ₩50,000 |
| Friend | ₩100,000 |
| Close friend | ₩100,000 to ₩200,000 |
| Relative | ₩200,000 to ₩500,000 |
| Sending money without attending | ₩50,000 |
Amounts stay in multiples of ₩50,000 because that is the largest note in ordinary circulation and Korean gift amounts are counted in notes rather than in won. Unlike Japan there is no superstition about even numbers, and ₩100,000 as two notes is the most ordinary gift in the country.
The reception desk
The mechanics are quick and public, which catches people out.
You will not hand anything to the couple. Just inside the venue there is a desk, usually staffed by friends or younger relatives of one family, with a guest book on it. You write your name in the book, hand over a plain white envelope with your name written on it, and in return you are given a meal ticket for the buffet. That is the entire transaction and it takes about fifteen seconds.
Write your name legibly, because the desk is where the ledger gets written. An envelope that arrives without a name attached to it is a gift the family cannot reciprocate, which in Korea is closer to a problem than a kindness.
Two smaller things. The notes do not need to be new, unlike the crisp banknotes a Japanese goshugi demands. And the ceremony itself is short, often under half an hour, with guests talking through much of it. This is normal and is not a sign that anything has gone wrong.
If you are the foreign guest
You are visible, and that works in your favour. Nobody expects a foreign colleague to have internalised a reciprocity ledger they will never be part of, and ₩100,000 from a single foreign guest reads as attentive rather than calculated.
The one thing that does not get excused is arriving as two people on one envelope, because the cost lands on the couple immediately and everybody at the desk can see it happen. If you are going with a partner, ₩200,000, and the question is closed.
Frequently asked questions
How much money do you give at a Korean wedding?
₩100,000 is the safe answer for a friend. ₩50,000 is the most common amount given nationally and is fine for a colleague or acquaintance, and relatives give ₩200,000 to ₩500,000.
Is ₩50,000 enough for a Korean wedding?
For a colleague or a distant acquaintance, yes, and it is the single most common amount given in the country. For a close friend whose wedding you are eating at, ₩100,000 is the better answer.
How much should a couple give at a Korean wedding?
₩200,000 if you are attending together. The gift is counted per person eating rather than per household, which is the opposite of the Italian and Spanish convention.
What do I give for a hotel wedding in Korea?
₩150,000 to ₩200,000 attending alone. Hotel venues charge the couple well above the ₩80,000 median for a standard Seoul wedding hall.
Do Korean wedding gifts need to be odd numbers?
No. That rule belongs to Japan. Korean amounts run in multiples of ₩50,000 and ₩100,000 is entirely ordinary.
What if I cannot attend the wedding?
Send ₩50,000 by transfer, or give it to someone who is going. You are not costing the couple a plate, and the reduced amount is expected rather than noticed.