SINGAPORE - As the last plates from the reception are put away, and the final guests are seen off, the moment has arrived.

It is one that every Chinese girl has grown up hearing about, but never quite experienced till her own wedding - the "hongbao" counting.

According to tradition, guests at Chinese weddings give the couple hongbao (red packets in Mandarin) as a token of good luck.

But in recent years, the whole idea of giving hongbaos at a wedding seems to have become risky business.

Arguments have started, and friendships have been ruined.

Just last month, a new bride posted on a friend's Facebook wall that she did not receive a hongbao from him at her dinner.

Someone then took a screen shot of the post and tweeted about it. The post has since gone viral.

While most interviewees that The New Paper spoke to called the bride unreasonable, there were a few who agreed that weddings are expensive and guests should help the couple pay their way.

Marketing executive Rachel Tan, 25, who recently got married, said that she too checked against the guest list when counting her wedding hongbaos.

"But more than anything else, this is so I know who gave how much, and what I should give when I go to their wedding," she said.

Online wedding portal perfectweddings.sg even has an "ang pow" market rate guide, which lists about 50 popular hotels and the amount a guest should give in a red packet when attending a wedding at these hotels.

Related stories:
	The problem lies in how much hongbao money to give
	Wedding hongbao guide for the clueless