Bride Is Clear She Wants An American Wedding, Not An Asian One, But Her Sister Is Just As Adamant That She Follows Her Cultural Traditions
by Kyra Piperides

Pexels/Reddit
Wherever in the world you’re from, a wedding is a cause for celebration.
Sure we might have different traditions, but the joining of two consenting adults in matrimony is something exciting, as their new life together is being formed.
It’s no wonder we put our money into huge celebrations to mark this momentous life moment.
But the sister of the woman in this story does not see things like that.
Instead, she sees her sister’s upcoming nuptials as an opportunity to profit.
Read on to find out why.
Older sister thinks she “deserves” my bride price money
I am engaged to my fiancé. I am Asian and he’s white. Everyone in this post is over the age of thirty.
In my culture we have what’s called a bride price. It’s an agreed upon (by both parties) amount of money that the groom pays to the bride’s parents, or a sibling if parents are deceased.
In my culture, our weddings lasts two days, and it’s long and tedious – so I made it clear to my fiancé from the beginning that we’d be having an American wedding instead, and he’s fine with that.
My sister thinks we are having a wedding in my culture, despite me telling her at least twice in the past that it’ll be an American wedding.
Let’s see how things are within this bride’s family.
All my many siblings basically passed the burden of taking care of our parents onto me not too long after I finished high school.
My dad passed away over a decade ago, so it’s just been my mom and me since. My siblings neither extended a helping hand nor barely helped, even when my mom asked them to run errands for her, they always deferred it back to me.
Even when my elderly mom had a stroke and needed 24/7 care and I told them I will need help, they all said they’d help but they don’t.
Even my brother, who lived with us at the time, barely helped. My mom is in a nursing home now, getting proper care as she also developed dementia after her stroke. My mom of course cannot handle finances.
As a result, things have got more complicated.
My sister messaged me the other day and wedding planning came up. She mentioned the wedding in my culture, but my fiancé and I haven’t really planned anything yet, as the wedding is not our priority.
However, I told her I won’t be having a wedding in my culture, because none of my siblings deserve the money.
She told me she “deserves” the money because she helped take care of me when I was younger (there’s an eight year age gap between us).
However, she got married not too long after finishing high school and moved out of state to live with her husband, so she literally only helped my parents babysit me here and there until I was around ten.
Yikes! Let’s see how the bride responded to that!
My brain stalled, and I could not think of where the audacity came from.
Every time I think of it I still can’t wrap my mind around the entitlement, so now our wedding plans changed.
She is no longer invited and won’t know any of my plans either.
It’s great that this bride is standing firm against her sister’s entitled behavior, and is planning the wedding that her and her fiancé want, rather than buckling to family pressure.
A wedding is a special moment, and her sister was about ready to ruin it by making it more stressful than it needed to be.
There are other ways for her to embrace her culture if she sees fit, and paying money needlessly to her sister is not one of them.
Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.
This person thought that there was one clear answer to this.

While others had much more pleasant experiences with family and the bride price.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought her sister was using her.

It’s clear that the older sister sees the upcoming wedding not as a happy family event, but as a cash-grabbing opportunity now that her parents are out of the picture.
And that’s not a kind way to look at things, nor is it supportive of her younger sister.
Sure this is a cultural difference, but it’s up to the younger sister whether she observes the traditions or not.
And no means no.
If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.
Categories: STORIES
Tags: · american wedding, asian wedding, bride, bride price, dowry, fiancee, finances, picture, reddit, sibling drama, sister, stories, top, wedding, wedding drama, wedding planning, work
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