"Visits to Her Parents Limited to Twice a Month, Salary Goes to Husband"... Bride-to-Be Cancels Wedding Venue Booking Over Prospective Mother-in-Law's Marriage Rules [What Do You Think?]

[Financial News] A bride-to-be reportedly decided to call off her engagement and pay a wedding venue cancellation fee after her prospective mother-in-law imposed one-sided rules for married life, including limits on visits to her parents and control over her salary, shortly after the two families' formal meeting.

Newsis reported on the 1st that a recent social media post featured text messages in which a bride-to-be identified as Ms. A revealed the demands she had received from her prospective mother-in-law, along with details of her canceled wedding venue reservation.
According to Ms. A, the conflict began a week after the two families had met formally. Her prospective mother-in-law sent her a two-page list of demands, saying, "Before the wedding, I want to clarify a few things with you as my future daughter-in-law."
The document, which was made public, contained six difficult-to-understand demands. Among other things, it said that she should prioritize visiting her future husband's family during holidays instead of alternating visits between the two families, attend all family ancestral rites without exception, and take parental leave for three years after giving birth.
It even stipulated that visits to her parents would be limited to no more than twice a month and that the husband should be solely responsible for managing both spouses' salaries. It also specified that the couple should consult his parents first whenever they had an argument.
Unable to hide her disbelief, Ms. A showed the demands to her fiancé, but his response only deepened her disappointment. He defended his mother, saying, "She acts that way because she's from an older generation," and urged Ms. A to accept the demands, adding, "Just accommodate her to some extent. Wouldn't it be better for me to manage your salary, too?"

When her fiancé, who should have acted as a mediator, continued to stand by his mother and defend her, Ms. A ultimately decided to call off the engagement. She immediately canceled the wedding venue she had reserved and had to pay a 3 million won cancellation fee.
Ms. A said, "The 3 million won cancellation fee was the price of canceling a lifetime pass to suffering," adding, "I don't regret even a single won of it."
People who read the story responded angrily, saying, "Finding out his true colors before the wedding is a far greater gain than 3 million won," "It's suffocating that she even tried to control how often she visits her parents," and "Given how the husband handled the situation, it's obvious she would have suffered from conflict with her mother-in-law for the rest of her life."
One netizen who identified herself as a mother-in-law with a daughter-in-law specifically criticized each of the prospective mother-in-law's demands. She wrote, "Just as one's own child is precious, someone else's child is precious, too. I hope brides-to-be won't hesitate because of cancellation fees or other people's opinions, and will make a decision as soon as possible if the demands are unfair." Her comment received widespread support.
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