Korean Wedding...

I'm really starting to get use to all the experiences of Korean culture. Last weekend was a baby's birthday, and this weekend it's a wedding!! I absolutely love weddings!! However Korean weddings are a bit different than American weddings.

The experience started when I met up with a co-worker, Richard at the subway station. Patrick couldn't come because of work, and there is a 99% chance I would get lost on this adventure if I went solo. Thank goodness for others who are willing to try something new. Richard and I followed our directions to go to the subway and take exit #1. There should be someone with a pink sash guiding you to the location. It's about a 15 minute walk from Gangnam station. Ok. We head out exit #1 and there is a guy with a yellow sash guiding people to a yellow shuttle bus. The bus is about to leave so we take our chances and jump on it. We are the only foreigners. Awesome. People are staring. We get dropped off and enter a building. There are loads of wedding photos of people we don't know. Did we just go the wrong wedding hall????? Dang I wish one of us knew Korean.

Luckily at the front desk is a lady who speaks English and informs us as to which floor Sung Lak's wedding is located. Which floor? How many of these weddings are there today?

Apparently Koreans have the ceremony in a hall designed for multiple weddings at the same time. Every floor has a different wedding ceremony. In the lobby they have pictures, a guest book, and a money table. You hand your money in an envelope with your name on it and then they give you the meal ticket. They have people writing down the name and the amount given. This is not to write thank-you cards. It's to keep track so that when you go to that person's wedding, you know how much to donate. Exactly the same amount.

This is a setup that can be reused a number of times throughout the day. Talk about a cookie-cutter wedding. This is Sung Lak. He was only a student of mine for a month. He was also in my 6:40am class. Sometimes he would show up early and we would chat about the progression of his wedding plans. They are going to Las Vegas for their honeymoon. So we would chat about all the great shows and fun hotels to visit. Since I have been to Las Vegas countless times and have never gambled, and I love going to shows, I was able to help him select a few while they are there.


This might be one of the coolest photos I have ever seen.


Even though I loathe the idea of having the groom see the bride before the wedding day, Koreans do have really fun wedding photos. Due to the influence of Confucianism, Koreans believe that you must really capture the moment. So they love taking photos rather than remember the experience in order to relieve the moment.

So as we are waiting for the ceremony to begin, we can look at wedding photos of them that have already been taken. They have their photos done 1-2 months before hand. The bride can choose 3-4 different wedding gowns for the photos. You don't buy your own dress. Everything is rented. Even on the day of your wedding. You are in the dress for about an hour. I don't think we even saw them at the lunch after the ceremony.


The ceremony lasts about 20 minutes followed with a 20 minute photo shoot. Here is a picture of the back of her dress. Very sparkly.


During the ceremony they have a music piece and then a cake photo. The cake isn't real but it represents the union as they light the candles. Interesting idea. I don't even like cake but I do like having the option to have some. Not a single slice in sight.


Here is the family photo after the ceremony. After they take pictures with immediate family, they do a large family photo, and then a co-worker/friends photo. I will be in their wedding album, so funny.


Once all the photos were done, we migrated to the basement where there is an enormous buffet. Koreans like buffets. We had lunch with all the other guests from all the afternoon weddings. It's so weird to be in a dining hall not knowing who anyone is and wondering what wedding the table next to you went to.

Ahhh....just another learning experience being a foreigner.

Tomorrow we are going to see RENT!! In Korean, stay tuned.