A Different Kind of Wedding

I had to get up earlier than usual today, to be able to attend yet another wedding - this time, of the Korean variety. We began by going to a nearby district of Incheon, where the hosts of the wedding made a Bus Shuttle available (since the wedding was all the way in Mokdong, a district of Seoul).

The wedding-itself took place in a wedding hall, as do most weddings in Korea. It's definitely different. For one, before the wedding, friends of the bride go out to meet her in the 'Bride's room', the room pictured to the left, where multiple photographs are taken (including some with the groom! So much for superstition).

While this is going on, the previous wedding in the hall is wrapping up (There's a different wedding every single hour). Before going in to the hall for the ceremony, as goes Korean tradition, instead of presenting a gift, you give an envelope filled with money. The typical amount varies, but I was told that for an acquaintance, anywhere between 30-50$ is expected, and for a close friend or family member, at least 100$ - and possibly more, if you can afford it. This helps pay for the wedding, or for the early-necessities of married life.

As for the actual ceremony, I was genuinely entertained. First, since the hall is equipped with some great lighting equipment, there's somewhat of a light show that happens during the key events (the mothers walking down the aisle, the groom, the bride, etc). There are also fog machines rigged under the aisle, so it created a very unique athmosphere.

After the Master of Ceremony did his thing (or was it a priest? I'm not sure who exactly hosts the event), friends of the Bride and Groom arranged two things: A duet, singing an english song i'd never heard of, and most awesomely, a dance. The dance had about 8 people who were well co-ordinated, who were even joined by the Groom at the end of the number: all 9 of them knelt down and presented a rose to the Bride.

After all of this was done, the groom literally crouched down and groveled to the Father of the Bride, who gave him a pat on the back for approval.

In total, the ceremony lasted for just under 40 minutes.

Afterwards, in the same building (three floors up), there was a high-class buffet served for all of the guests. Tons of seafoods, and traditional Korean dishes were available - all excellent! The buffet itself, though, wasn't a reception - there's no such thing after weddings.

You eat, give thanks, and leave.

As you can imagine, it makes the whole process much faster than a typical western wedding. It was a great cultural experience! Below, I posted two videos - The Bride walking down the aisle (where you can see the cool light show, and smoke), and the dance-crew towards the end of the ceremony.

Happy Saturday!