Adam's Wedding

Our co-worker Adam got married to a Korean girl last week. Their wedding was not a traditional Korean wedding, but it was quite a different experience for us. To start off with, Koreans do their wedding pictures a month or so before the wedding. They sometimes then send out the invitations with the wedding pictures in them. They also do their wedding pictures in many different outfits. The bride can change her dress 8 times so she can have pictures in different outfits- almost like a fashion show! When we arrived at the hall, everyone was there to welcome the guests, including the bride. The hall is full of balloons and they also usually have dry ice. When the guests are seated, the parents walk down the aisle with a spotlight on them and everyone claps. The bride and groom then walk down together with the spotlight and everyone claps. I should interject at this point to mention the fact that it doesn't seem to be a social crime to come in late to a wedding or to answer your cell phone during the ceremony. People are still walking into the hall as the ceremony continues and they walk right up to the front for good seats. The service lasts about 15-20 minutes with the couple saying nothing to each other aside from 'yes.' They don't say vows! Apparently this is the reason why many countries don't recognize Korean marriages as legal.
There are staff in black with ear pieces in their ears constantly adjusting the brides veil and dress as the ceremony goes on. The staff stand on either side of Adam and his wife and make them bow to their parents, each other, the audience, etc.. constantly manipulating their bodies to show them what to do. The staff in black also have make-up for Adam's wife and they do touch ups when they're at the front! After this, they turn around to face the audience and blow out a candle, an almost fake cake is brought to the front and they cut it together, but the cake has already been cut from another wedding that happened earlier that day and it's then put away for the next wedding. Keep in mind that Koreans are still coming in late- even though the wedding is over!


The staff then ask people to come to the front for pictures. We were ushered to the front for the friend picture. They then chose a person to catch the bouquet of flowers and it's thrown many times to get the right picture with us clapping in the background, perfectly staged. The wedding party then walks down the aisle with the staff in black blowing out the candles and rolling up the carpet behind them- getting ready for the next wedding. Adam and his wife then change into the Korean wedding clothes while the guests go for dinner. The dinner guests eat from a buffet table and there are guests from many different weddings in the same place.There are no speeches and no formal plan for the dinner. Guests simply eat and leave (my dad would have absolutely loved it!). Adam and his wife eat in another room and do a special Korean ceremony with their parents where they bow and are blessed.



While drastically different from our own customs, it was a great day. It was drastically shorter than any other wedding I've been to. I'm afraid for my sister and her special day coming in June once my dad finds out how quick and fast weddings in Korea are! :)