A few months ago, you may remember Riley and I went to a Traditional Korean wedding of one of our friends. That is not the normal way people get married here. According to a friend, weddings only go the traditional way if a foreigner is involved (and our friend who was married the traditional way was Chinese, so it fits). We had the opportunity last weekend to go to a regular Korean wedding of our landlady's daughter. Unfortunally my camera batteries died at the beginning of the ceremony, but I will describe it as best I can.
It takes place at a wedding hall. These are large buildings with multiple rooms set up for weddings. The one we went to (the VIP Wedding Hall http://www.vip-wedding.co.kr/) had 3 halls. Our friend was married in the Deluxe Hall. It was a nice room with a raised aisle town the center lines with real trees (not alive, but decorated with flowers), and it had an alter at the front.
The first thing you do at the wedding was get your meal ticket. You go to this counter where you give your gift to trade for a meal ticket. More about the meal later. There was no line and people were pushing their way to the counter to get their tickets as well as greet the family that was standing next to the counter. I should also tell you about the gifts. You give only money, nothing else. They have special envelopes that you put the money in. These envelopes are white with Chinese writing on them that I believe means "Congratulations."
After getting the ticket, everyone crams into the wedding hall. I say crams because we had to stand in the back against the wall. Its lucky we are so tall. We got to say hi to our friend as she got into place at the end of the aisle, since that basically where we were standing. I should also mention that the room had a large entrance that had no door, and a side entrance that also had no door. Throughout the ceremony people walked in and out of this place. A large group of adjumas stayed about 10 minutes, then left to go eat. Later, a large group of girls showed up and waved to the bride. I'm glad we are tall and could see over the moving people.
Meanwhile the ceremony was taking place. First, the mothers (dressed in the traditional dress of Korea, Hanbok) walked down the aisle and bowed to the audience with much applause. Then the groom walked to the front (with applause) and waited. The bride was walked to the front by her father and given to the groom (all with much applause). The bride and groom bowed to each other, also to much applause. Pretty much everything that happened was applauded. There was a guy behind the podium at the front who narrated everything and performed the ceremony. They had to wait while the sister of the bride ran around trying to figure out where they had put the rings (eventually found in someone's pocketbook). That wasn't part of the tradition, but it was memorable.
After the guy behind the podium finished talking, the bride and groom went to each set of parents and bowed. The groom went all the way to the ground, but the bride just went as low as her dress would allow.
Then it was time to cut the cake. They rolled a cake over (only the top tier was real cake). Then the bride and groom blew the candles out. Yes, there were two candles on top of the cake. Then they got out this large knife/sword and cut the cake. Then the cake was rolled back to the corner. No one got to eat the cake.
After that came the singing. I believe they were friends of the bride and groom. First, a girl sang a couple songs that sounded like they were from musicals (she even wore a hat and fake mustache for one), and a guy sang a romantic song in which other guys continuously brought the bride roses.
I would like to mention that everything was taken care of by employees of the wedding hall. Attendants ran around and fixed the bride's train. A photographer and videographer were front and center all the time. The only people who participated in the wedding were the bride and groom, their parents, and the singers. The room was rented for only one hour, and it came already decorated. Someone was married the hour before, and another wedding was schedule for the hour after.
After the wedding, everyone headed to the buffet. It was on the top floor. We turned in out ticket and went into a dining room with an all you can eat buffet. The buffet served two dining rooms, and I think there were still people from the wedding before our eating. The food was excellent! Mostly Korean, but there was some spaghetti on one side.
And that is a typical Korean wedding. No bouquet toss, no dancing, and no stressing about the reception.
