Korean Wedding

Hello! Hope you are all fabulous. It has been a hectic few weeks here. I can't believe it is August! July always goes by so fast. I hope you all are enjoying your summer thus far and are able to enjoy the weather. The rainy season was said to be over here, but now we are expecting a typhoon to hit Korea in the next few days. I am not exactly sure what that means for us city-folk in Seoul other than ruining any plans we had for enjoying sunshine over the weekend. I swear, the Korea Weather Gods like to mess with us here because it has been raining so much over the weekends. ANNOYING.

Anyways, I attended a co-worker's wedding a week ago. Peter is from Wales and his new wife (Susan?) is from Korea. It is usually very difficult for bi-racial couples here. Most parents want their children to marry a Korean to keep the "pure" bloodline going strong. People are slowly starting to become more accepting of bi-racial couples, but they have a long way to go. I have another co-worker here who has been with a Korean woman for a few years and wants to marry her, but her parents forbid it. Basically, the relationship will never go anywhere. Most Koreans do exactly what their parents tell them to do, mostly because of the high respect for their elders.

ok, back to the wedding.

We were greeted by Peter when we entered the church. I almost started laughing because he was wearing so much makeup! He said they had been getting beautified since 7 am and it was now 11:45. HOLY COW. He doesn't have any hair, so I have no clue what they could have possibly been doing for that long. Although he had ridiculous makeup and it was really distracting, I have never seen someone look so happy before. This is a guy who barely said 5 words the 9 months that I worked with him and now he wouldn't shut up. Ohhhh, love. The strange things it does to people.

I had never met Susan(?) before the wedding. I walked into the sanctuary and was shocked to see her sitting on a chair surrounded by cameras. She welcomed us and then we took a photo with her in her photo shoot, which she did with all the guest. That would be my worst nightmare. It was all very strange. I then realized the need for all the makeup. They wanted their pictures to be flawless. If you hadn't picked up on it, Koreans are very self-absorbed. They are always taking pictures of themselves and are very fashion conscious. They must look perfect at all times, especially for their wedding. They have a professional photo shoot months in advance of the wedding where they spend 8 hours taking crazy pictures. The bride and groom have multiple outfits changes (wedding dress/suits) in the pictures, but the clothing is always borrowed from the photographers studio. I guess it would be somewhat similar to engagement photos that most people in America take, but taken to levels no one should go.

During the ceremony, people were very rude. No one was really listening to what the pastor was saying. People were on their cellphones or talking to the people next to them. I was warned before hand of people's rudeness, but I didn't really believe it. Clearly I was mistaken. I wanted to stand up and in my best teacher's voice tell everyone to pay attention, but I thought I would get a few strange looks and cause more disruption than good.


The bride and her father.

There was no " Kiss the bride" at the end of the ceremony. The couple bowed to both sets of parents and then to us. Peter bowed all the way down to the floor to both sets of parents and us, which is the utmost respect. The lower you bow, the more respect you are expressing to someone. Of course, everyone cheered when he did it.



When the ceremony was finished, all the people at the ceremony got together and took a photo together. Then the bride and groom threw the bouquet and finally kissed.

The ceremony was over in about 30 minutes total and then we went up stairs for a buffet lunch. I thought we were in the wrong dining area because there was about triple the number of people there. However, we were correct and most people usually skip the ceremony and only go straight to the food. WOW. I'm so glad people aren't selfish or anything. At least they still give the couple money for their wedding present. Gifts are not common. Show me the money, duude.