The Wedding

As mentioned previously, I had been invited to the wedding of a Korean teacher at my school.
Korean Weddings are a special sort of event. The weddings are most often held in Wedding Halls - which are large buildings containing several wedding rooms so that at any given time three or more weddings could be going on simultaneously.
Our wedding was on the third floor of one of Ulsan's largest Wedding Halls. It was beautiful inside, much like an old theatre - lots of ornate design on the ceilings and large mirrors. The place was packed- full of Korean families mingling around, waiting for their wedding to begin. Women and children in traditional Korean dresses. called Hanboks; myself dressed in a seemingly simple skirt and sweater by comparison.

My coworker, Anna had agreed to meet me at quarter past twelve, since she told me the wedding was scheduled to begin at 12:30pm. We arrived only to discover the wedding had been scheduled for 12:00. We had just missed the ceremony. The bride and groom had already begun their photo session with a photographer, who I can only describe as extremely enthusiastic and meticulous when it came to detail. The brides dress was adjusted several times and then re-adjusted several more times before each photo was taken. Only more amusing was the children darting in and out of the photographers view - one screaming and throwing his arms when his father tried to take him out of the way so the photo could be taken...ahhh reminds me why I don't have children.
After several photos, one of which included me - I am now immortalized in their wedding album - we made our way up several more flights of stairs..among hundreds of other Koreans...to a large dining room where a buffet lunch was served. Tons of food ( as usual with Koreans), beer and soju were available in unlimited quantities.

In a room of about 200 guests, I was the only foreigner - lets just say I didn't go unnoticed.
Unlike weddings I have been to back home, there are no speeches or dancing. Basically people watch the ceremony (which I am told consists of the bride walking down the aisle, meeting the groom, followed by the exchange of rings and a few bows to their individual parents), then they eat a lot of food and drink plenty of soju, then the bride and groom show up again dressed in traditional Korean clothing and do some sort of "bowing thing" again. Then everyone goes home.
No party after, no dancing. As Anna told me 'it isn't like the Wedding Singer'. Nonetheless, it was interesting to be a part of it. Too bad I missed the ceremony part - but I have been invited to two more weddings early next year, so there will be plenty of chances to make it up.

The concept of marriage is taken quite seriously here. It is interesting to note that the girls all agreed that if a women is not married by the time she is 30 she is too old and will likely never marry. One of Anna's friends expressed her concerns that her current boyfriend is a bit of an ass, however she doesn't want to breakup with him as she is worried she won't have enough time to meet someone else and get married before she turns 30. She told me after 30 women turn old and ugly...
what the hell is that damn ticking noise?
Kelly, maybe we should introduce your Grandma Christie to my Korean friends...I think they share the same view. Let's just hope they are terribly wrong.

Anyways, After the wedding, Anna and her friends invited me to a cafe to celebrate one of their friend's birthday. So the rest of the afternoon was spent sipping cappuccino and eating birthday cake (which I needed to drown my single sorrows).
But then again...I should be thankful...nobody around to leave the toilet seat up!!