But wait! Hang on a second! Before you leave the page in disgust that I am not dedicating a solid hour of my life to writing about my bed, I ask you to read on.
This post will, in fact, focus on the most Korean Pretty Princess I have ever seen and the event necessitating decent/ascent(?) to the roll of PPP.
The princess in question? My wonderful, amazing, and newly married friend and co-teacher Juha!
See what I mean? So pretty, So princess-like.
I've mentioned previously that Juha's surprise in engagement was exactly that, at least to me. I was absolutely floored when she sprung the news on me during passing period, exactly six weeks before the big day. Nonetheless, I was pretty pumped to attend and see what weddings in the ROK are all about.
The big day has come and gone (and gone even further due to my blog neglect) Juha's Bali tan has faded and we are back to our normal class schedule and routine; her manicure, however, has been preserved perfectly since the wedding which is borderline offensive to my own perpetually chipped pointers.
Basically, I'm saying its been four weeks since the wedding. Ready to hear about it?
Getting married in Korea is a really big deal. A really big deal in that it is what's expected. It is what you do. It is the persistant torn in the side of parents and grandparents across the country. It what "everyone" wants. (note the quotes around everyone... I am sure their are many Korean's who are perfectly happy living the single life, or place greater importance on other aspects of there life; however it seems to be the prevailing attitude of many that it is essential to get married or, at the very least, have a boyfriend. I can't tell you the amount of times I have answered the question, "Do you have a boyfriend?" in the negative only to be presented with the second half of the query, "Why?") OK, back to more important things. Like weddings...
...or rather, Marriage. Because that's the thing. Getting married is of utmost importance. The wedding, not as much. Except that's not entirely true; but, it's sort of hard to describe. The wedding is important as it is represents the essential event of marriage. The ceremony itself, however, seems significantly less serious than those in the states.
From what I can tell, almost all Koreans get married in a Wedding Hall, which is sort of like a wedding factory. The halls are enormous and often contain three or four smaller ceremony halls decorated in various styles. Of the halls I poked my head in, it seems that most were decorated with a variety of floral arraingments and neon. Lots. Of. Neon. (What's a wedding with out a little sass?? Or proper lighting effect?? I say, nothing.)
All of the small ceremony halls open up to a larger foyer where the a mixture of party guests mill around chatting before, after, and during the ceremonies, which are most often happening all at once. People come and go as they please and sometimes only sneak in to drop of the standard gift of 30,000W (around 30 dollars) and say hello to the bride or groom). Half the parties are usually eating in the communal banquet hall right on through the ceremony.
Uncertain as to how the day would play out, I showed up a little early and milled around with the guests of the various weddings, trying to spot someone I knew to tell me where I should be and what was going on. Eventually I found a fellow teacher, who ushered me into the Brides Room to greet Juha and take some photos. We were also given cards granting entrance to the banquet hall.
After taking some photos we milled around for a little longer and waited for the wedding to start. Juha opted for a western style wedding, which meant that she and her husband wore a white gown and tux, as opposed to traditional hanbok, and completed a rendition of the westernized cake cutting, bouquet tossing, etc. Juha told me that after the public wedding there would be a more traditional Korean ceremony at her husbands home.
I was a little startled when part way through the ceremony one of the other teachers asked if I wanted to go eat. I initially declined as I wanted to see the ceremony (weird right?) but, after a few more minutes of incomprehensible Korean and the realization that this is perfectly acceptable, normal and expected, I decided to join the rest of the teachers in the banquette hall. One teacher even asked why I was late! Just goes to show me that, even when I think I have gotten used to Korea, this lovely country is still full of surprises.
It almost goes without saying that the entire experience was strikingly different to my first "friend wedding" this past summer when, due to some vague directions and a less than helpful GPS, I was horrified to almost miss the small ceremony in a lovely church on the Vanderbilt campus. The later was a multiple-ulcer-inducing afternoon, to say the least (Love You, Fatttyyy!!)
Back to Korea. After enjoying a range of Korean and "western" foods from the buffet, I sat chatting with a few fellow teachers until we heard the music signalling the ceremony would be ending. Along with my co-workers, I went back outside to listen to someone with a simply lovely voice singing in Korean and watch Juha and her husband walk down the isle showered with streamers and confetti.
After the ceremony ended I still didn't really know what to do. I had lost my English speaking allies and it seemed like half the party had left, while at least half remained outside the ceremony hall. I noticed that another group of teachers were waiting in one corner of the hall and decided I would do whatever they did.
What commenced was about a half an hour of formal photos of the wedding party and guests. And, it turned out it was a good thing I decided to stick around since, after ten minutes or so, another teacher (who I have recently discovered speaks secret excellent English!) came over to tell me that we would be in the photos. Yeah, I said it. I am in Juha's wedding photos forever and ever for all of time. I will probably stick out like a sore thumb as the only non Korean, but it was really fun and nice to be included it what I assume were photos of friends of the bride and groom.
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| Obviously not mine... this is a picture of one of the official wedding portraits. In NO way is this photo credited to me, however I have no idea who deserves the proper credit. My B :( |
After the photo session ended, I deemed it the appropriate time to leave. It was really unclear where I should leave my gift; so, after resigning to bring it to school after the honeymoon, I said goodbye to the other teachers, discarded my heals, and hopped on a bus back to my side of town.
So there you have it my friends. An introduction to a Western Korean Wedding. What did you think? Not sure? I know how you feel. But really, that's not important. What is important is that Juha looked wonderful and both her and her husband seemed even more immensely and incredibly happy (albeit a little nervous). Juha still seems extremely happy and comfortable with her circumstance and thus I could not be happier or more excited for her. Yayyy Juha! You deserve all the love and joy in the world!
Thus concludes my observations on a Korean wedding. For those who wish to see the full effect of the Princess transformation, here are a few "normal" photos of Juha and I at my first teacher dinner. (note these were taken pre-live nakji and Disco Pappa)
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
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