Korean wedding

On Monday morning I was surprised to open my eyes to clear blue skies. Why I was surprised I'm not sure, since most days prior to then had too been this hot kind of hot I've been complaining about. During my first class of the day I asked the ritual, "How's the weather today?" to receive shouts of "It's sunny!" No later than the second class I asked the same question, only to be faced with "It's stormy", and a racket at the windows.

The rains have come, and they've not stopped yet.

Last weekend was Alex's brother's wedding. Kindly, Lauren and I were invited along, but as the day grew closer to the event we became a little apprehensive as to why we were going. What would be the premise of our invitation? Still, it's always good to occasionally put oneself in such situations in order to build up a little extra character. And of course it was good to have the opportunity to experience a Korean wedding ceremony, too.

And regarding that, it was a little bewildering. We subwayed it down to the relevant "wedding hall" - ballroom type places used specifically for marriage ceremonies, often with cheesy photos outside displaying Just Married signs (luckily I didn't notice any on this such one; obviously a classier venue^^) - just in time to poke our heads around at the ceremony. We didn't stay in the room to watch. Not being formally seated among the masses of family guests in the main hall, it all felt a bit voyeuristic.

More bizarrely, neither did Alex, brother of the groom. "Nah, I don't need to see that," he said. Instead we headed for our sit down meal one floor down while we watched the couple make the rounds of greetings on the big screen. The fancy camera work and replays of Behind The Scenes really made me feel like I was watching a reality TV show, though Alex assures me that the screens are not a regular feature of all Korean weddings. With Korea's love of technology, it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

Many couples these days opt for a 'modern' wedding, incorporating both a western-style and traditional Korean ceremony in the one event. So the bride started her day out in a sparkly white ball gown for the exchanging of the rings with her husband-to-be in a fancy tux; commenced the transition between western and Korean style wedding by changing into more regular smart dress for greeting the guests (why they needed to change for this was a little confusing); and, once all the guests had eaten their what they all hoped was locally produced steak[1] and gone their separate ways, the couple changed once more into full-blown hanbok for the traditional Korean wedding ceremony.

[1] a very topical issue. Might write about it another time.

The whole affair was practically over in two hours. The Korean ceremony - which among other things included bowing to each set of parents and force feeding one another traditional ricecakes - seemed to be a close family do only (so if we felt voyeuristic before...), so if you were neither related to the bride or groom, a foreign onlooker, nor present for the ring exchange, you probably only came to show your face and eat the free food. Not much different to a fully western style wedding then, except these kinds of guests might also come for the free booze and all night party that were absent from this event.

Before I attended this one, I was thinking that I'd like to have a Korean wedding. OK so I have Korean blood, but culturally I am as British as they come. Nevertheless, I'm open to exploring my native roots. (Of course this wedding option would only occur were I to marry a Korean man, otherwise it really would be taking the mick.) However as pleasant as it was, I do now realise that I'm definitely up for the bridesmaids, cringe-worthy speeches and marquee that I just wouldn't otherwise get to have.

Though it is a good excuse to own hanbok; maybe I can have two weddings...or just incorporate the whole lot in one...or maybe I need to find a husband and get my head out of the clouds. Wait, I'm not looking to get married any time soon. Post while you're far far behind, Chi-Hé.