Korean Wedding hall

A modern Korean wedding is an interesting affair, offering both occidental and traditional korean elements in a manner that is truly Korean.

The morning finds the bride and groom being prepared in the the comfort of a specialist wedding preparation centre, where trained professionals ensure that the dress and make up are perfect. They wait together in a small room with a large table, filled with photos of other wedding couples.

Once ready, The bride and groom take a car (their car) to the wedding centre, accompanied by a seamstress from the wedding centre.

The giant multi-level wedding centre (The Beautiful convention wedding) contains many function rooms and hosts four weddings concurrently, and would probably perform at least 30 weddings each Saturday. This day, as it is considered a good day for a wedding so so busy at the centre that the Police and traffic controllers attend the entry, allowing more U-turns and manoeuvres so that the constant flow of traffic in and out of the “B.C.W” is as unimpeded as is possible. Parking is in a multilevel garage at the front of the building, that has all the glamour of a shopping centre car-park.

Once inside the bride waits in a specific bride waiting room, designed specifically to provide some good photo opportunities, and a plasma screen with a live feed from the wedding room so that the bride can see how the wedding prior to hers is progressing. Family and friends pop into the room to see the bride, and have their photo taken with her. She sits on a small tiled stage, under a chandelier and insulated from her friends by a few metres of beige, hard wearing carpet.

Soon enough, the wedding hall is vacated cleaned and prepared allowing the bride and groom's guests to file in. The more guests that are able to attend, the better. It is customary to provide a wedding gift in the form of cash in an envelope, or a money transfer. The amount is defined by the relation to those to be wed, or the societal position of the donor. The more guests that you have at the wedding, the greater the cash inflow. Apparently if enough of the right kind of people come to the ceremony it is possible to cover the cost of the event.
The hall, now containing the family, friends, acquaintances and even employees of family is ready for the wedding to commence. What follows is a mixture of Korean cultural necessity and western wedding practice mixed into an hour long service that could have been orchestrated by MTV. In fact the whole thing is recorded on film by a camera person who shows little regard for the majesty of the proceedings, or the sight lines of the audience. The proceedings include elements of different wedding traditions and reception happenings all bundled together. The high paced ceremony takes on a quality not unlike a cinematic montage, complete with soundtrack and disco lights. The wedding elements include the wedding party walking under crossed swords, the lighting of candles by the mothers of those to be wed, the cutting of the cake, pouring a glass of wine down a pyramid of champagne glasses while a smoke machines provides 30 seconds of 'atmosphere'. Flashing flights and robotic spotlights play out a predesigned show while the participants try to stay in step. A Korean flavour is added as the young couple bow ceremoniously to both sets of parents before proceeding to the priest. The priest accepts no modifications to his presentation, as this would probably affect his timing. A few psalms, with the aforementioned holy representative's dulcet tones rendered in Hi-Fi surround sound. The scene is lit in an ever changing spectrum of colour, making taking photos a difficult and frustrating affair. No exchange of rings, no first married kiss to be witnessed by all and the show is over. Guests scramble to exit as the professional photographer appears to take the group photos, only to find that a large part of those who would be the group have already left. Four massive ceiling mounted flash bulbs (wirelessly connected to the camera) mercilessly blind all involved. The final shot (apart from those you would expect) is of the bouquet being thrown to a friend. To ensure that this is captured accurately on film (i.e. chip) the process is repeated three times. One person to throw, and one to catch. No mad scramble, no torn bridesmaid dress … to be fair there weren't any bridesmaids or groomsmen at all. This is not a western wedding, this is a composite of the visual elements seen in western weddings that appeal to the Korean youth. Following this, there is a short traditional ceremony that is far more elegant than everything leading up to this moment, as gifts of food and tea are presented to the groom's family, with all participants dressed in traditional clothing (hanbok), flowing affairs of silk and gold thread. After the parents leave, the newlyweds exchange fruits and drink and finally a kiss. The groom proves his strength but carrying the bride around the room on his back a few times and then it is all done.

The guests go up to the fourth level to enjoy a buffet lunch, along with the guests of every other wedding that is taking place at or around that time. The day is finished and all are free to go home.

The wedding then has to be registered at a government office. There is no other manner of having an official marriage, the ceremony is all show.