Weaver Adventure Blog for Week of Feb 28, 2013
So Cupid was very busy in Korea this past summer. There were no fewer than five CMK weddings between June and September. So love was in the air. Or the water.
Or something. My social calendar
started to look like I needed a social calendar. Anyway, of the five, I was able to make it to
three, and each was special and unique in its own way.
The first of them was held in a wedding facility. These wedding halls are quite common in
Seoul, and are great because they exist just for the purpose of hosting
weddings. So décor, music, videotaping,
photography, a lunch reception, everything is under one roof. I imagine it takes much of the stress of
planning a wedding off the happy couple.
Joy Choi, CMK finance manager, explains how it works.
“Even though
our wedding was in the afternoon, we had to go there early in the morning for
make-up, hair and all other preparations.
(As Dave explained, everything was done under one roof!!)
For the
ceremony, the mothers of the bride and bridegroom enter the room and put the candlelight
on; then the bride and bridegroom enter. Then guests are seated for officiator's message. In Korea
there’s no license required to be an officiator but anyone who bride and
bridegroom want may be an officiator. In our case officiator was church
minister where I belong. Next, bride and bridegroom give big bows to their
families and guests who came to the wedding, and then a photo session is held
where photos are taken to record the happy moment. As a last part of the photo
session, a single friend of bride is to receive a bouquet and we believe the
friend who got the bouquet will meet her Mr. Right very soon and get married in
next 6 months! (I really hope so because my friend who got
the bouquet is desperately eager to meet one and marry!!)
The second wedding I attended took place in the oldest
protestant church in Korea - The Chung-dong United Methodist Church. Established in 1885, it looks like it was
picked up by a huge helicopter in Anytown, USA and dropped in the middle of
Seoul. It really looks just like
the church where I got married. (Except
that church burned down after a lightning strike – a different blog post.) 
The service was very familiar – just in
Korean. After the
service, we even went to (of course) Wesley
Hall for the lunch reception. It was a
very nice event. Si-Nae Lee , who also
works in our finance group, explains why she chose this church.
“The Chung-dong church
is one of the most beautiful and historical churches in Seoul. Moreover, it has
history of my hubby’s family. The church where my parents-in-law got married about
40 years ago and my hubby got baptized when he was born. So meaningful!”
The third wedding was in a hotel ballroom in the now
ultra-famous Gangnam area of Seoul, with the reception dinner following in the
same room as the wedding. There were
many guests, but the bride and groom visited each table to say hello. After they welcomed everyone, they left to have
a second ceremony. Francis Chang, CMK
regulatory affairs manager, explains.
One of the
benefits of a hotel ballroom wedding is a time allowance compare to other
wedding centers. The guests and families of bride and groom can have time to
enjoy the ceremony and have a good time with relatives and friends. This
picture was taken while
walking down the stage after wedding vows. At that time the only thing I could
see was just bright lights and not the guests.
The second ceremony,
we call Pae-Baek. It is a Korean traditional wedding and bride and groom do
deep bows to groom’s parents and other family members. The parents throw
jujubes (candy) and chestnuts, bride and groom have to receive it like the
picture, while praying for fecundity (children) and connection with ancestors.
As it turns out, having the second ceremony is the norm at
Korean weddings. Joy, Si-Nae, and
Francis all had them. Here are pics from
those private family ceremonies. The
clothes they wear are traditional Korean clothes called hanbok. Beautiful!
That’s all for now.
Until next time.
Weaver
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