A Wedding...

After Saturday night's dance party I was pretty spent and generally not thrilled about it, but yesterday I somehow peeled my hungover butt out of bed and went to the wedding of my Vice Principal's daughter. It was located only about five minutes' windy walk from my apartment, which was nice.

When I arrived at the wedding mega-plex, I didn't really know where to go or what to do. There were seven floors of weddings in the building, and I had no way of knowing which one my VP's daughter would be on (I don't even know HIS name... much less hers...). Luckily, two teachers from my school showed up around the same time, and said something to the tune of, "Oh, Mandi! ....You were invited?"

We walked up four flights of stairs (me, sweating gin and cursing under my breath) and finally arrived to a room full of bored looking people standing around. We said hello to the VP, and paid our greetings to his daughter, who was absolutely a beautiful princess in a gigantic fluffy white dress, stuffed in a tiny closet-like thing while she waited to get married. She was crying.... not tears of joy. [This is the only time the bride's guests greet her- she will not see them during or after the ceremony. Same with the groom, who is standing at the entrance to the 'chapel.' After the ceremony is over, they go into a smaller, more private chapter and do the traditional Korean hanbok ceremony, with only family present. She will only wear the wedding dress for about two hours, the hanbok for even less- maybe one hour. Both outfits easily cost over $1,000. Then they leave. There is no greeting the newly married couple at the doors or throwing rice at the couple while they run to the car, no reception, nada.]

After standing around for about 20 minutes, the bride went into the "wedding room," which is basically a horribly tacky neon-lit/fake flower covered chapel-ala-Vegas room. Not kidding, they had a bubble machine, it was awesome. We watched as (presumably) a friend of the bride and groom serenaded them from apx. 3 feet away (it was kind of uncomfortable to watch), other people inside the "chapel" milled around, talked on cellphones, and generally didn't pay attention. (I've only been to one other Korean wedding, but it was the same business, and I felt the same.... completely awkward and out of place.) Maybe five minutes later, the other teachers grabbed my arm and said, "Mandi, it's time for lunch."

What!! Wtf? Lunch?! The ceremony wasn't even over yet! But off we went, through a door on the other side of the room, to stuff ourselves full of free buffet. All in all, from arrival time to the time I left, I spent 58 minutes at the wedding. This blows my mind. In America, you're lucky to spend 58 minutes waiting for the photographer. In Korea, weddings aren't really a big deal. It's pretty much a photo-op for the family. Giving the couple gifts is considered extremely tacky; instead, ALWAYS give money. Not even a card is necessary, simply a white envelope with your name and the amount on it. (The wedding hall even provides envelopes.)

All in all, I think weddings in Korea kind of suck. Though, yes, it is nice that they're so short and always include a huge buffet lunch, they're uncomfortably causal and frankly, boring. I love going to weddings in the states, but the reception is really the best part, isn't it?