SoKo Wedding

I like his sparkly suit jacket!

I had the honor of being invited to my coworkers wedding this past weekend, and I jumped at the chance to see a Korean wedding in action.

When we arrived at the wedding hall (Koreans don't usually get married in churches) we took pictures with the bride in the "Bride's Room", which was basically a public room where wedding attendees and whoever wanted to could gawk at the lovely lady. I felt like I was intruding to be in a picture with her right before her ceremony, but according to my Korean friends, that's how it's done.

The wedding hall.

The ceremony itself was super short. There wasn't a bridal party, and the bride and groom walked down the aisle both ways together. Probably the most unusual part was during the wedding, people were talking and milling around like they were just at some party and there wasn't a solemn exchange of vows happening. One woman behind me answered her phone and had a nice little chat. It was weird.

After the ceremony, there was a huge buffet, which we all paid to eat. Instead of wedding gifts, you give an envelope of money prior to the ceremony and get a meal ticket in return. Not exactly romantic, but I guess you don't have to worry about gift receipts, either.

Let's eat!

During the buffet, the bride and groom literally jogged in, lit something resembling an Olympic torch for the cameras, cut the cake for the cameras and held up a glass of champagne for the cameras... then left. No dancing. No greeting the guests. No enjoying their dinner. And promptly after eating, everyone left the banquet hall, too.

Although it was a beautiful wedding, I think I'd like my sacred ceremony to be a little more... sacred. No cell phones. No cash for food ticket deals. And there will most definitely be dancing.