one of the first grade teachers in my school (heather, who is also in the english class i do with two or three other teachers once a week) got married on saturday, december 2nd and i was able to attend.

this was the second korean wedding i've attended, so it gave me the chance to see how similar it was to my previous one. they were actually almost identical, for the most part they were very nice ceremonies, in both cases they had friends or family come up and sing songs to them. they were both religious weddings, but neither was held in a church, both were held in wedding halls. a couple of things i'm not to crazy about were the fact that they had about three photographers and a videographer constantly buzzing around them throughout. they also both included the usage of a fog machine before the bride entered, which for me was a bit much.

i did learn one valuable lesson that i hadn't ever known about. apparently when you arrive at a korean wedding, you're supposed to go to a desk and give your present (almost always just money), at which time you are given your ticket to the reception meal to take place after the ceremony. i didn't know this and so afterwards when i tried to get into the meal they wouldn't let me in! unfortunately heather's new husband had to take my gift personally and walk me back up and sign a form since i guess they have to pay based on the head count of guests, which comes from the tickets given out. it was a headache and i was really sorry to take him away to have to handle that for me. basically it was one of those situations where everyone knows what to do so they don't even think about it, but of course that's not what i'm used to so there was confusion. now i know.

tagged: korean students wedding