My Boss Gets Married

This weekend was my boss Suzie's wedding. I was pretty excited to experience my first Korean wedding. It took place at a church and there were definitely unique Korean elements. The ceremony starts out with the mothers holding hands walking down the isle. They were both dressed in their traditional hanboks. I think hanboks are absolutely beautiful. I love the colors. The mothers went and each lit a candle and then sat facing each other where bridesmaids and groomsmen would stand in a Western ceremony. Suzie walked down the aisle with her father and then the minister spoke in a lot of Korean that I didn't understand. At one point everyone laughed out loud. My co-worker later told me that at this point the minister was talking about how much patience is needed when being married. He then turned to Suzie and told her that she did not look like a woman with much patience. Ohhh Korean humor. I don't quite get it.
        After some songs were sang and the couple went and bowed to each set of parents. I thought this was really nice. Then I think some I do's were said, the crowd clapped and they walked back down the aisle. They did not kiss until they had reached the end and the photographer requested that they do so.

Money is what is given at a wedding. My co-workers and I pooled our together and put it in one of these festive wedding envelopes. At the back of the church there were two tables, one representing the bride, one for the groom. Two men were each table taking envelopes for either the bride or groom. When I handed our envelope in to Suzie's table we each received tickets for lunch. I found some humor in that interaction.

Before the wedding is picture time with the bride. Here are all of my female co-workers and I posing with Suzie. Also at the end of the ceremony there were more pictures taken with friends and family. The bride also gets to choose who gets the bouquet and they do a photo of the toss which was pretty funny.

Here is my Korean co-teacher Cathy (she's fantastic) and my other foreign teachers, Michael and Dustin. They had been to other Korean weddings before so they were able to fill me in on everything.