Victory - A Korean Wedding

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a real live Korean wedding. The wedding was held in Busan on the top floor of the Jagalchi Fish Market at a wedding hall called OASE. At first I was hesitant to go when I heard that it was at the fish market because I had seen the fish market before. More than seen, I had smelled the fish market before and wasn't sure that it was the ideal place to attend a wedding.(see here) But I was told that there would be an all you can eat seafood buffet afterward, which was an offer that I could not refuse. After all I cook for myself these days.

I was invited by a friend of mine after she heard that I had never attended a wedding since my arrival in Korea. The wedding was for my friend's cousin or her father's nephew and as I found out, they weren't very close. That's not to say that they didn't get along, they did, it's just that they had only seen each other once or twice in their lives. They were so distant in fact, that before the wedding her mom went to congratulate the grom and congratulated the wrong guy. I comforted her by letting her know that it happens to me all the time, and I just blame it on the fact that Koreans all look alike.(I kid)

I arrived at the Jagalchi subway station about 20 minutes before the ceremony and was met by my friend. We made our way to the fifth floor of the market and I found that it was worlds apart from from the first floor, which is a good thing if you want to get married there.

Fifty feet from the elevator doors was the entrance to a room that looked like it might be where the wedding would be held. It was decorated with some pillars, flowers and candles. There was an aisle down the middle with rows of four comfortable looking seats on each side of said aisle. My friend confirmed my thoughts.

My first question was, where are the doors? The hall in front of me had three walled sides and the back was wide open aside from a couple of pillars for decoration. I was told that there were no walls at the back in case there weren't enough chairs for all the guests. That makes sense... if it was a quieter area and  the elevator doors weren't right there. I would soon understand.

We walked in and took a seat in about the sixth row or about a quarter of the way from the front but were soon escorted to sit with the family in the second row. As we met the family my friend informed me of their relation to her as well as when they had seen each other last. Turns out they don't have as many family gatherings as we do back home and the ones that they do have the family will go to the fathers family.

Shortly after relocating, the emcees got the wedding got under way. I say emcees because I don't know what other word to use. There were two guys stage right who would give a play by play of what was going on in the ceremony. I should note here that they were so obnoxiously loud that a number of people plugged their ears. Due to the language barrier, I assumed they were from Most Xtreme Elimination and made up my own commentary which kept me entertained.

This was a good thing because if I came expecting to be entertained I would have been sorely disappointed. There were two things that made me think, "Wow, I should have that at my wedding!" The first was the dry ice fog that lined the aisle. There were slits in the ground running the length of the aisle that oozed a cloud of distraction whenever someone important walked down the aisle.

The groom walked in first and up stood at the front. He was alone. The bride walked up with her father shortly there after and the groom came to "collect" her. As it turns out there is no groomsmen or bridesmaids in Korean weddings. They stood at the front and faced the person officiating the wedding.

From this point on I understood why it didn't matter that the room wasn't closed off as people started taking calls and talking to the people around them about anything and everything. This continued until the couple turned around.

Then came the second thing that I will carry with me. The groom threw his hands in the air and yelled "Victory" three times at the top of his lungs. Nothing says I love you like victory.

A photographer took a handful of pictures of the couple and then one of the family(which I declined to be in) then we were whisked away to eat. From what I am told they rent the halls by the hour and so the length of weddings are very predictable.

Seeing as it was a buffet the food was plentiful and (for the most part) pretty delicious. I got to try many things I have never tried including snail, fermented Korean meat(as bad as it sounds), Chinese fermented duck egg(it was black) and all sorts of shellfish. They even had raw beef but I have my limits.

One thing at the buffet that I found interesting was that they have a live feed from where the wedding hall so that if people don't have time to go to the wedding and eat don't have to. They can eat while watching the wedding. Quality.

All in all it was fantastic to experience and I am glad that I could take it in.