a wedding

Today was Cindy (Yun-yi Song) and Tyson's wedding.

Cindy was soooo beautiful, of course.

Unlike the other weddings I have been to in Korea, it was held in a church. Tyson's parents flew in earlier in the week to attend the wedding.

After the vows were said, the newly married couple is required to bow to the parents and then to the guests, to thank them. This is Cindy and Tyson bowing to Tyson's parents... that is Tyson on the floor beside Cindy. What Tyson is doing is a traditional Korean bow; a symbol of respect. When the ceremony was finished, everyone had to stick around for some group photos. Then there was a buffet downstairs. While all fo the guests were busy eating, Cindy and Tyson were getting ready for the traditional Korean part of the ceremony.

Song Yun-yi in her wedding Hanbok, getting her hair done.

And Tyson waiting in his Hanbok.

The traditional part of the wedding is a private ceremony with the couple and the parents. Drinks are poured and offered and there is a lot more bowing. I didn't get to see it, but I have seen performances of traditional Korean weddings. On the table are traditional offerings... cookies, dried fruits and other such treats, and on the right side of the table, a tower of jujubes. The two things on the bottom right of the table are Cindy's hat and hairpin that go with her outfit. If I can get a photo of her in the complete outfit, I will post it. When complete, along with the hat and hairpin, there are fabrics (kind of like a very wide ribbon?) draped over the hairpin and in her hair, and red dots on her cheeks and one on her forehead. There is also a banner type thing that is draped over folded arms. It is quite an elaborate outfit.

Like any wedding, the weddings in Korea are beautiful, but I still don't like Korean weddings. They are much too impersonal. The ceremony is fairly short. Then, the guests head for the food, and then go home. There is no party or celebration after the ceremony. And the buffet meal is always rushed, as there is usually another wedding shortly afterwards. At the church, it wasn't as rushed as the Wedding Hall weddings (basically wedding factories), but there was to be another wedding a while later, so before everyone was finished eating, all of the food and dishes and tablecloths were being cleared out, so they could set it up again. At the wedding halls, the food is kept stocked, as before the guests of one wedding are even finished, the guests of the next one start trickling in. At the wedding hall weddings that I have been to, most of the guests didn't even pay attention to the ceremony... they talked the whole time. Some didn't even watch much of the ceremony. The stayed for a few minutes and then headed for the food.