I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Kim's middle son Hee-dals wedding which is certainly not something everyone gets to experience. The wedding service was held at a lovely hotel here in Daegu in the banquet hall which is where most weddings these days are held. The room was set up with dinner seating and guest sat at their table during the ceremony. There was a long raised runway down the middle of the hall where the procession took place. There was probably around 500 guest and Hee-duk another of the Kim's son's translated the ceremony into English for the few non-Korean speakers. The parents of the bride and groom had special chairs where they sat on either side of the stage and the bride and groom bowed reverently to each set of parents before the ceremony began. The bride wore a traditional western style gown and was really beautiful. Except she was so tiny I thought she was going to pass out dragging her train. The parents mothers wore the traditional Hanbol which are quite beautiful with hand-stitched embroidery. The ceremony lasted only about a half hour and the bride and groom left to go change clothes. We were then served and eight course western style meal from salmon to dessert with such speed and efficiency I barely put down my silverware and another course arrived. The bride and groom once again reappeared in traditional Korean dress and walked the room thanking the guest for coming. They never sat down or rested or ate, this was a workout, like running a marathon. There was no dancing or singing and after the dinner, that had been served with Swiss clock precision, the celebration was over. The teachers were invited to come and see a private ceremony where the bride and groom were introduced to the families. They had to bow in front of each family member based on their status of course. Once again another clothing change, by now the bride is getting flushed and her clothes are so heavy they have to pick her up off the floor each time she bows. Very interesting, maybe its an endurance test for the bride. No wonder divorce rate is so low here, who wants to go through that again. Sorry the pictures aren't better, every time I went to take a picture there were five photographers in front of me. Enjoy!
