Since we are now living in South Korea, we thought we would dedicate a blog to Korean weddings.
We have only been here for a little more than a month so we dare not claim to be experts but will share some interesting information we have uncovered.
The Korean traditional wedding ceremony is particularly beautiful. To help you get a sense of the color, dance, and romance found in a traditional Korean wedding, we will share three videos with you. Two are videos of fantastic processional dances and the last one is a slideshow showing the bride and groom during the actual ceremony.
The website www.hec.ohio-state.edu offers the following helpful explanation about Korean wedding costumes:
“Traditional Korean bridal dress is based on the costume of royal princesses. The red skirt and yellow jacket are worn over full pantaloons and a long slip, and under a red robe with wide rainbow stripe sleeves. The headdress consists of a beaded crown with a dragon head pin in lacquered hair.
The groom wears a royal blue robe of a style worn by officials in dynastic times, with a stiff black hat asociated with scholar’s or officials. A western style shirt and tie are worn under the robe.
Traditional Korean weddings and wedding dress fell out of favor during Korea’s rapid industrial growth and emergence onto the world marketplace in the 1970s and 1980s. In their place was a modern, new style wedding with Korean vernacular language, and western style dress. Many ceremonies today feature both traditional and modern forms of dress.”
According to an article discussing the costs of South Korean weddings (see the full article ), the average cost of the South Korean wedding is 36.2 million won (that translates to over $39,000 US Dollars).
It seems that there have been calls to lower the cumbersome cost of weddings in Korea but we expect change to be slow here in Korea just as it is in the U.S. Tradition along with the desire to have the best celebration possible while impressing relatives and friends as much as possible will all work together to encourage families and couples to pour their money into their wedding ceremonies.
Brides in America as in other places all over the world, have an expectation that if they can make their wedding day perfect then that perfection and romantic atmosphere of their wedding day will somehow flow over into the rest of their married life.
Now, in America and South Korea, couples are getting married later in life (South Koreans on average now marry at approximately age 30). In America, the later age for marriage has meant less parental spending and more money conscious brides and grooms. We will have to see if that will be the result in Korea too.
More can be learned about South Korean marriage at Wikepedia.
Contributed by Wedding Planning on a Budget
