Like I said in the previous post the wedding felt like it all happened so fast it's hard to remember all the details, but I'll try my best to give you the overall summary.
Originally they told us that there would only be space for 100 people at the wedding but we had at least 140 guests (in Korea some guests come uninvited or because they heard about the wedding from someone else) but it felt nicely intimate and it was great to see so many of our friends and family all packed in the venue together.
So first we sang a hymn in korean
and then later a hymn in English (love divine, all loves excelling) and despite there being considerably less English speaking guests I was surprised to find their singing efforts more convincing than the Korean contingent.
In Korean tradition we then said our final farewells to our parents by bowing respectfully to them, my bow took me right to the floor haha. But it wasn't too strange until I decided to extend the same courtesy to my own parents which felt quite strange! but I wanted to include them into the Korean tradition as well as give a big (and humbling) gesture to express my gratitude toward them.
We then exchanged our vows - mine in Korean and Eunmi's in English. Just like my Parents had done at their wedding in switzerland 30 years ago. I was pretty good in practice but stumbled over a few lines in the moment, I guess that's kind of expected, but I just really wanted Eun-mi to hear my promise of commitment in her own language. It was also great for us to take the time to learn the vows before the wedding and have a chance to really think them through.
One thing I really appreciated was that the guests we're pretty quite throughout - normally in Korea the guests are a little talkative during the ceremony, most probably because they don't know the bride or groom very well and were invited by a family member or work colleague.
Another thing that quickly comes to mind is that the photographer kept asking us to kiss for a photo. In Korea public affection is somewhat frowned upon and for that reason couples don't often do the whole 'you may now kiss the bride thing' but we did. and what's more the pastor only said those words in English, so to the great surprise of the whole Korean congregation I suddenly kissed my wife at the end of the ceremony. And maybe it was just because I'm a foreigner, i don't know, but the photographer kept on asking us to kiss at various points throughout the day and I just remember a moment when Eun-mi's youngest brother turned to us and said in Korean 'Enough with the kissing now ok!, you'll have time for that later'. I've also had a lot of other people at work and at church also comment on the affectionate climate of our wedding... oops.
After the ceremony me and Eun-mi went off to get changed into our reception attire (in Korea normally the bride only wears the wedding dress for the actual ceremony). At this point the guest were upstairs eating. Happily I hope.
We soon joined the guests and only managed to greet a couple of tables before the performances began. We had a song from our some of our friends at our English speaking church, then a song from Eun-mi's Korean church, and then a letter read out by one of Eunmi's friends which was quite emotional for her, actually Eun-mi told me that she was very surprised not to have cried very much at the wedding, but it was too much of a happy occasion to be sad.
Then my Dad gave a great speech all about 'surprises' and he even managed to speak a little Korean himself! But the speech was being translated for the Korean guests. and then another two songs, one from Eunmi's friends and one from Jesse and Stef who sang a famous Korean song called 'Americano' with some adjusted lyrics, this went down really well since most people in the room new the song and joined in on the chorus.
Lastly me and Eunmi performed a little song together, it's a song written by one of Stef's friends in California, and it's got great lyrics about saying your vows to be married. I also gave a final thank you speech to all who attended and helped out.
Perhaps one of my favourite moments of the day was then going down to haeundae beach and walking part of the coastal path with all my family and friends from the UK and Switzerland. It was a deep red sunset with the moon already visible (we got married on the weekend of a full moon). It was a lovely way to wind down before going to have a final meal together with all my family and my new Korean family.
Originally they told us that there would only be space for 100 people at the wedding but we had at least 140 guests (in Korea some guests come uninvited or because they heard about the wedding from someone else) but it felt nicely intimate and it was great to see so many of our friends and family all packed in the venue together.
So first we sang a hymn in koreanand then later a hymn in English (love divine, all loves excelling) and despite there being considerably less English speaking guests I was surprised to find their singing efforts more convincing than the Korean contingent.
In Korean tradition we then said our final farewells to our parents by bowing respectfully to them, my bow took me right to the floor haha. But it wasn't too strange until I decided to extend the same courtesy to my own parents which felt quite strange! but I wanted to include them into the Korean tradition as well as give a big (and humbling) gesture to express my gratitude toward them.
We then exchanged our vows - mine in Korean and Eunmi's in English. Just like my Parents had done at their wedding in switzerland 30 years ago. I was pretty good in practice but stumbled over a few lines in the moment, I guess that's kind of expected, but I just really wanted Eun-mi to hear my promise of commitment in her own language. It was also great for us to take the time to learn the vows before the wedding and have a chance to really think them through.
One thing I really appreciated was that the guests we're pretty quite throughout - normally in Korea the guests are a little talkative during the ceremony, most probably because they don't know the bride or groom very well and were invited by a family member or work colleague.
Another thing that quickly comes to mind is that the photographer kept asking us to kiss for a photo. In Korea public affection is somewhat frowned upon and for that reason couples don't often do the whole 'you may now kiss the bride thing' but we did. and what's more the pastor only said those words in English, so to the great surprise of the whole Korean congregation I suddenly kissed my wife at the end of the ceremony. And maybe it was just because I'm a foreigner, i don't know, but the photographer kept on asking us to kiss at various points throughout the day and I just remember a moment when Eun-mi's youngest brother turned to us and said in Korean 'Enough with the kissing now ok!, you'll have time for that later'. I've also had a lot of other people at work and at church also comment on the affectionate climate of our wedding... oops.
So then we had lots and lots of photos with everyone, including a classic korean pre-arranged bouquet throw. The superstition goes that you must marry within 6 months... or you'll never marry... so it's not always a favourable thing to catch the bouquet, therefore it has become standard that the bride will choose her friend most likely to marry and simply throw the bouquet to her.
We soon joined the guests and only managed to greet a couple of tables before the performances began. We had a song from our some of our friends at our English speaking church, then a song from Eun-mi's Korean church, and then a letter read out by one of Eunmi's friends which was quite emotional for her, actually Eun-mi told me that she was very surprised not to have cried very much at the wedding, but it was too much of a happy occasion to be sad.
Then my Dad gave a great speech all about 'surprises' and he even managed to speak a little Korean himself! But the speech was being translated for the Korean guests. and then another two songs, one from Eunmi's friends and one from Jesse and Stef who sang a famous Korean song called 'Americano' with some adjusted lyrics, this went down really well since most people in the room new the song and joined in on the chorus.
Lastly me and Eunmi performed a little song together, it's a song written by one of Stef's friends in California, and it's got great lyrics about saying your vows to be married. I also gave a final thank you speech to all who attended and helped out.
Perhaps one of my favourite moments of the day was then going down to haeundae beach and walking part of the coastal path with all my family and friends from the UK and Switzerland. It was a deep red sunset with the moon already visible (we got married on the weekend of a full moon). It was a lovely way to wind down before going to have a final meal together with all my family and my new Korean family.
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