Speaking of Weddings...

I attended the wedding of Weon Chun last weekend. I first met Weon's sister, Seon, in Juneau last summer while on an Alaskan boat cruise. Seon and Weon both attended the University of Iowa, where my aunt lives. My aunt met them through some education conference, and I met them through my aunt.

I met Weon for dinner once in October, and she invited me to her wedding. Last weekend was the second time in my life I saw her. It was the second time I saw Seon, too. Two busses took the wedding party out of Seoul and south to some other town. Luckily, Seon sat next to me on the bus and accompanied me at the wedding. There was one other white guy there, a Frenchman. Seon and Weon were the only ones there who spoke good English.

Weddings are held in wedding halls, not in chapels. Machines blew bubbles in the air when Weon walked down the aisle to the traditional wedding march song. Seon and I got there late; we were eating dinner in the dining hall beforehand (they had us eat before, not after the ceremony). The pews were full, and there were many of us standing in the back of the hall looking out at the bride and groom. Everyone in the back was talking throughout the whole ceremony, which was funny. There was a quartet of girls who sang a couple tunes. It was almost identical to a ceremony like that in America. A friend marries the couple, though, not the preacher.

After the ceremony, I witnessed the traditional Korean fertility blessings, which took place in a special room. Weon and her husband changed into beautiful exotically colored dress and knelt, bowed before their parents, who also were dressed in the tradional Korean garments. Between the two groups was a table of fruits and nuts. The newly married held a sheet between them, and first Weon's parents gave blessings and threw nuts and berries into the sheet. Then the husband's parents gave their blessings, then all the elders of the husband's family (the wife's parents are her only family members allowed to give blessings, "traditional sexism," as Seon put it).

Seon also introduced me to the one Korean at the wedding who was around my age, and who also happened to be a beautiful female student at a university not too far from where I live. "You look tired," she told me. I get tired when I'm nervous. Instead of getting antsy and hyped, my brain just shuts me down, maybe overcompensating for the energy a normal person should be feeling. That was the end of that.

What a fun day