Korean Weddings

I am aware that this is my second post on Korean Weddings, however there is news to report. I teach Korean English Teachers twice a week, and last week's lesson was on weddings and dating. As I'm sure you can imagine, the topic was a hit. Most of the people in my class are dying to get married (as is pretty common with Korean women in their mid-twenties), so they had a lot to say.

I opened with the question, "Would you rather have a large or small wedding?" It was no surprise that most of them wanted a small wedding, but what really surprised me was that a "normal" sized Korean wedding is 4-5 HUNDRED people! Luckily, they don't have to feed all those people, but how do they even know that many people? Well, apparently they don't. The bride groom only invite around 100-150 people, and the rest are friends of their parents. None of my students were overly thrilled about the idea of having 400 people they don't know at their wedding, but they accept it as the way it is.

What was even more surprising was that if you (or your parents) don't know that 400-500 people, then you have to hire what they call "part-timers." Part-timers are people who come to your wedding and pretend to be you friend. They are prepped with details about you before the wedding, such as, where you went to school, whether or not you were a good student, who your parents are, etc. And, part-timers make good money. In fact, my student has a friend who is a part-timer, and her friend is able to live quite comfortably on her part-timer salary. Qualifications of a part-timer include being good-looking, clever, personable, and fun.