As the Hallyu wave continues to take over our fangirling hearts, we've become more and more interested in the married life as seen in our fave Korean dramas and actual weddings of some stars.
We have many questions that run through our minds: How do Korean weddings technically go? Is the stress of wedding planning a mutual thing for all cultures? Are bridezillas a thing in Korea?
While it's easy to assume through celebrity wedding photos that they're the same as the ones we're accustomed to, there are actually a lot of differences between Korean weddings vs. Western weddings (which Filipino weddings are usually patterned to).
Here's a quick list of the five key facts you need to know about Korean weddings:
1. You actually have to PLAN engagements; no one does surprises.
Whether intimate or grand, when we think of engagements, there's one thing about them that's clear from the start: They are a surprise.
However in Korea, while younger couples lean towards the Western engagement culture of getting down on one knee and popping the question, older couples simply discuss if they're ready to get married and live together or not.
This explains the scene in the first episode of Hi Bye, Mama! where Cha Yu Ri (Kim Tae Hee) insisted that she and Gang Hwa (Lee Kyu Hyung) get married—and it happened in a bar!
2. You'll only get to meet your future in-laws when you're ready to get married.
Apart from the pamamanhikan, Filipinos usually have to introduce their SO to their families at the start of their relationship. In fact, there are families that get to meet them during the courting stage.
In South Korea, meeting your partner's parents is actually a huge deal. When you introduce your partner to your family, it's actually a sign that you and your partner are ready to settle down. Marriage is much more than the union of two people who love each other; in South Korean culture, marriage is also the union of two families.
3. Planning a wedding is waaay easier.
Unlike Western weddings that take months or even years to plan, Korean weddings are made easy with their "wedding halls," which are establishments literally made for weddings! They provide practically everything—from the venue, food, decorations, and music.
This is also why there are a lot of negative rumors when a Korean celebrity couple gets married real quick. Since we're used to long wedding preps, weddings that happen in less than six months after the engagement give rise to pregnancy speculations.
One such example is Song Joong Ki and Song Hye Kyo's wedding in October 2017 which happened merely three months after their engagement announcement. However, the pregnancy rumors surrounding Hye Kyo were swiftly denied by her agency.
4. The bride and groom get to wear two outfits!
Like in Western ceremonies, you'll see the bride wearing a classic white wedding gown and the groom in a black tailored suit.
But in some Korean weddings, the couple will change into traditional Korean clothing, the hanbok. Of course, the ones they'd wear are specifically made for weddings with the bride wearing a red hanbok and the groom in a blue hanbok.
The outfit change usually happens during the post-wedding, family-only ceremony. Here, the mother of the bride wears a pink or purple hanbok and the mother of the groom will wear blue, showing their relationship to the couple.
5. Wedding ceremonies are a lot shorter.
Finally, the big day! We're used to attending weddings that are whole-day affairs—for some, they even span several days. But in South Korea, weddings last between 30 minutes to two hours max.
Like we mentioned earlier, everything you need to do at a wedding can be done in the wedding halls—from getting your makeup done to the actual ceremony to the dinner.
There are also photo opportunities that happen BEFORE the wedding where each guest gets the chance to pose next to the bride in a studio-like room, as seen in Oh Hani's wedding in Playful Kiss:
*This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Preview.ph editors.
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