 A wedding ceremony is one of the biggest events in a person's life in all cultures. In Korea, it is one of the biggest events because it includes a funeral ceremony and a celebration of a baby's first birthday.
In Korea, the marriage between a man and woman represents the joining of two families, rather than the joining of two individuals. As such, the event was often called Taerye (Great Ritual), and people from all over participated.
From the olden times, there has been a saying all across Korea that men from the South make the best looking grooms (shin lang) while women from the North make the most beautiful brides (shin pu). Historically, the neighboring countries of Asia sensed Korea as a 'country of courteous people in the East.' It is certainly true to say that Koreans are known to be very polite and friendly, and their hospitality is internationally acclaimed.
Before a Korean bride may be married, she must take part in the traditional Introduction ceremony, where she is accepted into the groom's family. After the Korean newlyweds have exchanged their wedding vows, the groom, formally, introduces his new wife to his parents. The groom's father may throw red dates at his daughter-in-law to bring her luck in fertility.
The groom would give a live goose as a symbol of loyalty because it takes only one partner in its life--to his new mother-in-law as a sign of his faithfulness to her daughter. Today's Korean families change the live goose into a wooden one called a kirogi. The ceremony takes place around a table. The highlight of the ceremony is the sharing of a special white wine called jung jong. Traditionally, this wine was poured into cups made from two halves of a gourd grown by the bride's mother. The bride and groom sip from their separate cups. After that the wine is mixed together, than poured once more into the gourd cups and sipped again. They called it kunbere, the wedding vow. This ceremony, usually attend only family and close friends, the new wife offers her new in-laws gifts of dried dates and jujubes, symbols of children. They in turn offer her tea, a subtle but significant gift.
Weddings are held in the wedding houses. A little bit like a reception hall but then not really. A wedding house is a high rise building. There are several floors. The first floor is the entrance hall and the second floor is where a wedding takes place. The third floor is a place for buffet dinner. On the forth floor another wedding takes place and their buffet is located on the fifth floor and so on. There can be quite a few different wedding being at the same time. During this time each person who wants to visit the wedding ceremony should gives a cash gift before they can enter the wedding. Guests bring money, not gifts, to the ceremony. There is a table placed at the entrance where each guest is greeted newlyweds. But not everybody – especially foreign guests know about this tradition, so they buy the presents such as glasses, electrical appliance and so on. Sometimes Korean also buy presents. Or they can bring and money and some gift at once. However, money is still the most common gift to give. The bills should be new and put in a special white wedding envelope. The amount of the gift depends on the guest's status.
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