Korean Job Discussion Forums

Linda868 · Joined: 16 Nov 2008 Location: Korea

1. What should we bring for a gift? (my husband and I got invited by a friend of a friend to his wedding this weekend)
2. What should females wear? What should males wear?
3. What are the stages of a Korean wedding? (back home it was the actual wedding, photos, reception then dinner).
4. How long should I expect the wedding to be?

Thanks!

madtownhustl · Joined: 04 Jun 2009

1. All 3 weddings I have been to were just a gift of 30k won.
2. Dress nice. Doesn't have to be a suit and tie, or dress but it
wouldn't hurt.
3. There's no set stages. Eating is the most important part, atleast for me it is. People will eventually mosey on over to the ceremony. After that, u can leave.
4. I've never had to be at a wedding for over 2 hours. Short, to the point and no where near what a western wedding is like.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Banana_Man · Joined: 01 Mar 2010 Location: Busan

1. 30,000 won is sufficient - 40 or 50 if you feel generous.
2. Wear the same as you would to any wedding - formal, although you will not seem weird if you are not fully formal - I always wear the suit but, shirt and tie is okay for men, women can wear whatever they want as long as it's not too informal.
3. Usually just wedding and then food - sometimes they do a traditional Korean part but, it's usually short.
4. Maybe 30/40 minutes of wedding then food.

RufusW · Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Location: Busan

wuzza · Joined: 02 May 2003

If I'm going alone, I give 30. If I'm +1, then I give 50, cause it generally costs the couple 20K per head to feed you.
Having been to several wedding halls over and over and knowing in which ones the food is barely edible, sometimes I won't bother eating and will transfer the cash to person's bank acc# (if included on the invitation) or hand them an envelope at some stage pre/post wedding.

I get invited to way more weddings than any normal person would want to attend, so i often just give the 30k and make my excuses for not going. There are only so many wedding hall weddings any sane person can take.

pangaea · Joined: 20 Dec 2007

I went to a coworker's wedding a few years ago. It was fairly short. I do know guests bring cash to a wedding and hand it to someone when they get there. I've heard that you are not supposed to give an even amount, but I'm definitely not sure about that. I think I gave 30,000 won. I wore a dress and heels. I think the men there were in suits or shirts and ties. The wedding hall was fairly small and a lot of us stood in the back. Be prepared for people to talk all through the ceremony. I was annoyed by it, but it's apparently not considered rude. At the end of the ceremony, my friend and I, who were probably the most asocial and least likely to want attention out of everyone there, were handed little confetti things to pull when the bride and groom walked down the aisle. There was a buffet lunch afterward. I think that's pretty standard for a Western style wedding in Korea. No formal, hours long affair like back home.

Whitey Otez · Joined: 31 May 2003 Location: The suburbs of Seoul

Also note that wedding hall weddings are perhaps the only thing in Korea that happen on time. The weddings I have attended are almost Vegas-style, and over in a hurry. Wear your best and don't spill and Jjapchae noodles on it. That oil will NOT come out.

madoka · Joined: 27 Mar 2008

30,000 won? Man, you guys are cheap! You should give gold bars, gold rice bowls, and Lamborghinis as wedding presents like the Chinese:

http://www.funzug.com/index.php/unusual-things/a-wedding-in-shanxi.html