Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tenchu77491]

How much did it cost and what kind of wedding did you have?

I have been making plans with my girlfriend and I am quite shocked at these prices. I would like to know what the average

[giraffe]

Ummm We got "married" this year. Got certificate from embassy in seoul/ seoul city hall. Took a few hours cost 100$ or so =p..

In terms of ceremony, were having that later this year. My wife's parents are paying for the wedding. Which im very very very greatful.
Then again well have hundreds of people there soo a good chunk of it should get paid by the guests..

If you plan to go through korean wedding the korean way you're in for an expensive ride. I would assume her side of the family would pay for the wedding and they would expect you to throw down money for an apt , furniture and a car at least. Not to mention all other gifts you probably have to buy. My wife tells me most korean guys at least save 50-80 million won before marriage to take care of everything above.

Depends what you guys plan to do really.



Good luck! =p

[definitely maybe]

[storysinger81]

I'm currently planning and paying for a very non-traditional wedding celebration with a non-traditional Korean guy. It's January 9 in Daegu.

Renting the 2-floor swing dance club we use every week anyhow: 400.000 won + a 5.000 cover per dancer (so my other guests are free, but those who wanna boogie--about 1/2 or 100 people--we have to cover)
Catering for 200+ people and cheap booze: Between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 won
Reserving a dinner place for his relatives to drink/relax after the ceremony so they don't have to deal with the foreigners and young folks: About 250,000 won
The big dinner with introducing my family to theirs: About 300,000 won (nice restaurant owned by his cousin, so we get a discount)
Apparel: He's wearing a suit he owns and a tie I gave him from my trip to Vietnam, buying his own new shoes. I'm wearing a dress I bought in Vietnam for swing dancing and getting new shoes ($60) and getting a bolero made that looks like the jacket of a hanbok (I don't have an estimate for this, but I'm budgeting 200,000 because I want silk).
Invitations: Online, cheap as hell-- 300 for about 50,000won
Photography: He's getting a friend who has a photography hobby to do our engagement/wedding pics. We will probably pay him a small fee (like 300,000-500,000) and buy him a great dinner. We're not using a studio--out door natural lighting in pretty locations. This friend will also take photos at the ceremony, though the club has shittacular lighting, so I don't expect these to turn out so great
Decorations: Friends and family will snazz up the place with flowers, banners, and balloons the day of about 100,000won
Present for my family (because they are paying $1000+ each for roundtrip plane tickets for my brother, sister, and themselves to attend): 3-day, 2-night trip to Seoul (hotel, sightseeing, etc), plus that's when we'll get married: 3,000,000won

All told: around 8,000,000

I've been told that for Korea, we're cheapskates--that wedding halls are more expensive. I know that in America, there's NO WAY I could plan a 200+person wedding that included a side trip to a major city for 6 people for less than $10,000.

Here's the thing, though. A lot of people will bring congratulatory money (30,000-100,000won) as a present. Since no one's parents are paying for the ceremony, we'll use that to fix our savings back up after taking the hits from these expenses and then for splurges on the honeymoon (a 2-week backpacking trip through Cambodia and Thailand in February)

Another friend of mine used her husband's hometown wedding hall--a lot cheaper than the cities and most people made the trip out to the countryside.

[giraffe]

[storysinger81]

They're saving so much because they're expected to buy a house. The wedding itself doesn't cost that much unless you pick the most posh places in Seoul.

[Ilsanman]

The photo shoot, wedding hall use, tux and wedding dress all came to about 2.5.

The buffet was 20,000 a head and alcohol was extra. Now it is probably 25 a head.

You can expect the donations will cover most of the food.

[tenchu77491]

Wow, a lot of great replies. Thanks a lot the figures were mostly correct, and must be rather high because we haven't asked for her parents help or anything, so I was thinking of doing everything my self. I hope her parents help! it's pretty killer!

[bassexpander]

We payed something like 5 to 7 million out the door with photos, video, and everything included? Can't remember. We got a discount because it was January (not a busy time). We did not do the traditional thing with traditional clothes, as that was another million. Food was included for guests up to a certain number we didn't reach.

We married here:

http://www.nonhyunwedding.com/

Nice place in a nice area of town. It's well-known by Koreans due to its location along the main drag in the Kangnam area.

[tenchu77491]

[giraffe]

YOu can totally get a reasonably priced wedding in korea . Weddings arent that expensive there. THe problem is the expectations on you after the wedding. Like if the family/wife expects you to get an apt ( or are you just going to live in the accomodations you get from your job) if you have to buy a car, furniture ect. all at once. The latter is whats going to kill you BUT if the plan is just to marry and the theres no expectations after the wedding in terms of buying specific things then you should be fine. You're probably looking at anywhere between 5-13 million for food , pictures , video , rentals clothing ect...

I know its hard to talk to parents about money and wedding stuff sometimes but just get it out of the way and see what both of your parents are willing to do for you and make it clear what everyones expectations are. Last thing you want is to get stressed over money and things that were never properly discussed. Make everything clear with your wife and everyone...

[Unposter]

The key to the Korean wedding is that relatives and friends are supposed pay for it through their "gifts." This is why you have to bring her parents into it. Koreans have all these networks of people who make contributions at these type of events. Her parents have provided gifts to relatives in the past and now it is their time to pay back.

You should be able to get at least almost the total price of the wedding back if not more. I cannot remember what we paid exactly but our wedding cost around 10 million and we made a million or two in profit. Sadly, we did not see any of it as the inlaws took any remaining money for the next time someone in the family got married they could spread the wealth around.

We did have a reception back home which my parents paid for and we walked away with a nice chunk of cash for our honeymoon!

Anyway, make sure your fiance' plans with her mother and don't make any bold statements like don't worry I will pay for it all because you do not have to.

[eamo]

[nobbyken]

[tenchu77491]

I am really hoping everything goes as swimmingly as it sounds! I have some nightmares about this. I just can't help but think something freakishly expensive and wrong is going to happen. I am not the richest guy around