Then you go into the ceremony hall. This is the crazy part. It's really informal in a way because it's almost like you're watching their dress rehearsal. We came in when the couple before was leaving...they book these halls for about 45 minute stretches and the next couple and guests are already coming in if you go over your time. It's like a weird sort of business. There were banquet tables set up with a flower decor in the middle and an unlit candle in the middle of that. There were eight glasses, two ciders (like sprite), and two pepsis waiting on the table.
There was an announcer who announces the family and the bride and groom. The first to go were the mothers. They walked down the runway holding hands, bowed to each other when they got to the front (everyone clapped) and then went up the steps to light a candle on either side of the stage. The weird thing about this was that they were being led by these two women who worked at the hall -- basically, the mothers had no idea what they were going to do, so these women showed them right then and there -- that is what I mean by it seemed like a dress rehearsal. When the bride was up there, one of the girls was constantly rearranging her dress! She got in a ton of pictures because she was always there. There was also some other dude with a huge camera and enormous light on top. It was so bright we couldn't look at the stage when he had it turned on and was filming. People were not really paying attention most of the time and kind of chatting throughout the whole ceremony.
Then they had some weird Korean singer serenade them on stage and pretty much it was over -- it took like 40 minutes total and then we were herded to the buffet floor. Here we were with whoever went to the other weddings that day and we all sat down and got some plates of food, cheap beer, and soju. Then we left. We were there for two hours, the bus ride in total was 5.5 hours...crazy.
