The Noh Family Wedding

On Saturday, August 31st, I attended the wedding of Soee's older sister at Apgujeong Catholic Church.  The ceremony was fairly brief, and I didn't understand much because it was all in Korean, but I thought I'd share some of the interesting differences between a standard Western wedding and a Korean Catholic one:

-Instead of the bride and groom not seeing each other until the bride walks down the aisle, the bride and groom came out together.  The groom then walked to the front first, followed shortly by the bride and her father.  (On a related note, both the groom and the father wore white gloves.)
-The bride and groom then knelt at the base of the steps leading up to the podium.  (I'm not 100% sure if they were kneeling or sitting, since my view wasn't very good.)  At the end of the ceremony, I saw people take away a couple wooden objects that they were kneeling on/sitting at.
-The bride and groom almost never faced each other; they spent the vast majority of the ceremony side-by-side looking up at the priest.  They also read their vows off a script provided for them.
-Instead of a big kiss to finalize things, they faced the audience and did a quick peck on the lips.
-There was a best man and maid of honor, but no groomsmen or bridesmaids.
-After the ceremony, the bridge changed out of her wedding dress into a simple red dress.  I heard that it's traditional to wear a hanbok (a traditional Korean dress), but they can be really hot in the summer, so it's becoming more common for brides to wear Western-style formal dresses instead.
-The bridge and groom cut a small cake as part of the reception, but no one ate any of it.  After cutting the cake, they then retreated into a family-only room in the back for what I imagine was some much-needed privacy.
-As is typical in most Asian countries, wedding gifts are usually cash, around 30,000 won (for acquaintances) to 50,000 won (for close friends).  I understand that this was the solution to the age-old problem of "I got six of the same thing, and none of them were what I wanted!"  Instead of wedding registries, however, they decided to just give money.  I brought a Western-style gift (a hair dryer requested by the bride), though only because they wanted me to do it that way.

I think that's about it for the major differences I remember.  If I can think of anything else, I'll update the post.  Overall, it was very interesting to observe and be a part of it all!