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Post by Avalon on Oct 5, 2003 18:02:22 GMT -5
Does anyone have any ideas about what kind of marriage ceremony that JY and YJ had? We know that they aren't Christians. And it looked like they had the ceremony in a banquet hall. But who officiated? Was it a civil or religious ceremony? What is the usual situation in Korea?
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Post by JadeEyes on Oct 5, 2003 21:43:17 GMT -5
I can't answer any of your questions, but now that you mention it, the idea of having the ceremony in that church in the country that Young-joon wanted got lost somewhere, didn't it? It sure did look like the ceremony and the reception (never shown) was held at a banquet hall.
I wonder what was up w/ that and why they dropped the church idea. No complaints here though...it was beautiful to look at and what a beautiful bride and groom they made!
One question...did it turn out the wedding gown was rented, not purchased? I saw that Na-young returned it to the shop where she works. I don't know if it's normally customary in Korea for a bride to rent her gown (and the groom to purchase his tuxedo! The total reverse of what's done in the US) or if this was a special arrangement extended to Ja-young on account of a shop employee being her sister.
I'm sure that gown would cost a mint...but I would imagine Young-joon or his grandmother would foot the bill if it's what Ja-young picked out. I can't imagine YJ allowing his beautiful bride to have to borrow or rent the gown of her dreams out of cost consideration. Oh well...who knows?
I'm eager now to see the gown Na-young ends up w/.... assuming she and Ki-hoon ever tie the knot. Their constant bickering makes for a lot of doubt.
Jade
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Post by galacticchick on Oct 5, 2003 22:34:50 GMT -5
From the dramas I've seen, it's actually quite common for the couple to have both the ceremony and reception at a banquet hall. They are trying to imitate Western culture, but I guess with a Korean twist. Have any of you noticed that the ceremonies are usually in a week day and don't last very long? Many times the guests still go back to work! What does seem to be a little more elaborate are the engagement parties. Remember when YJ and Hyun-ji threw that engagement party? It was basically like this except she wore a pink dress. Same thing with regards to the wedding gown. I guess we have to keep in mind that this is a very frugal society that is always emphasizing the virtues of working hard and saving up. Their reasoning is, "Why waste so much money on a dress I will only wear once?"
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Post by jenny on Oct 6, 2003 11:30:59 GMT -5
In every drama I've seen, the bride never purchases her gown, but it still costs thousands to rent. I guess it is more important to buy the Hanbok they wear after the honeymoon. I'm thinking it would be a good business to start in Korea, renting gowns for one day at the price it would be to purchase one in the states. Isn't there a David's Bridal there?
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Post by TheBo on Oct 6, 2003 13:05:20 GMT -5
(possible spoiler) I was wondering that about the gowns myself. At first, I thought they were making the gowns for individual brides, but then I realized they merely were trying on different ones to see how they liked them. (SPOILER HERE) But then, Ki-hoon tells Na-Young's boss to make sure HER gown is infinitely more fabulous than Ja-Young's, so that seems to indicate personalization. (He's so cute.)
Also, I THINK when Yong-Joon (sp?) took Ja-Young to the church, he was only calling on the Christian god to be his witness of his asking her to marry him and pledging his love to her forever, not saying he wanted to get married there. That was the gist of the conversation to my ears. And a very touching conversation it was.
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Post by JadeEyes on Oct 6, 2003 13:18:56 GMT -5
First, I just want to point out that the scene of Ki-hoon telling Na-young's boss that he wants her to be sure to make them look even more awesome at their wedding than his sister-in-law and her new hubby did aired on Fri. People in Chicago saw this ep. Friday evening, so it is not a spoiler.
People in Hawaii and Philly area have not had the ep. in their area yet...but if they don't like spoilers, they should not read posts on this board.
I hope everyone using this board can familiarize themselves with a clear understanding of what the spoiler issue and corresponding timelines are.
Second, thank you TheBo for explaining the thing about the church and what it meant. Now I think I understand.
Jade
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Rosetta
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Posts: 59
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Post by Rosetta on Oct 6, 2003 13:39:36 GMT -5
It seems to me as if the Korean Western-style wedding ceremonies are civil ceremonies. There never seems to be a religious authority presiding. As it is here in the states, the ceremony itself isn't legally binding -- in the dramas you hear them talking about filing the marriage license (sometimes even after the wedding night).
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Post by JadeEyes on Oct 6, 2003 14:29:58 GMT -5
Don't know about in Korea, but in the US, a marriage is legal immediately upon pronouncement as long as the person officiating is authorized by law to perform marriage ceremonies, i.e. judges, justices of the peace, ship captains... probably several others. The person officiating does not have to be an ordained minister or priest to make the ceremony legal.
Jade
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Post by TheBo on Oct 7, 2003 11:26:05 GMT -5
I'm not a Korean legal expert (nor even Korean), but it appears to me from these shows that nothing is "true" there until it is registered with some state agency. For instance, on "Wife" the second wife is urged by her neighbors to register her marriage, now that she has a child. It almost seems as though the child is considered illegitimate until the marriage is registered; also, it seems she would have no legal rights if she doesn't register the marriage. In the meantime, the first wife is being urged to register the supposed death of the husband, so she can be considered a widow and marry again.
Also, on YH, the (evil selfish) grandfather points out that Ji-Min is a "bastard" as long as he is not on a man's register--even if the mother gets married, he has no legal existence. Which is why Tae-Young wanted to register the child as his son in the first place.
But I think that, like here, once people go through a ceremony, they are considered married. They just do not have legal rights--particularly women and children--until they register.
Bo
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Post by TheBo on Oct 7, 2003 13:48:38 GMT -5
Further (and I know I'm responding to myself here, but I just kept thinking about it), we DO have to register marriages here, and that must have something to do with making them legally binding, or why would it be done at all? Also, we have to get a license to be allowed to marry--I don't recall anyone on a Korean soap having to do that, but maybe I just missed it or it's considered so obvious not to be commented upon.
It seems like the registration there, as possibly true USA, is merely to keep everyone's rights in order.
Bo
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Post by JadeEyes on Oct 7, 2003 17:53:02 GMT -5
Here in the US, the marriage certificate does have to filed with the county as soon as the bride and groom sign, as well as the person officiating the service. But that doesn't mean the marriage isn't legally binding until it's filed w/ the county. It's considered legally binding as soon as the ceremony is completed.
I know that not all countries require the couple to take out a marriage license to get married. I don't know if Korea is a country that doesn't require marriage licenses. I'm not really sure what the purpose of a marriage license is...just that I know the US gvt. seems obsessive at times w/ documenting everything. I do agree w/ you though Bo that Korean society --- based on these darumas -- seems even more obsessive about registering things.
Jade
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Post by HumbleStudent on Oct 8, 2003 4:07:32 GMT -5
As far as I can tell from researching Korean marriage law on the Net, it is different from the law in US states in a crucial respect. In the US, we are coming out of a tradition in which marriage is a religious ceremony. If you go back to the early settlers and back further into European culture, marriage is something that is done in churches by priests or ministers. The laws come later and are added onto that. The state issues a license that allows you to get married by the minister, and then later on records the fact that the marriage has taken place, but the ceremony is conducted by the minister and the marriage is valid from the moment the minister completes it. Of course we have civil ceremonies as well, but basically they are adapted versions of the same process in which the ceremony is conducted by a judge. In Korean law, the tradition is Confucian and secular. It is ALL the state. The paperwork IS the marriage. First you have to fill out a form that says you are eligible to get married (I guess you could say this is similar to a marriage license). Then you fill out a certificate of marriage and have it signed by a city official. That IS the marriage! You're married now! Any other ceremonies you may decide to have are your own affair; you can have a ceremony in a Christian church, a banquet hall, whatever you want, but it doesn't have any LEGAL effect. This means that your being married in a -social- sense (your families and friends watch you get married and believe you to be married) doesn't necessarily have anything to do with whether you are married, or who you are married to in a -legal- sense. For example, until a few years ago there was, in Korean law, a prohibition against "same-name same-place" marriages. Suppose your family name was Lee and you wanted to marry someone else named Lee. This isn't at all unlikely, there are a lot of people named Lee in Korea. But it would also matter what city or town was the origin of your particular Lee ancestors in the paternal line. If it turned out that your great-great-great-great-etc. grandfather Lee came from the same town as your chosen one's great-great-great-great-etc. grandfather Lee, you were considered to be in the same clan and you couldn't get legally married. However, tens of thousands of people would go ahead and had a non-registered public ceremony anyway. There would be no legal penalty for that, but they wouldn't have the legal benefit of being married. This legal provision was overturned by the Korean Constitutional Court in 1997. They ruled that it "restricted the right to seek happiness" and also discriminated against women since the name-and-place business depended entirely on the male line of descent. By the way, the article that I read about this stated that the legislature had been repeatedly asked to repeal this provision of law but would not address it, because, basically, Confucian traditions enjoy broad public support and they didn't want to get voted out of office. Here's the article: search.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/08/04/intl/intl.2.html. It points out that even if same-name same-place marriages are legal now, it still affects what people do. "Park Ho-wan, a twentysomething American-educated law student, still keeps to traditional Korean ways. Mr. Park introduced his brother to a woman last year. But just as the two were getting serious, he realized they shared surnames and insisted his brother split up." It's a durama waiting to be written!! (Or maybe it has been.) Of course this was written 6 years ago, but still! As someone from the U.S. tradition, you read this and all of a sudden you get the feeling that JY having to wait four years for the grandma's consent is maybe not so far-fetched. hs
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