Going to the chapel

Today was my old co-teacher Yuri's wedding. Prepare yourselves, I took a lot of pictures. The bride and groom rented a bus because the wedding was out of town, which was very convenient for me. Every 30 minutes somebody would come by with food. We got to the wedding hall, which I like to call the wedding factory. There were at least 4 chapels. When we arrived a couple was getting married in Yuri's chapel, and when we left the guests for the next wedding were hovering outside the door. Nobody brings gifts, you bring cash. You give somebody your cash and they give you a meal ticket. You don't pay, you don't eat. Before the ceremony the bride sits in a little room and all her friends take pictures with her. 

 Such a princess dress

 I felt weird sitting on her dress, but she said it was ok

 Most of the Sun-am staff

 They had one of their engagement pictures on display. It belongs in a magazine. They dress up in different wedding clothes for the engagement shoot.

 Chapel, complete with runway and colored lights

 He's a high school math teacher, and after the pastor did his thing 3 of the students sang a song and the rest of them brought Yuri flowers.

 There were piggyback rides. Yuri looks unsure.

 Family portrait. They do this immediately after the ceremony, and about half the guests stuck around to watch and take pictures, and the other half went upstairs to eat. 

 Friends group picture

 The bouquet toss is completely staged. Yuri chose a friend to stand about 4 feet away and tossed it directly to her, while we all stood behind and watched.

 They had some dresses on display

 My English-speaking date

 Alexis, Lily, and me

 After the ceremony the bride changes and they have a traditional ceremony with just family.

The party bus. The TV was enormous. On the way there we watched a show about dogs and birds, and on the way back we watched a Korean drama.

Weddings here are way different than weddings at home. Because they take place in a factory the bride and groom don't have to do much planning; the staff doesn't have time to change the decorations in between each ceremony so they stay the same. The bride's dress is rented. The staff plans the menu. People generally looked nice, but some were dressed pretty casually. There weren't enough chairs for everyone so about 40 people were standing in the back. It's acceptable to talk during the ceremony. There was an announcer plus a pastor. It's kind of obvious that there's no rehearsal because nobody really knew what to do - the staff stood off to the side the whole time and told people what to do and where to stand. But it was beautiful. You can tell they really love each other, and they were both so excited and happy. I'm glad I got to be a part of her day.