Marriage marks a pivotal point in a relationship, it signifies that two people despite all circumstances wish to dedicate themselves to each other, and remain together through sickness and health till death do them part. Marriage also exists in most cultures, but as a result you will find that customs differ from place to place. There's not too much to address, really; seeing as most people use marriage as a device to show a relationship, but there are a few things that I feel need to be considered if you're going to write about marriage in South Korea.

1. Surnames

I know you change your surname after you've your marriage but this one thing happens to be my pet peeve so I'm going to address it first. Take out a pen and note this carefully: women in South Korea, typically do not change their surname after marriage. Korea is a class conscious society and therefore your surname is seen as an indication of your status, mainly through your family background. In the premodern, patriarchal Korean society, people were extremely conscious of familial values and their own family identities, and this has carried through to present-day (if you've ever watched a drama and wondered why they care so much about the family register, this is why). Korean women keep their surnames after marriage based on traditional reasoning that it is what they inherited from their parents and ancestors. Children will typically take the father's last name.     

So if Kim Eunha marries Lee Donghae, she does not become Lee Eunha, she stays as Kim Eunha. When Yoon Mirae married Seo Jungkwon (Tiger JK), she did not become Seo Mirae, she remained Yoon Mirae, her son however is Jordan Seo. 

There is also a concept called Dong Sung Dong Bon (동성동본) or Same Name, Same Roots. Under this, you cannot marry a person with the same last name as you, if they are from the same clan. For example, if Lee Hyori's clan was registered as Seoul, and Lee Sangsoon's clan was also registered as Seoul, they can't get married. But Lee Hyori and Lee Sangsoon's clans are registered as different so there was no problem.

This is, of course, only the norm, so it does not mean that women cannot take their spouse's surname, it's just not commonplace (although nowadays moreso than in the past). Some people change their surname after marriage, or combine their surnames and then have one that is two syllables instead of one. In the end it's all up to personal choice, because changing or not changing your last name doesn't make you 'more' or 'less' married, let's be real. 

2. Weddings

As many Koreans are Buddhist, or not religious at all, today, many couples will initially have a more 'Westernized' ceremony with tuxedo attire and white wedding gown, then proceed with a smaller-scale, traditional Korean (Confucianist) wedding after the main ceremony. While I'm sure lots of people who opt for a Christian ceremony get married in churches, it seems more common for the wedding to take place in a wedding hall.

Wedding halls are basically big function rooms in hotels or buildings exclusively for wedding halls, which are set up specifically for weddings. Aside from the actual hall itself, they have a waiting room for the bride where guests can visit and take pictures. Normally the groom will be in the foyer reciving guests with the parents/family members of the couple. There may also be a buffet hall on one floor in which guests from all of the different weddings come for a meal, either before or after the ceremony, which may take no longer than 20 minutes.

The most common gift for a new couple is cash, and in the hall outside the wedding salon, representatives from the couple's families will collect and log donations.

Here are some pictures: 

  
      U-KISS at their manager's wedding                          an empty wedding hall                                   a bridal waiting room
       (guess who my favourite band is)

The official ceremony in front of the guests is followed by Pyebaek, which is a ceremony among family members exclusively. The bride formally greets her new parents-in-law after the wedding ceremony. Additionally, the groom often gives a piggy back ride to his mother and then his bride, symbolizing his acceptance of his obligations to both his mother and wife.

           pyebaek custom in which the bride and groom catch
                       jujubes/chestnuts in her bridal skirt

Okay I think I'll leave it here for today. I could go into match-making and arranged marriages but I think I'll leave that for when I cover dating haha. If you're curious to find out more, here are some links I used.

1. These Wikipedia articles
   • Married and maiden names
   • Marriage in S. Korea
   • Pyebaek
2. This article on wedding ceremonies
3. This blog post on Korean names (it goes through a lot of other stuff you might find interesting or useful too!)

Thanks for reading! This one's short but I've been wanting to get this off my chest for a while LOL. It's been about a week since my exams finished but I still have other assessments due, but since those will all be more or less out of the way by the end of next week I should be able to work on this more :)