The trip was wonderful! Rich is Korean, so his mother and other women wore traditional Korean garb to the wedding. The picture of strangers below shows the style of dress, but Mrs. Chung's dress was a pretty aqua 
Lauren looked like a young blond Jackie Kennedy or something - she was beautiful. Calvary church was huge, old and stone; so, so beautiful. There were huge columns, and off to each side were ornate wooden doors that led to a sort of hallway that makes it less visible to walk around during the service.
Lauren looked like a young blond Jackie Kennedy or something - she was beautiful. Calvary church was huge, old and stone; so, so beautiful. There were huge columns, and off to each side were ornate wooden doors that led to a sort of hallway that makes it less visible to walk around during the service.Then there was the NYC Public Library. We got out of the first of three charter buses and saw a hundred or more glass vases with lit candles in them. Inside, the waiters were lined up with trays of drinks, and there was an open bar as well. The front table holds the wedding cake and around it are felted slats holding table assignments - alphabetically, of course - as if they are in a card catalogue...complete with a hole in the bottom of the card. 
Up a few stairs on a landing, the Koreans were planning their second wedding. I sat on the steps above and watched that ceremony. Lauren and Rich came down the steps in traditional Korean wedding garb - her with her apron over her arms, and both carrying a duck. The ducks are used to represent the status of the marriage - bill to bill indicates harmony, and tail to tail indicates strife/trouble. They were placed on the table bill to bill, of course. Next, the couple bows then bows with their noses to the
floor three times to the mother of the groom. A special wine is then poured by a helper and the couple touched the cup before it is passed to the mother to symbolize it is from them. Mama drinks to the couple and says a few words. After that, she reaches into bags filled with walnuts (girls) and dates (boys) and tosses them into the air. Rich holds out Lauren's apron and tries to catch as many as he can so that they will have many children. (5 dates and 4 walnuts were captured. The process is repeated with Lauren's parents, Becky and Jeff, and I think the total count was 35 children.) The bowing, wine drinking, and blessing ceremony is repeated with grandparents then the wine and blessing is repeated with siblings and cousins. Then Lauren and Rich bow to each other, drink wine, and a date is placed in Lauren's mouth. Rich takes the other end and they move lip to lip and bite it. Rich ended up with the seed which indicates he will have the power in the family. Finally, the groom's mother is carried on the groom's back for her last piggy back ride, bowing to the guests all around, and he then puts her down and takes up Lauren as his new responsibility. Just for fun, he gives Becky a piggy-back ride, too!
The ceremony is then over, and we move to the reception. We mingle a bit, enjoying oysters, individual chips and salsa, pate', etc., then the curtains are opened on the gigantic stone arches, and we are seated in the looonnnnnnnngggggg stone hallway, the Korean families mostly on one end and the others mostly on the other. At each place is an envelope like one would find at the back of a library book with a check out card tucked in with the guest's name on it. There was also a menu card in front of that. We were at table 7; Aaron and Ginger were at table 15. After a few minutes, Lauren and Rich reappear back in their
wedding attire (I told her she was very fortunate - most women only get to wear their wedding gowns once!) The waiters file in with salads, and just like in the movies five waiters peel off to the other side of the table and when all are in place the 10 salads are simultaneously placed in front of the guests. The salad was some strange stringy but tasty something with pecans and dried cherries and a round of fried goat cheese. After this course, the plates are removed in the same manner. Next, new plates are delivered and bowls and platters of food are delivered to each table and we serve ourselves, family style. There was skirt steak and kimchee, blackened red snapper, braised collard greens, truffled mac and cheese, sesame sugar snap peas, fried rice with ?, and biscuits. We also had sweet tea. The caterer said he had never made anything that was on the menu - he had to scramble to find recipes. He did very well.
After dinner and speeches, we moved back to the large open area for dancing to a live band and wedding cake as the waiters moved through the room with cookies brought in from Cleveland, Tennessee (Lauren's favorite when she was growing up), little key lime pies, and something chocolate - like a little chocolate pie as well as flutes of champagne. Lauren and Rich danced to "Dancing in the Moonlight" and it was fun and wonderful. I finally got the four Foreman boys to get up and dance with their women, but only on the condition that I could get Paul to get up and dance - which I did. He started doing some weird dancing he calls a buck and wing (like clogging) and everyone there circles around and watches. I think he did it at Rachel's wedding, too. Soon, Lauren joined in and everyone was hooting and hollering. Chris Foreman declared Paul his hero and all four Foreman boys got up and danced. Paul, of course, was done in after that, so we went back to the hotel.
Up a few stairs on a landing, the Koreans were planning their second wedding. I sat on the steps above and watched that ceremony. Lauren and Rich came down the steps in traditional Korean wedding garb - her with her apron over her arms, and both carrying a duck. The ducks are used to represent the status of the marriage - bill to bill indicates harmony, and tail to tail indicates strife/trouble. They were placed on the table bill to bill, of course. Next, the couple bows then bows with their noses to the
floor three times to the mother of the groom. A special wine is then poured by a helper and the couple touched the cup before it is passed to the mother to symbolize it is from them. Mama drinks to the couple and says a few words. After that, she reaches into bags filled with walnuts (girls) and dates (boys) and tosses them into the air. Rich holds out Lauren's apron and tries to catch as many as he can so that they will have many children. (5 dates and 4 walnuts were captured. The process is repeated with Lauren's parents, Becky and Jeff, and I think the total count was 35 children.) The bowing, wine drinking, and blessing ceremony is repeated with grandparents then the wine and blessing is repeated with siblings and cousins. Then Lauren and Rich bow to each other, drink wine, and a date is placed in Lauren's mouth. Rich takes the other end and they move lip to lip and bite it. Rich ended up with the seed which indicates he will have the power in the family. Finally, the groom's mother is carried on the groom's back for her last piggy back ride, bowing to the guests all around, and he then puts her down and takes up Lauren as his new responsibility. Just for fun, he gives Becky a piggy-back ride, too!The ceremony is then over, and we move to the reception. We mingle a bit, enjoying oysters, individual chips and salsa, pate', etc., then the curtains are opened on the gigantic stone arches, and we are seated in the looonnnnnnnngggggg stone hallway, the Korean families mostly on one end and the others mostly on the other. At each place is an envelope like one would find at the back of a library book with a check out card tucked in with the guest's name on it. There was also a menu card in front of that. We were at table 7; Aaron and Ginger were at table 15. After a few minutes, Lauren and Rich reappear back in their
wedding attire (I told her she was very fortunate - most women only get to wear their wedding gowns once!) The waiters file in with salads, and just like in the movies five waiters peel off to the other side of the table and when all are in place the 10 salads are simultaneously placed in front of the guests. The salad was some strange stringy but tasty something with pecans and dried cherries and a round of fried goat cheese. After this course, the plates are removed in the same manner. Next, new plates are delivered and bowls and platters of food are delivered to each table and we serve ourselves, family style. There was skirt steak and kimchee, blackened red snapper, braised collard greens, truffled mac and cheese, sesame sugar snap peas, fried rice with ?, and biscuits. We also had sweet tea. The caterer said he had never made anything that was on the menu - he had to scramble to find recipes. He did very well.
After dinner and speeches, we moved back to the large open area for dancing to a live band and wedding cake as the waiters moved through the room with cookies brought in from Cleveland, Tennessee (Lauren's favorite when she was growing up), little key lime pies, and something chocolate - like a little chocolate pie as well as flutes of champagne. Lauren and Rich danced to "Dancing in the Moonlight" and it was fun and wonderful. I finally got the four Foreman boys to get up and dance with their women, but only on the condition that I could get Paul to get up and dance - which I did. He started doing some weird dancing he calls a buck and wing (like clogging) and everyone there circles around and watches. I think he did it at Rachel's wedding, too. Soon, Lauren joined in and everyone was hooting and hollering. Chris Foreman declared Paul his hero and all four Foreman boys got up and danced. Paul, of course, was done in after that, so we went back to the hotel. thirty-five degrees
enchanted weekend wedding
Rich, Lauren...thank you!
