Weddingbee Blog

At first, I didn’t want to do the whole traditional Korean ceremony thing because in the Korean weddings I’ve attended, it usually took so much time away from the reception and the guests. The traditional Korean ceremony usually takes place after the wedding ceremony and is limited to family members.

Often, by the time the bride and groom are done with the traditional ceremony, the guests have already finished eating and stolen the centerpieces. But that’s due largely to the majority of the wedding guests being friends of the parents (the leaving immediately after the meal and the centerpiece stealing). Since our wedding will be mostly friends, I think they’ll really like it if we incorporate this traditional ceremony into the reception program for everyone to see instead of limiting it to family only.

So while I was in Korea, I went shopping for a hanbok (traditional korean dress) with my mom. Most of the shops didn’t have many samples I could try on as hanboks are usually custom made. It was difficult for me to make a decision looking only at fabric because I’ve never worn one before. I just knew that I wanted the skirt to be red because I looooove red.

I really liked how clean white looked on red. The matching sash and skirt style below is supposedly an old style - these days people opt for sashes that are different colors from the skirt and the top. But when I tried on similar dresses to the ones below, the color didn’t seem to be just right for my skin tone. My face got lost in the white.

Blue on red is a popular choice.

Mother of the bride traditionally wears purple.

Mother of the groom traditionally wears blue.

Traditional bride’s hanboks were green on top and red on bottom. But these days you can pretty much choose whatever color you want.

Grooms usually wear matching/complementary colors to the bride.

I tried on a pastel yellow and red hanbok and the color combination worked really well with my skintone. The dress is kinda like the one on the left below. I still haven’t decided what color to do the sash. Navy? Red? Yellow?

My mom is having mine and Mr. Bee’s made in Korea and bringing it to America.

Here’s a different style that a lot of people choose as well. Looks really similar to the hanbok Alice Kim wore.

Besides, I’ve never worn a hanbok before. If not now, when will I ever get to wear one? I’m kinda excited.