Ceremony Planning.

So here is what Stephen and I knew about what we wanted in our ceremony- walk down the aisle, someone pray over us, say our vows, kiss and go.

We talked with our pastor (Jimmy is doing our wedding so that is another answered prayer, it will be in English!) and John (kinda the Korean leader of our church) about our ceremony this past Sunday at lunch. And lemme' tell you, this was the most stressful part of our whole planning so far. I feel like everyone is an amateur at planning their wedding ceremony.....at least if it is your first one.

So we sit there and the first few minutes was explaining how we don't want an announcer. You see in Korea there is literally someone like a sports announcer who tells everyone "Here is the groom" and "Here comes the bride" or "Here are the parents." Which for us Americans tends to be implied, or at least you hope it is implied when you walk down the aisle in a white dress with your father.

So no we don't want an announcer.

Then there was a little discussion about how we didn't need special chairs for our parents. Another Korean custom is that the parents sit up front facing the audience for the ceremony......funny how they have adopted their own traditions to the western ceremony.

There was also a big confusion over if the ring-bearer actually will carry the rings, and if we should have someone sit at the table to watch the gifts/tell people to sign the guest book.

So my advice is to watch some wedding videos of ceremonies on youtube and figure out what you want before sitting down with your pastor. Then at least you will know something. However that would not have saved us from the cultural confusion about a wedding ceremony.

I know our wedding will be fine as long as we say those vows and get that kiss, but it was a stress that could have been avoided, both if we had researched and had known we would have Jimmy as our pastor; we still weren't sure if it would be in Korean or not so we didn't really discuss it.

So yes, answered prayers, service in English and ceremony planned, now I just need to make up those programs. :)

He provides again and again.

I need to remember that complications are just more opportunities to watch God fix everything.

Stephen went to the bar we thought would be the best location to host a band and guess what, they're IN!!!

And sorry friends, we won't be getting you an open bar (we know how foreigners do in this country:) but we will have a band!

So it looks as if Stephen and I will be able to have our first dance.

Munnys and Dummys

Stephen got two Munnys from his parents that we made them ship us before they get here so I wouldn't be stressing to decorate them. If you do not know what a Munny is, here is a picture:

I was so excited to get them! Thank you Mom and Pop Howard for sending them so promptly!

So guess what I did all Saturday morning? That's right, dress them in wedding garb. That means I sewed a suit jacket for one and made a bow-tie and I made a wedding dress for the other and a bird-cage veil.

So good to see it.

In other wedding news we ordered our flowers all in about 25 or 30 minutes from the same woman. That means 6 arrangements, the bouquet, a matching smaller one for my sister and 6 boutonnières all for one kinda low price of 400,000 won. We figured it would be 300-500,000 so we were satisfied with our florist. She is even delivering to the church at 9 a.m. the day of the wedding.

It was a rather interesting experience though. I mean we told her the size we wanted and the kinds of flowers we like, which she kinda nodded at and pretty much said "I can make them lovely" so who knows what I'll actually be getting, but I love flowers in general so I can't imagine getting arrangements and being like "AH they're so ugly!"

Stephen and I went with the two women in my adult class (Bora and Louise) and it was so fun and relaxing. Just out to buy some wedding flowers, no big deal. We didn't even check with other shops to compare prices, which maybe sounds naive, but it was so much nicer that way. Just in and out.

Thank God for Korean friends!

In not so fun news, our church let us know this week that they don't allow non-christian music to be played in the church, "It's policy." So now that our band is on board we have to figure out another location to dance.

I don't think my argument, that any music which makes one praise God with joy in dancing is christian music, will fly.

But, if I have learned anything through this whole experience it is to trust God will take care of it. He confirmed our band, he got us a location, flowers, decorations, Munnys, friends and so much more, so what is one more location?

I feel God has over and over whispered to me, "Can you trust me with this one more detail?" and after a bit of frustration He usually gives me the faith to say, "Yes I do. Take my anxiety, take the issue and make it work."

And He is the most faithful.

3 Weeks to Go

1. Location: check

2. Pastor: kinda check

Turns out there is some kind of confusion over if our actual pastor will be able to do our ceremony, because the Korean head pastor said he would......I want my wedding in English, I hope they care.

3. Band....... the jury is still out.

4. Flowers: well they can't make any arrangements at this time so really this doesn't matter.

5. Rings: Check

6. Hundreds of green circles cut and some on strings: Check

7. Crayons and Candles: Check

8. Dress: Check

9. Tux: Check.....well except the vest and tie

10. Cake topper: arrived and ready for decorating

11. Details of Stephen and my life on circles: Check

12. Guest book: check

13. Supplies for programs: Check

14. Ceremony....well when we figure out if we have a pastor who speaks english I think we can figure this one out.

15. Affidavit from Seoul: well that would require Stephen being able to get off work so we can get married in another city.....Korea is so weird

16. Cake: like the flowers, this can't be done until later so it is not so important

17. Food: Check.....well we have the food promised but we still need to talk menu with the caterer.

18. Vows: it's in the works.

19. Dress/shoe embellishments: Check

20. Friends and Family: Check.

So although we have had much of our wedding planning done, getting actual information and things done is difficult. Thanks to my great ex-co-worker we have a caterer and I do believe she is now working on possible hotels for my family. Saturday she will go with us to the caterer to talk food and possibly to some florists to check prices. What I have noticed here is if something is for a wedding they will rip you off. So my new thought is don't tell them it's for a wedding, maybe just a party, and then you might even have more color options. Weddings here equal white flowers. Still I will know more after this weekend....hopefully.

The great success has probably been making a flower piece for my sash/belt (top picture) and flowers for my shoes, all out of tulle, pearls and ribbon.