Chinese couples come for wedding preps
Liu Shen, 25, a bride from China, strikes a pose for her wedding shoot at an indoor studio in Cheongdam, Seoul last week. She and her husband-to-be Zou Guang-shun, 30, spent nearly four hours in the studio as part of their four-day tour to Korea.
Hallyu entices
foreigners to
have weddings
like Koreans
By Kim Ji-soo
When I say ‘sinrang,’ the groom should move and if I say ‘sinbu,’ I mean the bride,” Kim Mi-dae, a photographer was addressing a young Chinese couple before their wedding shoot at Lamant Studio in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.
Zou Guang-shun, 30, and Liu Shen, 25, were listening attentively via a translator, fully dressed in a tuxedo and a bell-shaped dress with tiara. The couple from Qingdao,Shandong Province chose Seoul as a destination for their wedding photo shoot.
During their four-day stay in Seoul, the couple spent the day doing the wedding photo shoot.
“The (photo) technology is better,” said the groom who runs a construction firm in Qingdao, speaking through an interpretor.
“I think our photos will come out more prettier in Korea,” said the bride who found the information on the Internet and opted for Seoul.
Liu and Zou talk with the photographer and other aides through a translator at Lamant Studio, Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.
Liu and Zou already had wedding photo shoot back home, but still opted to come toKorea for a second one.
Destination weddings have always had its lure. But the widespread popularity of “hallyu” or the Korean wave inChina is prompting foreign couples into new sectors of Korean contemporary culture ― wedding shoots in this case.
The Korean wedding practice is more elaborate, a process that includes the indoor studio photo shoot prior to the actual ceremony that is accompanied by “pyebaek” or simplified traditional process where only the parents and the newlyweds attend. But for Chinese tourists, it’s mainly the photo shoots that are popular at the moment.
While the couple didn’t understand much of what the photographers was saying, they quickly nodded when the photographer mentioned “Nichkun and Victoria” who did wedding shoots on a reality program in 2011. Nickhun is a Thai-born member of the K-pop group 2PM and Victoria, the China-born member of the girl group f(x), and both are popular in their home countries.
“Today, we’ve already had two Chinese couples,” said Kim.
Liu and Zou lie down together, a pose suggested by the photographer. / Korea Times photos by Kim Ji-soo
“We heard from our customers that the wedding shoots are far more sophisticated here in Korea...the set, the makeup and the dress the whole package,” Kim’s aide said.
The shoot continued on for three to four hours, as the couple changed into two more attires.
While the process can be tiring, the newlyweds-to-be were enjoying the shoot, a one-time festive and sometimes lavish event.The photos are then made into an album.
“It’s fun,” said Liu, the bride. The groom looked a little tired but he was filming the process on his video-camera all along, both relishing in the pre-nuptial bliss.
They are part of an estimated 600 Chinese couples expected to have their wedding photos shot in Seoul this year, according to leading wedding planner firm iWeddingNetworks.
The estimated figure of 600 is just for the Chinese newly-weds-to-be; couples from nearby Asian countries are also coming to Seoul.
The firm iWeddingNetworks was launched by former singer Kim Tae-wook, whose wife is the top actress Chae Si-ra. The fact that iWeddingNetworks has done weddings of top actors such as Han Ga-in and Song Il-gook may have helped grab attention of Chinese customers.
“We started getting inquiries from Chinese couples around 2005-2007 mainly about the indoor studio shots in Apgujeong-dong, Cheongdam-dong. But back then, those interested were just one couple a month,” said Han Sang-min, a general manager at iWeddingNetworks.
But the company was able to set up more systematic operations catering to foreign newlyweds around 2009, opening an online site www.iwedding.net. The company partnered with China’s largest state-run travel agency CITS and opened an office in Shanghai in 2012.
Then last December, iWeddingNetworks joined hands with Lotte Hotel in Seoul signing a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in bringing more Chinese couples to Korea. Over the long haul, the two partners are aiming at a broader market of not only weddings, but engagements, first-year anniversaries for children and 60th birthdays for parents targeting consumers in China, Japan and Southeast Asia.
The Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul said they had one Chinese couple last October who stayed at the hotel for their “Korean-style” wedding.
The Chinese wedding market is estimated at 10 million couples getting married every year, according to iWeddingNetworks figures.
Getting married in Korea is the dream of China’s “balinghou” generation, the post-1980s generation who were born under China’s “one-child” policy.
“We really see an explosive growth in this area. The demand may far outnumber the 600 couples that we have estimated for the year, but the important thing is to provide a good service,” Han of iWeddingNetworks said.
Weddings in Korean can be costly, and a tour including a wedding photo can run anything from 7 million won through 10 million won.The photo shoot itself costs anywhere from from 2 million won through 5 million won. Industry insiders said that foreign couples who choose to come on these packaged programs are more concerned about having an essential experience rather than the price, all the more reason that right kind of service is promoted in the market.