'Male wedding planners can do better'

Choi Jong-hak, the chief wedding manager at Chuka Club, says being a male wedding planner is very rewarding. / Korea Times

By Yoon Sung-won

Brides are the heroines of any wedding ceremony. They should always draw attention from everyone else in the wedding hall. For that reason, female wedding planners, perceived to better understand the brides, have dominated the wedding consulting sector in Korea.

Choi Jong-hak, the chief wedding manager at Chuka Club, a wedding consulting agency in Nonhyun, southern Seoul, is one of few males who has succeeded as a wedding planner.

“I have both pride and professionalism in my job, and I believe that such an attitude is the biggest strength as a wedding planner,” the 30-year-old said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Wedding planners meticulously manage everything, from the attire to photos. They also cover events that are part of the marriage process, including meetings between families of the bride and the bridegroom and the honeymoon. During the preparation for a wedding, which takes about three to six months, planners check detailed information including reservations, schedules and, most importantly, the budget.

Choi said that monitoring the latest wedding ceremonies of celebrity couples is very important, because many clients want to follow them.

“These days, a less splendid wedding style, which was recently adopted by comedian couple Jung Kyung-mi and Yoon Hyung-bin, is booming,” he said.

Some might worry that male wedding planners are more likely to miss subtle yet important things such as brides’ makeup and dress designs than their female counterparts. Some brides may also shun sharing private information with them, such as dress size.

However, Choi emphasized that the gender of a wedding planner does not determine the quality of service.

“Male wedding planners may not wear a wedding dress nor put on brides’ heavy makeup. But from a different point of view, the inability to experience a bride’s costume can be a strength because we can avoid giving an overly personal or subjective opinion to clients,” Choi said. “Another strong point of male planners is that they take extra care on bridegrooms, who may feel alienated by the brightness of the bride.”

Choi studied drama and cinema at university and learned photography skills. After graduation, he worked at a major broadcasting company for several years. He said his education and career background allowed him to help couples look better for one of the most important events in their lives.

Over 300,000 couples tie the knot every year in Korea and most wedding managers are busiest in spring and autumn, the most favored season for marrying couples. In these seasons, Choi often manages more than 20 couples at the same time.

Though sometimes it’s not easy to keep up with such demand, Choi said the job has been very rewarding. “Whenever I see the happiest-ever faces of marrying couples or I get a hand-written letter of gratitude from couples, I find my job the most worthwhile,” he said.