Volunteering at a Wedding

On Sunday, December 6, I was able to volunteer for the on-day planning of a wedding at Vienna, VA. The event company I interned at last summer asked me to assist them with a Korean wedding they were planning. Usually, the planning process requires months of communication with the couple and is a very proactive process. However, because I was just assisting for the day of the event, my main responsibilities involved escorting guests from the entrance to the venue, encouraging guests to utilize the different activities available at the event, maintaining the schedule of the event, and clean-up/break down of the venue. Because the lead event planner does not speak Korean, my fluent Korean came in use with the older guests who spoke little to no English. There is also a traditional Korean wedding ceremony that the couple decided to include in the wedding schedule. This ceremony has different components, like a tea drinking portion, a traditional bowing portion—all performed in traditional Korean garments called hanbok. I assisted the event planners in executing this portion of the wedding. The most difficult part of the event was making sure the environment was what the couple wanted—fun and lively—especially with the cold weather and in the daytime. There weren’t as many guests who were letting loose and dancing, so during parts of the event, our events team went up and performed a dance routine! All in all, it was great assisting a former employee with even more knowledge and experience from this semester’s course.

A picture of the wedding dress, taken by yours truly