Maria the Korean Bride Gets Married in Hawaii
(More on Time.com: Should a Mother Lose Custody of Her Kids Because She Has Cancer?)
Yoon wears a hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, for each occasion (though the white hanbok she usually wears is traditionally worn at funerals, not weddings), with an elaborate headdress and dots on her face. And she has to find celebrants, book a venue and get people to show up. Plus, unlike for many young brides, her parents aren’t footing any of the bill.
Yoon takes the ceremonies very seriously; she never smiles, out of deference, she says, to her forebears. And some grooms have remarked that she’s so intent on getting everything right, they’re glad the marriage is over quickly.
Her parents, who probably rue the day they started to ask her why she wasn’t married yet, are coming to the wedding in Times Square. It’s their first. While her family has come around to (more or less) supporting her project, says Yoon, “my dad is thrilled that this is the last and final one.”
Does Yoon ever want to get married for real? “Yes, I think so,” she says. “However after years of interviewing couples and singles about marriage, maybe my expectations are a little more muted than most.”