Guests gather at a wedding ceremony in downtown Seoul. Not all guests are necessarily connections of the
bride and groom such occasions. / Korea Times File


By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Spring wedding season has come.

But it is not only would-be brides and bridegrooms who are busy preparing for their big day. Fake wedding guests are on the look out for part-time jobs.

In the room in the wedding hall where the bride waits for the wedding ceremony, she greets her friends. They congratulate her, admiring her dress. The bride, smiling, thanks the friends for coming.

However, if the ``close'' friends do not take part in the photo session and after the ceremony sneak off, the chances are high that they are fake guests ― those who play the role of friend as a part-time job.

Part-time guests usually arrive at wedding parlors about 40 minutes before the ceremony. They memorize the personal information of the bride at the wedding, such as her name, age, school career, and family relations. Someone in charge of guests checks their attire and gives them envelops of money, prepared by the bride in advance so that they can submit them as congratulatory money to the bride at the parlor entrance.

The fake friends, however, do not have themselves photographed after the ceremony in order not to remain forever in the couple's wedding album. They gather at the rear of the wedding parlor, and the leader distributes envelops to them again ― this time containing their payment. Saying goodbye, they part.

There are several reasons why people seek part-time guests at weddings ― the main one is they have few friends available.

``People don't want to look as if they don't have close ties with friends. Also, a bride seeks fake guests when the number of her guests is apparently smaller than the bridegroom's, and vice versa, as the number of guests is often regarded as the family's power,'' said Lee Mi-young, director of Hagaek Friends, one of dozens of such part-time wedding guest ``rental'' companies easily found on the Internet.

About 70 percent of the clients are for brides: Women tend not to have many friends if several years have passed since their graduation and if they have not had a job, while men, having jobs, have many colleagues at work, Lee said.

Among other clients are those who hold weddings in a region other than their hometowns, or those who do not have many acquaintances in Korea due to long overseas stay.

Such guest companies provide clients with the list and photos of their part-timers on their Web sites. Looking at the photos, the clients select part-timers who they think are appropriate as their guests.

Most part-timers are office ladies in their 20s and 30s. ``As most of the weddings take place on weekends, they do the work as a side job while holding their main jobs during weekdays. The competition for the part-time job is so fierce. If we seek five, an average 100 people apply,'' Lee said.

The payment is 20,000 to 30,000 won per wedding. During peak wedding seasons in spring and autumn, part-time guests sometimes attend two to three weddings a day.

Characters required to play the role of a friend must have a cheerful disposition. ``Young people these days are brazen-faced and sociable, treating the total stranger as their closest friend. People can hardly notice that they are fake guests,'' Lee said.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr