Agencies provide 'fake wedding guests' for brides and grooms to purchase on their wedding day

Article: Brides and grooms purchase wedding guests

Source: Oh My News via Naver

I've seen this trend going around for a while, with lots of posts on Pann from people wondering if they should 'buy' wedding guests since they don't have a lot of friends and would rather not have their real wedding guests gossip about why their side of the room is so empty, etc. The article goes through one person's experience who works part-time as a fake wedding guest and I thought it was an interesting read.

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For people who don't know what a fake wedding guest job is, it's basically someone who gets paid to attend some stranger's wedding as either their friend or co-worker. There are some agencies who will even provide 'fake parents' and other distant relatives if needed. As someone who's been working part-time in the field for over a year, I've attended many different weddings myself, many where the majority of the guests seated were other fake guests from other agencies themselves.

If you search 'pretend wedding guest' on the internet, you get tons and tons of agencies that provide such services. It's not a small market, as just the agency I work in alone provides up to 500 fake wedding guests over a busy weekend.

I got started in the business when I had to quit my regular job for health issues and wanted a part-time job instead of staying at home doing nothing. I found a cafe about it and was surprised at not only how many people were working in the field but how highly requested their services were. I started by making a post about myself (with a picture necessary). I later found out that the brides and grooms looking to hire were very particular about these pictures since they'd rather have pretty or handsome friends attend their wedding.

At my first wedding, the team leader of our agency provided us with envelopes filled with $30. The envelopes were for us to present to the newlyweds as congratulatory money.

If your client is the groom, there isn't much you're usually asked to do. He'll normally ask you to just come in and act as his friend or co-worker and stick around for pictures at the end of the ceremony. Sometimes he'll have a small event planned where he'll want you to give flowers to the bride and whatnot.

If your client is the bride, there's a bit more you have to do. I remember it being awkward at first sitting in the bride's room and taking pictures with someone I barely knew...

After about a year, I came to understand why this particular field of work was so popular. The modern man hates having his time wasted. Korean society is also very watchful of the eyes and opinions of others, and many love gossiping. The modern wedding is no longer about congratulating the new beginning of a couple but an obligatory 'show' that new couples must put on for the sake of showing off to others. It's a reality like that that has made such a job like 'fake wedding guests' necessary.

While working, I've met people who were simply in it for the money and others who fed off of the positive energy of congratulating someone. I'm the latter, which is why I take out my suit every weekend. But I do think that our society would be a much better place if we could all learn to free up our hearts a bit to genuinely congratulate a special day for the people we love.

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1. [+1,093, -48] The problem is that people do everything in this country to show off. They have to save face, they have to present a certain image.

2. [+933, -33] People hire these services because they're afraid of what others will think if they don't have many guests attending their wedding and are scared others will think of them as losers. It's a pathetic situation all around, being so mentally stressed about the views of others on top of the financial burden of having to purchase such a service.

3. [+867, -77] You'd save so much more money just having a small family and friends get together outside

4. [+94, -0] Nowadays, people don't have as many friends. Everyone's too busy working or studying, who actually has the time to maintain relationships with dozens of people? By the time you're ready for marriage, you probably have less than 20 people you can contact, and that's perfectly normal.

5. [+58, -3] I've been to a few of my friends' weddings and it did look a bit empty when there are a lot of empty seats...

6. [+57, -2] I remember going on vacation to Europe and saw this couple getting married in the middle of the streets. They didn't have their parents or any guests there, just a priest and a photographer there and I thought that was so jjang of them.. They danced to the street music, giggled with passerbys who congratulated them.. then took off to their honeymoon later.

7. [+53, -4] I have less than 10 friends I can invite ㅋㅋㅋ and I'm not really embarrassed of that... you can have more or less friends depending on your personality... My boyfriend has tons of friends so he can just ask some of them to come stand on my side in pictures. It's not a problem..

8. [+46, -1] Nothing wrong with people who don't have friends. I don't pay much mind to making relationships just because I'm too lazy to deal with the emotions of others.

9. [+40, -4] I don't get it. If you don't have many friends, why are you hiring these services? Who are you going to show those pictures to if you don't have any friends to begin with?

10. [+37, -0] Where would Korea be if not for their obsession with showing off a certain image to others

11. [+34, -2] I'm scared that I'll end up having to buy these services for my wedding too... I've been so busy achieving my career goals that I realize I haven't made much friends... although that may be an excuse, I guess.

12. [+33, -2] I don't think people buy these services to 'show off about how many friends they have'. It looks more like because they don't want to be perceived as someone who lacks social skills... They don't want people to gossip over that so they'd rather just drop some cash on it and make it a non-issue. So the next time you go to a wedding, don't make fun of the couple if they don't have many guests... the success of a life isn't determined by how many friends you have.. Imagine how many people gossiped over this that these services even exist.

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