This couple surprised their entire family with their multicultural wedding

Mike and Mallory have a diverse background that they wanted to embrace at their wedding. The groom's mother is Korean and his father is African-American, and the bride's father is Chinese and Greek and her mother is Italian and German. There were LOTS of cultures to represent and they rocked them. But the shocking part is yet to come: the couple totally surprised their guests with the wedding itself! They used the guise of an engagement party to get everyone together and then dropped the bomb that it was actually their two-part wedding. Let's hear from the bride herself on how it all went down:

There wasn't a traditional aisle, though we did ask my dad to give me away. We had a traditional wedding ceremony where Michael and I wrote our own vows. After that ceremony, Michael and I changed into traditional Korean wedding attire, a hanbok, and performed the traditional Korean Pyebaek bowing ceremony.

During the second ceremony, Mike's parents sat on cushions behind a table filled with bowls of Jujubes (Korean dates) and chestnuts, to symbolize children, in front of a painted screen, while Mike and I were on the other side of the table. We began by bowing to one another one at a time, then bowed to Mike's parents while kneeling on the floor. Mike poured wine and offered to me to drink, as I did for him in return. Once we were done with our small glasses of wine, Mike's mom then threw jujube and chestnuts into the skirt of my hanbok to symbolize how blessed we will be with children.

Once the Pyebaek ceremony was complete, was changed back into our wedding attire and closed out the night with cake cutting and our first dance followed by a dance with my dad while Mike danced with his mom to “What a Wonderful World.”

Check out the full video and photos below:

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Video: Best Made Videos • Venue: Mama Stortini's Italian Restaurant • Photography: Seven of Hearts Photography

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About the Author: Catherine Clark

@enidjcoleslaw @bijouxandbits @bijouxandbits

Catherine Clark loiters at her local library, makes art, watches movies en masse, plays video and tabletop games, poorly cooks healthy things, cuddles with her feline fur babies, and blogs at BijouxandBits.com.