Cheju hotels are likewise booked to capacity. Many report 100 percent occupancy during the period when wedding bells ring regularly. My job is mainly explaining that we have no rooms, often to top government ministers whose friends forgot to book early enough for the honeymoon. Honeymoon arrivals are so extensive on the island that many hotels have adopted quota policies that limit newlyweds to a certain percent of the rooms, otherwise all of Cheju would be overrun with champagne and bouquets, leaving little space for the non-nuptial guests. Not that honeymooners are in any way eclipsed.
Most hotels host special wedding night parties, that serve a social function unique in the world.
Arranged marriages, on the wane during Korea's post-war modernization, have become increasingly common. Many couples meet face to face for the first time only as they exchange vows, making wedding night much more a nightmare of nerves than newlyweds experience anywhere else. We have leaders who make jokes and try and get them in the mood. And there are games, simple things, like popping balloons to win prizes. We try and make wedding night fun.