From 'a dream' to 'I do': Couple has real life fairy tale wedding at Gyeongbok Palace

Mai, from Estonia, used to spend hours watching characters in hanbok (traditional Korean attire) fall in love against the backdrop of Korean palaces in K-dramas.

On Friday, the palace romance she had watched countless times on screen became real — and this time, she was the bride.

“For me to get married at a palace feels like a dream,” Mai said shortly before marrying her fiance beneath a towering ginkgo tree on the grounds of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul.

“When foreigners come to Korea, they look for where to go, and the first thing that pops up is Gyeongbok Palace […] Getting married here feels like a dream.”

It was not only a fairy-tale moment for her but a historic one as well. The Korea Heritage Service (KHS) said it marked the first wedding for an ordinary couple at Gyeongbok Palace in 631 years — the first since the palace was founded in 1395 as the main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Mai and her husband were the first couple to wed under a new KHS program that offers couples free use of an outdoor ginkgo-tree area next to the National Palace Museum of Korea as a wedding venue. A total of 28 couples, selected from 293 applicants, are set to marry at the venue through November.

At 4 p.m., in near-perfect wedding weather of 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) with a light breeze, the ceremony began, with the couple surrounded by family and friends.

Some guests had traveled long distances to be there, including Mai's sister, Range, who had flown about 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles) from Estonia.

“It’s strange to say, but it wasn’t that surprising to me,” Range said, recalling when she first heard that her sister would be getting married at the palace. “She is a princess in our family, and in a faraway land, she has met her prince or knight.”

Mai's friend Sara came from New Zealand, wearing hanbok for the occasion.

The ceremony mixed Korean traditions with touches from both families.

The mothers of the bride and groom, both in hanbok, faced each other and poured water into a traditional vessel personally presented to the couple by first lady Kim Hye-kyung.

Mai's nephew Aliot, carrying the wedding rings, walked down the aisle to “Soda Pop” (2025) from the soundtrack of Netflix's “KPop Demon Hunters" (2025), dressed in a king's hanbok he had personally picked.

Also there to mark the occasion were Korea Heritage Service chief Huh Min and Estonian Ambassador to Korea Tanel Sepp, who offered their congratulations.

“Today marks not only a happy new beginning for the two of you, but another occasion to showcase Korea's palaces at home and abroad,” Huh said. “Just as people who lived in different cultures and places have come together as one, I hope Korea's cultural heritage can play such a role.”

The program was launched to make greater public use of Korea's cultural heritage while easing the financial burden of marriage on younger generations and supporting broader efforts to address the country's low birthrate.

International couples have shown strong interest in the program. Of the 293 applicants this year, 28 were international couples from 15 countries. Eight of them were selected to marry at the venue this year.

Buoyed by the response this year, the agency is expanding the program to 80 outdoor weddings in the spring and fall next year. A total of 672 couples applied for next year's slots.

After the ceremony, guests headed inside the palace museum's annex for the reception, which is also provided free of charge to participating couples.

For those who knew Mai, the wedding seemed particularly fitting.

“The wedding really matched who she is,” said her friend Olivia, pointing to Mai's longtime connection with hanbok and Korean culture.

Mai previously drew attention as the first foreigner to win a top title at the Miss Chunhyang pageant, when she placed fourth in 2025, and has since worn hanbok on trips abroad, documenting them on her YouTube channel, “Kimchi Ghost Mai,” where she introduces Korean culture to viewers overseas.

“It felt very close to how she represents herself,” Olivia said. “I really enjoyed it.”

The official ceremony had a capacity of about 100 guests, but beyond them was a constant flow of uninvited spectators watching from the nearby path. Some stepped on to the grass for a closer look, while others raised their phones and cameras.

But Mai said she rather liked that.

“People come here expecting to see people walking around in hanbok and beautiful things. But then they get to see a wedding too,” she said. “A wedding is a happy thing, so I hope it makes them a little happier.”

Mai hoped the “dreamlike” experience would not be hers alone.

“This wedding means so much to me, and I feel incredibly honored to have had this opportunity,” she said. “I hope other people get the chance to have a wedding like this too.”

BY WOO JI-WON [[email protected]]