Ask a North Korean: what happens on your wedding day?

In North Korea, your wedding isn’t just your moment, because the government and Workers’ Party often intervene. There’s no such thing as a bouquet being thrown in the DPRK, instead newlyweds bring flowers to pay respects to the statue of Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung immediately after their official ceremony.

Wedding photos are also taken at the statue. It’s not forced upon the newlyweds, but most couples feel obligated. There’s also one very important rule: you cannot walk down the aisle on 15 April or 16 February, the birthdays of the former leaders.

Most ceremonies are still held in the traditional way, passed down for generations. If you’ve ever watched a Korean drama, most often they depict the bride and groom wearing traditional hanbok dresses, with their neighbours and relatives coming to congratulate them while enjoying food and liquor, which is true to life for most North Koreans.

For the labourers and farmers who can’t afford gifts, borrowing some food from the market is customary. They pay the vendors to rent the goods, have photos taken and return them afterwards.

For more affluent people, money is often given to the happy couple on arrival, with party officials giving US dollars, a sign of their status.

More strangely, live chickens are never left out of a North Korean wedding – it’s an old tradition to have a live hen and rooster present at the ceremony. People stick dates and flowers in the jaws of the hen and red chilli in the beak of the rooster.

For party officials, weddings are their way of demonstrating how important they are, so they often hold parties on a grand scale.

It’s not important that there are lines of BMWs outside: what matters is the number of cars parked outside the hotels or VIP lounges where elite members of Pyongyang society hold their ceremonies, and the grooms are always sure to receive a watch.

Unlike in South Korea, where newlyweds go on holiday, usually abroad, to mark their honeymoon, this is alien in the North: if you get married today, you go to work tomorrow. I didn’t know about honeymoons until I came to the South.