Welcome to Wedding Hell (2022)

Not bad!

Developed by ‘Kakao Ent.’ And produced by ‘Mays Ent.’, “Welcome to Wedding Hell (결혼백서)” is a 12 episode long romcom plus melo web series. Written by Choi I-rang and directed by Seo Joo Wan, the drama was originally aired by Kakao TV and internationally distributrd by Netflix, in selected countries.

The show follows the story of a couple who had been dating and finally decided to get married, while being hit by reality hard as they set out to prepare for their D-day. As she dreams about an all-happy life, Kim Na Eun (Lee Yun Hee) is finally proposed by his beloved boyfriend Seo Jun Hyung (Lee Jin Wook) who always moves on from matters than talking about it. As they start planning for the most important day, they have stuffs to settle before getting hitched. Overnight, their family & friends get involved in all these, eventually resulting in unforeseen and unexpected issues, that they must deal with to live happily in future.

In other major roles are: Kim Mi Kyung Yoon Yoo Sun, Hwang Seung Eon, Song Jin Woo, Im Ha Ryong, Kim Joo Yeon and Gil Young Woo, who are talented and did perfect deliveries. You will see few known faces as guest roles in the show too.

Having not watched any of their 2 previous works, Imma take this as the debut of Choi I-rang jakka-nim. And talking about the writing of the story, from the perspective of a viewer, this was pretty decent. Similarly, the seemingly rookie director Seo Jun Wan PDnim has done a good job, just like his previous web show. The drama did give off the classical melo Kdrama vibes with modern setup and the screen-editing was up to par per se.

 In the crowd of fairy-tale dramas where the leads either end up getting together or get married in the very ending of the show, happily, this particular story was on the realistic sides. This is more of a behind-the-scenes story portraying the real and relatable problems one must go through as they prepare to start a new life. Even with a short storyline and limited runtime, this was able to throw light upon many things including the conflict between the couple, dispute between the families, the ways friends and workplaces influences mindsets of to-be-married individuals and the psychological warfare everyone must overcome. As someone in his early 20s with no firsthand experience yet has grown up of seeing numerous marriage preparations, I can’t really say the show was relatable but it was definitely a reflection of reality, is all I can state.

There are 2 OSTs in the drama:
“To The Bride” by Aliee
“Marry ME” by Han Seung Yun.

 It was honestly very weird, at first, to see Lee Jin Wook playing a character so untypical of what he has been doing for the last few years. But, soon it became easy as I realized the mood of the drama wasn’t supposed to stay as fluffy as it at first seemed to be. Lee Yun Hee was as fabulous as ever and Kim Mi Kyung being the girly’s mother that she has aced ages ago.

The comedy elements as a part of the show were very funny and proved to be ice-breaker among the serious moods, accompanied by good soud-editing. Apart from the conversations between parents and friends, it was Song Jin Woo’s capabilities that carried the humor dept. of the show. 

The most important message from this drama, in my pov, is how married life is influenced by third parties, particularly family, no matter how much they seemed to have played the tiniest parts in the show. Over-possessiveness could be a poison and over-interference by parents between couples that too the ones preparing for marriage, could lead to unamendable situations, eventually resulting in fall in relationships. On contrary, well-established coordination, proper and free communication, abilities to understand, etc. are the key to healthy relationships, is what the puts emphasis on.

Before I finish, I would like to urge the ones complaining to look beyond the futile points. Rationally, there are not many technical flaws so whatever is left to criticize is how you feel about characters and situations. If you think some of the characters are unbearable and the situations are annoying, well, sweetie! This is what you see in perfectly real life. The show is made to show what’s wrong and needs to be rectified and what matters the most is how they deal with these and sort everything out by the end of show, which is clearly, again, realistically done. 

Regardless of everything, my fictional heart wanted one thing to be different. It was Na Eun's nature which the writer should have changed, a little if not drastically. There were not just one or two, rather many instances she was in the wrong and I was expecting her to have a development, or at least some growth in that matter, which didn't happen.

Final Remarks… This is definitely not the best drama or something worth of creating buzz, but it’s a well-made story with realistic elements that makes it an entertaining melodrama. I believe 6.5 will be perfect, provided the quality is average yet the decent efforts have been reflected.  I'd have actually given a 7.0 if not for the point I have mentioned above. The drama has about 7 hours runtime so I don't think it hurts to give it a try, again bcs it's not a waste.

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Na-Eun is written horribly

I thought that this would be a cute drama with elements from the anime "Love is War: Kaguya-sama" where we look into the minds of both the FL and ML as they overcome challenges regarding their love life. This doesn't seem to be the case as the couple begins to close off communication to wallow in self-pity. It started to go downhill after the furniture shopping incident with ML's mom.

It's odd that FL and ML have been together for so long and yet she doesn't really understand how clueless her fiance is (that it would be difficult for women to get along with their MILs, that it would have been better for him not to buy the watch himself during the watch incident, etc.) His mom seems to be the same way since she's been clueless as to how difficult it is for the FL to honestly communicate with her.

One thing that truly irks me is the fact that Na-Eun never takes responsibility for her behavior. She never tries to be honest with her MIL, or even her fiance. Whenever she's upset the ML has to resort to getting info from her best friend Hee Sun because FL often goes "You didn't know what you did?"

When ML apologizes, she says "Do you even know what you're apologizing for?" I honestly felt really bad for him when he started to have the mindset of "Everything's my fault, no one else's. It's all me. I'm sorry." At some point I was concerned that he was going to hurt himself.

It's funny though that FL is bothered by ML dishing out apologies left and right without a thought when she does the same exact thing with her MIL.

Side note: It seems strange to me that Soo Yeon gave Na Eun a tip for dealing with in-laws but Na Eun only used it once and never again. Why was that even put in? I mean they didn't even have another conversation about dealing with in-laws.

Past episode 10 I didn't watch but have read recaps on. Na Eun never reaches out to Joon Hyung, ever. She's always a sad little damsel and he's the puppy that chases after her. She wasn't even open to his attempts at reconnection before the wedding photo-shoot when he offered her a ride, a coffee and a smile. Not even when Hee Sun and Min Woo brought them together so they could try to make up the night before the photo-shoot. She had to get shit-faced drunk so the ML could could have a heart to heart with her. They didn't even touch on the major issues during that heart-to-heart.

What are they going to do when they have another major issue that threatens the foundation of their relationship?? Is she going to be upset all alone and he's going to Hee Sun/Min Woo for clues to resolve things again???? Her communication and problem-solving skills suck!!

*I gave the music rating a 5 since I didn't pay much attention to the music.

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I DON'T RECOMMEND

This drama made me upset so many times it's so short and yet it took me a while to finish it. From the first episode I found problems. The FL is written horribly, she's selfish, immature and inconsiderate.
It's so strange that they have been together for so long and still can't communicate. They continuously go to their friends to discuss their hardships instead of discussing their relationship themselves and try to fix it.
I honestly don't see how they made to marriage; she couldn't even do a simple thing like telling her partner why she doesn't want to go with that wedding location. Instead, she tells a lie; she says her father is against it.
She acts like a damsel it just pisses me off.
I honestly wished they broke up because I don't see two people who want to get married out of love. I see two people who want to get married out of obligation. They just think it is the time in their life for them to get married, while they are clearly not ready for it nor are they mature enough. I was really hoping this would end with them breaking up for good and going their separate ways but unfortunately there was a wedding.
I liked the idea of it though, this is the first drama I have watched that's completely focused on a wedding. It's a pity it's hot garbage.

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Communication hell

First two episodes were cute and funny. Then, the plot got progressively uncomfortable because of main leads’ glaring communication issues. This really is a common plot device used in Korean shows and it, once again, reared its ugly head here.

ML is passive and immature. FL is passive aggressive and has trouble telling the truth about how she feels. Then you throw in their friends who are either clueless (ML’s) and negative nellys (FL’s) and their respective parents with their own prejudices and issues, you get a train wreck of wedding planning. The title is pretty accurate.

Don’t get me wrong. What they’re going through is understandable. It’s stressful to get married but their struggles didn’t get all the way relatable for me. Like the FL being stressed to match the $80K dowry from the ML’s family and buying a $10K watch as a present for the ML. I found it to be a super first world problem in an elitist way. Well, I guess everything could be categorized as first world problems. Another reason for not relating to their problems was because I almost felt like they deserved their heartaches caused by their own shortcomings. I stopped caring about them after a few episodes.

Before I end this, here’s a PSA for Korean people. I feel like this is a real issue in Korean society. Korean parents and children (that are adults, especially), please go on your separate ways. Parents, let your adult children go. Stop interfering! Stop guilt tripping them into being your little children forever even after they marry and have their own children. Korean adult children, your parents are done raising you. Stop depending on them for money and directions in life. You’ll thank me later.

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Immature

It's an ok watch for something light and if you need something to pass the time, a lot of cute moments, however, story wise it's quite boring and flat, and I also have to say for people in their 30s the characters are immature. For someone who comes from a country that has conservative dating and marriage customs, I totally get that there are a lot of tradition to follow, but seeing their actions and reactions was like watching a teen drama, and I'm left wondering why this couple were together. There wasn't really a "glue" that keep them together in my opinion. The side stories also felt on the shallow side, with status, looks and material possession being something that's quite important.

Also, coming from someone who recently got married, and have helped quite a few friends get married in the past, their marriage planning seem to be a lot more smooth sailing than what it would be like in reality, in my opinion.

Overall, I think my problem is with how the characters and the story were written more than anything. The characters lack communication with each other, and I feel their relationship isn't really "healthy" or realistic.

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Short and sweet

It was pretty good. The episodes were short, yet entertaining. The show itself was a light-hearted take on marriage in korean culture, with some comedic relief mixed in. Cast and story were also decent.

A lot of other reviews seem to have a problem with the dynamic between the ML and FL, and how the core issues in their relationship were never resolved, but that was never the point. The sad reality is, that a lot of real life relationships are like that. Sure it's easy to see the glaring issues from a third-person POV, but let's not pretend we're better than that. None of us have the right to critique their actions. On a side note, one thing I've learned watching kdramas, is not to expect the characters to behave reasonably. I mean, you're watching a drama ffs.

But yeah, overall a nice and fast watch, with a lot of wholesome moments.

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Budget Wedding

The drama had a decent introduction and seemed promising with its theme. The first 3-4 episodes gave the impression that the drama was going to be an episodic formula about a variety of different scenarios and struggles couples could run through around their wedding, however, although they had a couple of these scenarios early on but everything after that boiled down to the typical financial issues which the drama repeated and reskinned 5-6 times until the end. The drama had a good set up to easily come up with a handful of other ideas themed around preparing weddings. On the other hand, the drama had a good cast for a short drama which made the whole thing more tolerable.

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Realistically boring and bland

At first, I was a bit reluctant when Lee Jin Wook was cast as a male lead in a rom-com drama considering his previous roles consisted of more action, angsty, supernatural, and overall non-romantic characters (Bulgasal, Sweet Home, Voice, etc.). I was afraid the lack of experience in rom-coms would affect his performance in 'Welcome to Wedding Hell'. On the contrary, this exact reason (lack of romantic projects) was what intrigued me about WTWH.

Lee Jin Wook does a good job as Seo Joon Hyung. His romantic side feels okay but occasionally too forced. His chemistry with Lee Yun Hee sometimes comes off as bland. The whole show felt a little distant and I was having a hard time getting to like the characters (especially Na Eun and her "I'm always right and will never apologize for my actions" behavior).

To be completely honest, Jin Wook and Yun Hee's chemistry just wasn't there. Sometimes they felt like really good friends but during the whole drama, I just did not get the feeling they are going to be newlyweds. Especially considering they were long-term partners but Na Eun's knowledge of Jun Hyung's obliviousness to almost everything she does felt off...like she almost didn't know him at all.

In the end, I found this drama boring, the characters annoying, and the acting pretty average (which is a pity especially for Jin Wook as I know he's an exceptional actor). I do admit that in the end, thinking about the pacing of the drama and all, it did come off very realistically and real-life-like. HOWEVER, overall the show just wasn't that good, especially for a Netflix show. Wouldn't recommend.

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama " Welcome to Wedding Hell " is a short drama about a couple preparing for their wedding day.

And even though the drama has its moments, the overall result is boring and pretty much pointless. The whole dramatic twists that kept happening were cheesy and tiring. The romance was also just okay, and, as it is established already, it has few surprises to offer.

On the other hand, the performances were all great, by the main couple, but, especially, by the side characters, like the mothers-in-law that were delightful.

As for the cinematography, the drama kept things light and in a fun mood.

So, overall, 3 out of 10.

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good story but too one-sided

It's a good series although I felt like the whole story was about pleasing Na-eun, the main female character. From choosing the wedding venue up to their fights due to misunderstandings, everything revolved around her. There were scenes where she was at fault, if not, both she and Jun-hyeong were, but the episodes always end up pleasing Na-eun's character. It's also a shame that I didn't get to see versatile facial expressions from the characters. It would have been better if Na-eun had more expressions other than smiling and worrying. I can barely see that she's hurt in scenes where she's supposed to be. Nevertheless, the plot was good. They tackled every possible hurdle that a couple might face when preparing for a wedding. There were scenes that were also really funny. It was also a good watch, in all fairness. However, I'd say it's a shame that it was too one-sided.

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