Asan, South Korea ? Brides in white wedding gowns and Japanese kimonos joined grooms in black suits and red ties today for the Unification Church’s biggest mass wedding in a decade — a spectacle church officials say involved some 40,000 people around the world.

The “blessing ceremony” was the church’s largest since 1999, and may well be the last on such a grand scale officiated by the 89-year-old Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial founder of the Unification Church.

Nearly a half-century after arranging the marriages of 24 couples in his first mass wedding, Moon blessed more than 10,000 couples gathered at Sun Moon University, the school he founded in Asan, south of Seoul.

About half are marrying for the first time, some in marriages arranged by Moon himself; the rest are renewing their wedding vows. Officials said Moon also blessed 10,000 couples from Sweden to Brazil taking part in simultaneous ceremonies around the world.

The mass wedding comes as Moon is moving to hand day-to-day leadership over to his children. The Rev. Moon Hyung-jin, the 30-year-old son tapped to take over religious affairs, insists his father remains in charge of the church and in good health.

The massive global ceremony is meant to mark two key anniversaries in the leader’s life: his 90th birthday and his 50th wedding anniversary, church official said.

Row after row of brides in veils and grooms in white gloves — hailing from South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Europe — joined married couples renewing their vows. Earlier, they posed for photos, sang and practiced shouting “Hurrah!” as the wedding rehearsal got under way.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” Rie Furuta, 25, admitted before the ceremony. She had her groom, Tadakuni Sano, both 25-year-olds from Japan, have met only three times since their marriage was arranged in March.

Dressed in an austere black suit, Moon sprinkled holy water toward the couples, who then exchanged rings. After blessing them, he led the crowd of 20,000 in a loud cheer. White confetti floated into the air.

“It’s the realization of a dream I’ve had for so long. Taking part in a mass wedding only adds to the profoundness — I barely have the words to describe what I feel,” Laudicea Corina de Padua, 40, said in Sao Paulo, Brazil.