For this week’s wedding I was so honored to be part of a very intimate Korean ceremony called a paebaek. Traditionally it is for just immediate family. The bride called me and asked if I could photograph the small ceremony at the groom’s parents house. I grew excited and immediately said yes!!!
The ceremony was held in the parents living room. They had set up a folding screen, sitting area, mat, and table, which had two food towers and candles for decoration. The nine foods were on the table represented the couple’s lifelong union. For example there were dates on the table symbolizing the couple rising early and working hard, as well as bags of chestnuts to help ward off evil spirits. The parents sat on one side of the table and the couple sat on the other side of the table. On the couples side of the table was a tea set for serving, and on the parents side were several cups for being served. While the parents are being served by the couple, they gave advice and blessings to them. The parents also gave the couple white envelopes containing money to help them on their new journey. It is an important detail that the bride and groom receive any gifts with two hands, rather than just one, to show respect.
This may all sound very serious but there are some very fun and exciting traditions that are part of the paebaek ceremony as well! The parents, still sitting behind the low table, gather a pile of dates and chestnuts and threw them toward the couple. According to this tradition The number of dates and chestnuts the happy couple catch in the cloth represent the number of children they will have, with dates representing sons and chestnuts representing daughters.
There was also part of the ceremony where the couple went on a date and courted each other. This was the bride and groom’s favorite part ot the ceremony. They faced each other and flirted. One tradition had the bride put a date in her mouth and feed it to her groom. It was so cute!
Then to top off the paebaek ceremony, there is a piggy back ride! How fun is that? Traditionally , the groom gives his bride a ride on his back around th etable, but his proud groom joyfully ran around the guests with her giggling ana smiling.
After the ceremony, everyone sat down and ate and even invited me to eat with them, which was so kind. It was such an honor to be part of such an intimate and super fun ceremony. I have never felt so honored to shoot a ceremony. The everyone was so generous and gracious to let me be a small part of their special day.
Thank you so much for visiting this blog. I hope you keep coming back to see what the Atlanta wedding photographers at Atlanta Artistic Weddings are up to! If you’d like to contact me go to the contact page and drop me a line at https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/contact-atlanta-wedding-photographer. I would love to hear from you!
Thanks!
David