Pae Baek: Korean Wedding Ceremony

Eugene and I have decided to incorporate the traditional Korean wedding ceremony called Pae Baek. Most modern couples choose to squeeze it in between their civil or religious wedding and the reception but Eugene and I decided to share the ceremony with our close friends and family at the Rehearsal Dinner.

We're both trying to read up and Wikipedia the customs for the ceremony so that we can make it our own. Jung Hee Lee, who I met when I was working at the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA) and is like an older sister to me is helping me put together the Pae Baek. We are trying to incorporate as many symbols of social justice in our Catholic wedding as well as the Pae Baek such as the symbolic food and objects placed on the ceremony table.

Here is some information I found:

TRADITIONAL DRESS:

(From Rituals of Bliss)

The two dresses worn by the bride were once the costume of the noble class.
The simple lime-green wonsam and the more elaborate hwarrot, or "flower robe,"
are embroidered with flowers and butterflies. Underneath, she wears the hanbok,
the doll-like traditional dress of Korea. On the bride's head is a black cap
studded with gems. On her feet are white socks and embroidered shoes. Her makeup
is simple, except for three red circles, yonji konji, the size of nickels. These
circles, traditionally made of red peppers, but now often drawn on, are supposed
to ward off evil spirits. The groom's faruotsu is also the dress of the
nobility. It is made of dark green damask with auspicious symbols woven in gold.
The headdress is the tall black cap of high-ranking officials made of silk.

THE CEREMONY

Traditionally, the groom would give a live goose--a symbol of fidelity
because it takes only one partner in its life--to his new mother-in-law as a
sign of his faithfulness to her daughter. Today's Korean families substitute the
live goose with a wooden one called a kirogi. The ceremony takes place around a
table, or teresan, in an area set off by a screen with images of peonies. The
highlight of the ceremony is the sharing of a special white wine called jung
jong. Traditionally, this wine was poured into cups made from two halves of a
gourd grown by the bride's mother. The bride and groom sip from their separate
cups and then the wine is mixed together, poured once more into the gourd cups
and sipped again. This is kunbere, the wedding vow. One ritual often seen at
Korean American weddings is the peh beck ceremony. At this ceremony, usually
only attended by family and close friends, the new wife offers her new in-laws
gifts of dried dates and jujubes, symbols of children. They in turn offer her
tea, a subtle but significant gift. At the ceremony's conclusion, they toss the
dates and chestnuts at the bride, and she tries to catch them in her large
skirt.

I think that I am going to make my mom start growing a gourd :P

I've always wanted to do the Korean engagement ritual but Eugene doesn't like the idea of the squid.

Gifts are an important part of an engagement. Traditionally, gifts from the
groom's side would be delivered on the eve of the wedding day. With faces
blackened with dried squid's ink and in costume, friends of the groom would
parade a box, or hahm, filled with gifts. As they approached the bride's house,
they would chant, "Hahm for sale, buy a hahm." Her family would rush out to
greet the gift-bearers, enticing them with money and food.