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Does anyone know who offers paebaek ceremony services and rentals in NYC? Any idea how much it will cost? I'd like to incorporate a Paebaek ceremony between my regular ceremony and cocktail hour, partially because it is culturally meaningful, partially because I think it will make for beautiful pictures, and partially because I need to kill half an hour between the ceremony and cocktails so guests don't get too bored!

In Flushing, NY (and I think they have a Fort Lee, NJ location too) there's a place called Rose Handicraft (in Korean: jang-mi soo-ae-sah). They give you all the stuff and set it up for you. I've heard it's about $1,000 from many people. I think most people who do paebaek hire them.

We're planning on doing paebaek at our wedding, but it will be just for the family. It will be done during cocktail hour. We're planning to tell people to arrive at 6PM for the wedding but start at 6:30. This will be good for the latecomers, plus people will be able to enjoy the grounds of our venue. Starting 1/2 hour later get's rid of that 1/2 hour of lull time in between the wedding and cocktail hour.

Hope this helps!

thanks so much, ladies, for the advice! nkang, i will def look into play food since i don't intend to eat much of it! and swoonie, thanks for the referral - i just called rose handicraft. for any gals looking for pricing, they offer the paebaek service, everything included, for $1200, which is cheaper than one other place that my mother found in flushing. they book fast, so i'm planning on visiting next weekend and if everything looks ok, they want a 50% deposit. i'll let you know how it goes! if anyone else has advice or referrals, please let me know!

I'm planning on doing paebaek right after the ceremony. I'll change into the hanbok and walk into dinner wearing it. Then change back to my wedding dress for the reception.

We're having an unusual schedule. Ceremony, formal photos, private paebaek during the cocktail hour, dinner hour (ish), and then reception/ dancing.  

I'm planning my paebaek ceremony for after the ceremony and before the cocktail hour. My sister did her paebaek during her reception. The reason we're doing it before the cocktail hour, as a separate event is that our reception venue includes a ceremony in their package, but we are having our ceremony at a church. In order to take advantage of the extra time they are giving us and the fact that they will be serving champagne during the ceremony, we thought this was a good way to incorporate it and start the boozing without taking away any time from our dinner/dancing. I am a little nervous about having the paebaek as a more formal separate event - any thoughts?

I think that's a great idea. Personally, I'm really doing this for the pictures!! Don't get me wrong, I'm sure my family will like it too.

I don't like taking time away from the reception either. Plus, if the church is giving you the space, why not?

Sounds like it's gonna be great!

Has anyone tried to incorporate a traditional Korean wedding ceremony into the Paebaek ceremony? I know Paebaek traditionally takes place after the wedding has taken place and is a series of bowing to relatives, mainly the groom's family members. But I was wondering if anyone has done a traditional Korean wedding ceremony where you bow to each other and drink together, just the bride and groom?

Amy: i'm sure you could do it at the rehearsal dinner. my brother did it in the hotel room the morning after his wedding. lots of people do it during the reception dinner or during cockail hour. if you did it at the rehearsal dinner, you'd need a private room and you'd probably have to organize it through a separate store who could arrange to have all the props and costumes delivered. although you could probably put together something more casual yourself if you have access to traditional korean costumes. i'm using rose handicraft (see above) who will rent out and deliver all the costumes and props as well as run the paebaek ceremony for $1200. they said it usually takes 30-45 minutes, depending on how many relatives are involved. let me know if you have any questions about it.

allovera: traditionally, paebaek is a more private affair but there are plenty of weddings these days that incorporate them into the reception or cocktail hour so that everyone can see. hanboks come in many colors and i think you can wear whatever you want. i'm told that the more traditional wedding colors are red and yellow, but i would just pick whatever suits you and would look best in pictures :)

Wow thanks for all the info!!  This site is great!  I called the Pae baek place and they may be coming to RI (my wedding locaton)...so it's ok to do it during the cocktail hr for all to see?  What worked out the best for those of you who have already done this?  The lady is charging $1500 seems like they have gotten popular and are increasing the prices...plus she's adding on for the extra charge if they are coming all the way to RI....no guarantees yet...=(

i think you can do the paebaek at any time. we just had our wedding 4/19/08 and did the paebaek totally separately from the cocktail hour and reception. the reason we did it that way was because the reception venue included an extra hour for a ceremony but we did our traditional ceremony in a church. so to take advantage of the extra hour, we did a more formal paebaek ceremony prior to the cocktail hour (our venue served drinks just before the paebaek) with the audience seated in the ballroom. the rose furniture people from flushing were on time and put on a great paebaek. many people told me it was the best part of the wedding! people absolutely loved it and appreciated learning about korean culture as well. i can't wait to get pictures!