Wedding Photos?

It's been wonderful hearing from all of you via email. Thank you for taking the time to read through this rather long-winded blog!

To those of you who were able to make it to Pusan for the big day: please feel free to email any good photos that you have from your time in Korea. If it's OK with you, we'll post them on the blog. However, you're also more than welcome to send us photos that you don't want posted. Please just say so when you email them to us, and we'll keep them to ourselves.

Big love,
Yong-nam and Christopher.

Click on September 2005 in the Archives

We're sorry that it took us about three months to get all of the photos on here. Most of our time in between posts was spent sorting through the thousands of photos that our friends emailed us. We think that we've chosen some of the better ones, but we're sure that there are thousands more out there that we'll see in the future. Such is the nature of digital cameras!
We hope that you enjoy our blog. Due to the way that blogs are set up (the most recent post appears on top), it might be a good idea to scroll all the way to the bottom first, and then work your way up (starting with the posts from August and September). We started making this blog more than a month before the wedding took place, so it was impossible for us to work from the reception back to the planning stages. If you start at the bottom, you may be able to get a better idea of who everyone is. After the same person has appeared in three or four pictures, we stop detailing who they are and where they're from.
Thank you for your patience. We love you!

Yong-nam and Christopher's Wedding

The view from the top of 'Glory Hotel' where the reception was held. That's the ocean that is blacking out almost half of the picture.















Hyeon-joo, Kate, Scott, Yong-nam, Christopher, and Yong-ho. One big happy family!

Scott asks the crowd to bounce with him.
Yong-ho has a surprisingly good voice for someone who is normally quite reserved.
Scott and Christopher let one rip for old times' sake.

Dong-young (right) encourages Yu-ja to choose a song to sing.

Yu-ja sings for the crowd as Kyu-nam, Seon-ho, and Dong-young provide back-up dancing.
Judson dedicates one to the newlyweds.

Kyu-nam, Dong-young, and Seon-ho show everyone how karaoke is supposed to be done.

Christopher and Yong-nam explain why rings aren't exchanged during a traditional Korean wedding ceremony. In order to insert that part of the western-style marriage into the day, they decided to have a small, impromptu ceremony at the reception.
Scott Pellegrini, Scott Lawson, and Kate Pellegrini look on as Christopher and Yong-nam exchange rings.
A small kiss as the karaoke monitor beckons.

Christopher and Yong-nam sing a song together. They sang one of their favorite ballads by a band named 'Yuri Sangja' (Glass Box).
Christopher and Yong-nam receiving abuse from the audience (in three different languages).

Kyu-nam, acting as MC in the background of this photo, thanks Papa Kim, and welcomes Mom and Dad Pellegrini to the stage.
Papa Kim weaves back through the guests to find his seat.
Kyu-nam helps Dad and Mom Pellegrini to deliver a heartfelt message to the crowd.

Christopher and Yong-nam arrive for the wedding reception. It took a while for them to make it across town, but there was still some food left when they got there.
Mom and Dad Pellegrini having dinner with the family.

The 'Pyebaek' Ceremony

Christopher gives Yong-nam a ride around the 'pyebaek-shil' (pyebaek room). Despite the cost of the robes, a good piggyback is often encouraged at the end of the cermony.

Several of Yong-nam and Christopher's friends, mostly from out of town (ie. the states or Japan) wait outside the pyebaek room during the cremony. Christopher and Yong-nam share some ceremonial wine.

The Pellegrini's and Kim's bow together to welcome each other into their respective families.
Christopher and Yong-nam kneeling before Yong-nam's cousin, Jeong-nam, and brother, Yong-ho.
Yong-ho and his mother look on as Papa Kim's brother and sister welcome Christopher into the family.

Christopher and Yong-nam bow in front of Yong-nam's aunts and uncles.
Kate and Scott Pellegrini welcome Yong-nam into the family.
Kate and Scott Pellegrini react during the family pyebaek ceremony.

The pye-baek ceremony is a chance for the bride and groom to pay respect to their parents. Yong-nam and Christopher offer Mom and Dad Pellegrini wine.

Here Yong-nam and Christopher offer wine to Mama Ahn and Papa Kim.

Bowing deeply is a very important part of displaying your respect for your elders.

The shoes came off for the private, family-oriented 'pyebaek' ceremony.
Yong-nam waits for her family to arrive for the family welcoming ceremony (pyebaek).
The Pellegrini's waiting for the pyebaek ceremony to begin.

Scott and Kate Pellegrini after the ceremony.
Mama Ahn and Yong-ho after the ceremony.

Family photo. This is a fair representation of Yong-nam's immediate family. Although it does not include many of the people that her family visits every year. Yong-nam's great-grandfather was one of six sons.
A photo of the newlyweds with the many friends that came to Pusan for the wedding. Included are friends who flew in from the United States and Japan. Pictured as well are many of Christopher and Yong-nam's co-workers from when they lived in Masan, Yong-nam's friends from primary and secondary school (as well as friends from when she attended the Pusan University of Foreign Languages), and current and former teachers and employers.
Yong-nam and Christopher's new nuclear family! From left to right: Yong-ho (Yong-nam's younger brother), Yong-nam's parents (Myeong-jo Kim and Haeng-deok Ahn), Yong-nam, Christopher, Christopher's parents (Raymond and Lucy Pellegrini), Kate (Christopher's younger sister), and Scott (Christopher's younger brother).

Yong-nam prepares to sip some ceremonial wine.
Christopher knocks his back.


The newlyweds and their parents are presented to the guests.

Christopher, Scott, and Kyu-nam listen as the officiant talks about some of the traditions surrounding the drinking of traditional Korean liquor during the ceremony.
Another shot of Scott, Kyu-nam, and Christopher during the ceremony. Kyu-nam served as a tour guide, interpreter, and MC on the day of the wedding. He is a very good friend of Christopher's from their days in Masan (a city about an hour west of Pusan). Kyu-nam came down from Seoul on the morning of the 25th, and returned later that evening on the last train. The Pellegrini's and Kim's are very grateful for everything Kyu-nam did in support of Yong-nam and Christopher.
The backdrop of the wedding ceremony in Pusan.

Scott helps Christopher wash his hands at the beginning of the ceremony. Yong-nam, although not visible in this photo, is doing the same thing on the other side of the pavilllion.
The bride and groom bow to each other several times during the ceremony. The bride keeps her hands locked in front of her face, with her forearms parallel to the ground. This makes bowing rather difficult, so her attendants help her to kneel without falling over (she is wearing several layers of silk robes, some of which are draped over her raised arms).
A table separates the bride and groom during a traditional Korean wedding ceremony. Yong-nam can just barely be seen amongst a sea of fruit, sweets, flowers, and ducks.

Yong-nam's father and mother await the arrival of the bride and groom.



















Dad, Mom, and Kate Pellegrini watch as the ceremony gets under way.

Yong-nam's father, Papa Kim, comes out to welcome Christopher into his home (symbolized by the wedding pavilion).

























Yong-nam enters the opposite side of the pavilion with her two attendants.

A photo of Yong-nam from the guests' vantage point.

A photo taken during the pre-ceremony interview.





















The wedding ceremony gets under way. Christopher is accompanied by two of Yong-nam's young cousins, his close friends Seon-ho (carrying the umbrella) and Kyu-nam, and his brother, Scott. Our small, but growing, fan club is seen collecting to the right.

Yong-nam, Christopher, and Scott (in his ceremonial robes) wait for the guests to be seated. Standing behind them are their good friends Garrett De Orio, Scott Lawson, Richard Allen, Judson, Ben Thoele, Thatcher Spero, and Dan Eling. Dan and Ben flew into Pusan from the US, while everyone else flew in from Tokyo, Japan. This picture was taken at a small pavilion not far from where the actual cermony took place. Notice that Scott is holding a wooden duck. The duck (representing half of the marriage) was traditionally brought to the bride's home to join a second wooden duck (representing the other half). If you ever travel through Korea, you will probably see a pair of wooden ducks on sale in the gift shop.