The First Year of a Long & Happy Life! {North Atlanta First Birthday Dol Photographer}

I was honored to be asked to document the celebration of little Charles' first year. When Alicia contacted me, she noted there would be a traditional Korean birthday celebration that would take place, which is called Dol. In the Korean culture, a baby's first birthday is of great significance. Since her mother is Korean and Charles is the first grandbaby, they were excited to incorporate a mini "American" version of the first birthday tradition to honor Alicia's mother. In Korea, as Alicia's father was explaining to me, large banquet halls are rented out for the Dol celebration much like a wedding reception hall. The one year old is dressed in colorful, ornate silk clothing called dol-bok. During the ceremony, an array of objects are placed in front of the child and whichever object they select foretells the child's future.

Charles had the choices of a book (a scholar), money (wealth), balls (athletic), string (long, healthy life), and rice (he would never be hungry). Charles didn't seem to hesitate much--he went straight for the string! Unfortunately, his daddy was hoping he'd go for the money or balls. A couple minutes later he dug into the rice. I'm not sure if he is allowed to double-dip on fortunes, but he was really loving it! As everyone arrived at the party, they had everyone put in their guess as to which one Charles would pick and the string jar was the only one that was empty!

After the ceremony a delicious buffet of tacos was served, which had various types of Korean meat and all the fixings. Charles had everyone laughing during cake time between grabbing a fistful of cake as the candles were blown out, throwing his smash cake everywhere, and the grand finale of slowly smearing his frosting coated hands from the top of his head down to his cheeks. This boy seems to really have the essence of a cake smash down!

Happy birthday, little Charles, and congratulations to the happy family!