“Why having the wedding ceremony at a chapel although the couple are both not Christians?”, “Why do they change clothes at the wedding reception?”, etc. There are many strange practices in a Japanese wedding ceremony. This time we are going to answer your questions about Japanese wedding ceremony! In fact, we have talked to Tanaka-san who has recently had her wedding ceremony and we are going to share with you!
Why having the wedding ceremony at a chapel although both the bride and groom are not Christians?
When deciding to have a wedding ceremony, the first thing to consider is whether to have a Shinto-style wedding at a shrine or a church wedding at a chapel. T-san, who has held her wedding ceremony in October 2017, talked to us, “I wanted to wear the pure white wedding dress, that’s why we have decided to have the church style.” Just like T-san, majority of Japanese do not have a religion. Whether a Christian or not, the feeling of wanting to wear the wedding dress will always decide the style to have.
By the way, even it is said a church, it is not an official church. Mostly it is a wedding hall or a simple hall at a hotel, and is used only for wedding ceremony. For Christians, it may be unbelievable, but for Japanese, perhaps a wedding ceremony is just one of the “events”.
Wedding dress can be rented?!
After deciding the venue, next is the wedding dress. “It is very expensive to buy one, so we rented,” according to T-san. What? To rent the dress of once in a lifetime, how unbelievable! In Japan, many rent due to the reason of having no place to keep the dress. The rental fee is about 200,000 yen. Despite it is rental, even Japanese are surprised on the high cost.
Just like a show?! Change clothes at the wedding reception?!
During the wedding reception, the couples will change their clothes. In most occasions, the bride will change from white gown to dress in red, green or other colors, or a Japanese dress, while the groom will change from tuxedo to a hakama. It can also be said an act to change the atmosphere of the ceremony and surprise the guests. Now, there are also many who do not change dress, but it is said they changed 2 times last time. This is just like a show, isn’t it? Perhaps it is the sign of hospitality to entertain not only yourself, but the guests too.
It is common sense to pay 30,000 to 80,000 yen if you participate in the reception.
Depending on the country, region and culture, the fee to participate in wedding reception or gift to the couple may differ. Among others, what is particularly noteworthy in Japanese culture is the strange payment, which is the “goshugi (gift money)”. When being invited to a reception ceremony, in general, cash of 30,000 to 80,000 yen is put in a special designed envelope called “goshugi-envelope” and then hand over to the receptionists. If they are your siblings, friends and colleagues, then 30,000 yen and for the younger relatives, or junior of school or company, and subordinates, from 50,000 to 80,000 yen.
Considering the meals and free-flow alcohols served at the ceremony as well as the door gifts (present from the newly wed), 30,000 yen is never too expensive. However, there may be people who wonder why they are being invited!?
What do you think? There are many users from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong who are reading the articles from FUN! JAPAN. Do you want to know more about the interesting culture in other countries? Please share with us the strange practices of wedding ceremonies in your country!
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