Pikatto

Nobuko and I have been married for almost two years and we are finally going to have our wedding ceremony the first week of June. This will be the first — and probably only trip — my parents make to Japan, so I think it’s going to be a little stressful. My good buddy Fred is also flying in which is supercool. I’m looking forward to hanging out with him in Fukuoka for the first time. It’s because of Fred really that I ended up in Fukuoka in the first place. Before any of the fun stuff, however, we still have to finalize the plans for the reception, find hotels for guests, and send out paper and ink invitations — digital invites have already been sent — not to mention all the tiny odds and ends that go into planning a wedding. Before I delve more deeply into this subject here are few observations about weddings in Japan.

1. Weddings are ridiculously expensive
2. Guests traditionally give money to the bride and groom so they can afford to get married
3. Generally speaking it costs more to rent a wedding dress in Japan than to buy one in the U.S.

Nobuko and I have been trying to keep the costs as low as possible while still having a nice wedding. We have decided to stay away from the big hotel packages. Instead we are going to have the ceremony at a Shinto shrine, which really excites me. I guess we could have saved even more money by having our friend Jon the fake priest perform the ceremony!