East Meets West Wedding

On the weekend we left Jazz and Dixie at Dog Inc Pet Hotel so we could fly to Shikoku and attend one of Shin's childhood friend's wedding. This is about the 5th wedding Ive attended here. Japanese weddings are generally a blend of traditional Japanese and western customs. This wedding had a traditional wedding ceremony that only the family attended where as all the others i attended had a chapel service where friends were also invited. Unfortunately it was raining on Sunday so the ceremony had to be done indoors instead of at the shrine. After that ceremony there is a reception for all guests in a big banquet hall in a hotel or wedding hall with many courses. On Sunday we made our way through 11 courses! The bride and groom don't actually eat that food or drink much of the beer or wine that is being poured for them by the guests. They spend a lot of the ceremony getting changed into different clothes and having their hair done in different styles. The more times you change the more money you have. I was so pleased to see the bride and groom in traditional kimono as most people just opt for the western wedding dress. This was the first time for me to see the wedding kimono. The cake is cut at the very beginning of the ceremony and sometimes you don't even get to eat it but at this wedding it was our dessert. Each guest also gives an envelope with money that is usually not an even number that can be divided into an equal number of notes. This money usually pays for the food and the goody bag that each guest gets. There are many things in a Japanese wedding that I am yet to understand but with time and experience I may. Anyway while we were away Jazz and Dixie were having a great time at Dog Inc and that makes me very happy to know that they are being well looked after.