Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

Yuki's brother Takuma got married this past Saturday in Tokyo. Well, he actually got married in February in terms of doing the official paperwork, but here the ceremony and the paperwork are completely separate. The wedding was at Happo-en, a really gorgeous and traditional wedding site. It's famous for its garden, among other things, and I guess it used to be one of the most exclusive places to get married in Tokyo. As far as I could tell, it still is! Seriously, just a beautiful place and a great wedding overall. We were so happy to be able to celebrate along with friends we hadn't seen in quite a while.

Before the wedding, both families gathered in a reception room and introductions were made before the newlyweds began receiving guests.








The ceremony itself was done at a shrine in the hotel, but I didn't get any pictures of it unfortunately, since we weren't supposed to take any in there. Apparently that rule didn't apply to the wedding photographer, however.

After the ceremony, we all trooped outside to the gardens and waited for the bride and groom to arrive for pictures. Takuma looked great in his traditional gear, and Yuko was so lovely in her kimono, although I know she must've been pretty hot by that point!










For dinner, they changed into Western-style clothing before making their entrance into the banquet hall. Dinner itself was a really long course menu, only 1/3 of which I could read, seeing as it was mostly written in Chinese characters. There were a lot of speeches that I didn't really try to pay attention to, especially after watching the guys at our table get bored and start to doze off a bit in the middle of one! Of course, that could also be due to the massive amounts of beer and wine that were flowing through the meal. And the bottle of champagne that I commandeered for our table.
The wedding cake differed from the traditional Japanese cream-and-fruit type of cake in that it was heart shaped and topped with glazed strawberries, gorgeous!





After dinner, we had a break before the Ni Ji Kai (second party), so we met up with friends in the lobby before heading upstairs for yet more drinking and speeches. Yuko was quite exhausted from such a long day (combined with being pregnant), so she bowed out of the Ni Ji Kai rather early, leaving Taku to indulge in quite a few toasts.
The Ni Ji Kai got quite lively as the liquor kept flowing, but we called it a night around midnight and managed to catch the last train back to Yokohama. All in all, a wonderful celebration. Congratulations again to Taku and Yuko!!