What's new

Marriage Ceremony

Duo

As the Rush Comes
25 Apr 2003
1,425
68
63
I was inspired to write this from rudel's thread on his wedding and the pictures he showed us

soo here it goes...........

If a foreigner marries a japanese person in japan, do they have to do the traditional ceremony thing ? how about if smone marries a japanese person who lives abroad in their home country ? It seems to me that japanese culture always gets to dominate a bit in these kind of arrangments, or do i just simply have the wrong impression ?
 
Well, it definitely didn't dominate my marriage(as far as the ceremony goes, of course). I was married at the courthouse by the Justice of the Peace. I had no real "ceremony" to speak of, Western or Japanese.

Of course, my husband's parents did want us to dash over there for a "proper" marriage ceremony several different times after we were married, but I really didn't want to do it. They just wanted it for show, but I didn't want to do it for many reasons. Reasons that make it enough for me not go through that twice...

Anyway, maybe my situation was atypical. I just wasn't into that formality at that time. Especially given the circumstances.
 
yeah, i totallly approve of your decision, i myself prefer a civil arrangment than a ceromony of that type
But you are strong willed, so I wonder if most people in your situation would actually be as firm and as decisive as u

but my props to you anywhow :)
 
My parents (Danish father and Japanese mother) got married in Japan....twice!! :D First, they got a big Western wedding with white wedding dress, cake etc, and afterwards a tiny traditional Japanese wedding- mainly because to have their picture taken wearing traditional Japanese wedding clothes...
The first one was big, but the second one was only for show -just to have their photo taken and have a small ceremony.
 
Well, Me and my wife were going for a western style ceromony. That is what my wife wanted. But we decided not to di it, because my family was not there and it would be to expensive to have family members flying all over the place. I think we may have wait a year or 2 before a real ceremony takes place.

We ended up going to the City Hall and signing some documents to get legally married. There were no "I do's" involved.

You do not have to do traditional. As a matter of fact. My wife just went to a wedding ceremony of one of her friends. She did the western style too.
 
My first marriage in Japan in 1975 was just a civil ceremony at the American Embassy and the registration at city hall. We were too young and broke to have a full wedding. Also the parents were not well off either. Just as well as the marriage didn't last but three years.

My second marriage in 1988, done in secret, was also civil at the Embassy and city hall. After I was accepted by the family three years later, her parents threw a full blown ceremony in both traditional and western dress at a hotel in Yokohama. We could've done without it, but the parents wanted it for their only daughter. It was a wonderful wedding. Maybe I'll post some pictures.
 
I'm getting married next April. We were going to do both ceremonies at first (shrine and chapel) but in the end we've opted for a chapel ceremony, plus some photos in traditional dress at the shrine (but no ceremony). This was mainly because we felt the chapel wedding would allow a lot more people to attend (shrine weddings tend to be just for very close family) and my fiancee wasn't that bothered about it. She is wearing 4 different dresses/kimono's during the course of the day though!!!
 
Duo said:
If a foreigner marries a japanese person in japan, do they have to do the traditional ceremony thing ? how about if smone marries a japanese person who lives abroad in their home country ? It seems to me that japanese culture always gets to dominate a bit in these kind of arrangments, or do i just simply have the wrong impression ?

Nobody, Japanese or foreigner or any combination thereof, is required to have any sort of ceremony whatsoever in order to marry in Japan.
 
You normally need a trip to your own embassy or consulate (if you live in Japan) and then its basically a form filling exercise at the local city hall or ward office. That's all there is to it.
 
Back
Top Bottom