I had the absolute honor of being invited to a Japanese wedding. I wish I could post pictures of the ceremony and the couple itself (gosh, gorgeous gorgeous kimono and temple and I don’t know what!), but I don’t want to publish someone else’s private moments here without consent, so I figured I could post some pictures of the food we got at the reception afterwards instead. Isn’t it beautiful?

I was pretty nervous about going to this wedding, I had no idea what to expect, what to wear, how much money to give or what I should do at the wedding. The shrine was beautiful, and walking across the the shrine area as part of a wedding was a memory for life. I couldn’t take a picture of that part myself, but I am sure that all the tourists who snapped away pictures with their iPhones managed to catch me on camera 😉 The actual ceremony inside the temple was also beautiful. Among other things, the priest gave the the couple sake to drink as part of the ceremony, and two other helpers in beautiful outfits poured sake into little cups in front of us, and we had to drink as well. I am probably not describing this very well at all, but it was all just very surreal and flowy with the chanting, the smells and the beautiful kimono on the bride and, and, and… I am really grateful I got to experience this!

Uni and other delicious sashimi is never wrong at a wedding reception.

Oh, I thought I should mention this part, just in case someone is interested: When you go to a Japanese wedding, you give a special envelope at the reception, and you tuck money (crisp, brand new bills) inside of it. When you buy the envelope (at any store, including kombinis), it will most likely say how much money you should put into it on the package. So do not buy the most gorgeous envelopes unless you plan to leave a … gorgeous amount of money in that envelope! I spent 30 min trying to figure out how to fill out the envelope the right way. Who knew that a Japanese culture class I took two years ago would come in handy all of a sudden? I should had paid better attention in that class, but I managed to figure it out in the end.

…and before I knew it the whole thing was over and I was on my way home with the metro again.

…BUT! In Japan, the guests get gifts from the bride and groom when you attend a wedding. So I went home with both a flower and some mystery packages. Time to open and them and see what is inside!