the BIG day

Tomorrow my friend Tomoko and I will visit a famous wedding dress house, designs by Yumi Katsuura. She is going to get married around June - a June bride! June is a popular month in Japan to get married as in North America. She is very busy making arrangements for the wedding. You know the average wedding here cost from 2-4 milion yen??? That is around 20,000 to 40,000USD...a wedding dress (rental) at 200-300,000 yen (2500USD) is bound to dent one's budget.

The money it costs for one guest: 15,000 yen, about one-hundred for the food and 50 dollars for the party favor. I went to my former manager's wedding in posh Odaiba two years ago. The party favor was a bulky heavy paper bag filled with a box of sweets and beautiful tea cup set. This was really impressive from a Westerner's perspective. Wow. But don't think the guest doesn't have to pay his or her dues. Guests have to pay 30,000 to 50,000 yen(250-400USD)...all depending on the nature of their relationship. A boss is likely to give more than a co-worker, naturally. With all these mounting costs, more and more couples are opting for the simple swish of a pen at city hall. UPDATE 1/25: after we went to various wedding houses to get some estimates, I found out it costs more per head than we thought...eeks, 300 a head?!?!?! Holy guacamole.

Which brings me to my next question: Is it easier to get a divorce if one has not had a proper wedding in front of many witnesses (guests)? I suppose one would feel like they were letting everyone down...all that time and energy people spend to come to the wedding, it has got to be pretty disappointing. The next time someone remarries, not counting family members, do many guests from the first wedding attend? Is the wedding more an event for the woman or man? Most people will tell you it is the day for a woman to shine...however, I distinctly recall seeing my brother, Vince, SMILED a SPARKLY smile on his wedding day, as if he were the luckiest man in the universe! ^_^ How sweet it was. It gave me faith in the institution of marriage.

POSTINGS might be sparse over the next few days. I have a full weekend booked...so until next time!