My first time attending a Japanese wedding!

Spent 1.5 hours at beauty salon to get hair done up and get dressed in kimono. It is impossible to put on a kimono on your own unless you've had hours of training and practice.

Me in kimono (I was made to pose like that because the highlight is supposed to be the obi)

Everyone gathered at Yukiko's house for pre-lunch cocktails. Then, the bride Yukari (Yukiko's daughter) and groom Yoshinori (from Kyushu! Very far...southern Japan!) came downstairs in the traditional bridal kimono. First, they offered incense and prayed at the family altar. Then they posed for photos.

Yukari and Yoshinori leaving the house.

Me and the bridal couple. The kimono I'm wearing is actually Yukari's.

Everyone walked to the lunch venue, Keyaki-tei, a traditional Japanese restaurant close to Yukiko's house. It was really nice to see so many women wearing kimonos walking along the street.

My friend Yukiko and I outside the restaurant

In the banquet hall, the bridal couple are seated right in front at the centre. Unlike our practice, they don't have to move from table to table. It is the guests who go to their table to talk to them, so they can enjoy the many exquisite dishes that are served.

Lunch lasted 2.5 hours. How do Japanese women wearing kimono endure sitting in seiza (traditional Japanese seating posture with their legs folded under them) for 2.5 hours? They cheat...they use this little stool that they discreetly slip under their butts before sitting down. The legs of the stool can be folded under the seat for easy storage.

What did I do? Get up into a kneeling position every 15 mins to get the blood circulation going >_<

I learnt that the style of the obi denotes the status of a woman. This boxy flat design is worn by middle-aged married women. The obasan's obi is the plainest design.

This design...you can see some semblence of the boxy flat married women's design but it is done up in a slightly decorative way because the wearer is still quite young and only recently married.

And for single ladies, like me, the obi design is super-decorative and huge...it's so huge that I can see the ends sticking out from behind me when I stand in front of the mirror! This design is apparently the 雀 suzume (sparrow) design (?!). This design is supposed to be suitable for spring.

Another thing I learnt...no one does their hair in the traditional style anymore! Even though the bride has long hair, she wears a wig cos that traditional hairstyle is really difficult to do up. Drunk Yukiko wearing the bridal wig...super funny!