A Western style Japanese wedding!

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Kay's wedding day is finally here!

I still can't believe that somebody will marry this wild thing!

Since I am a perfectionist and want everything to go as planned I woke up extra early to get ready and leave the house by 10:30am (for the 12pm ceremony) to make sure to be at the wedding hotel at least half an hour before the ceremony.

I texted Kay to double check the station where I needed to get off and he asked me if I was with his friend Wes, who had come in from partying the night before just 2 hours ago!

I told Kay that Wes was sleeping but I would make sure to wake him up before I left! Kay immediately texted back to please take Wes with me.

Well... Wes was a very stubborn sleepy man who refused to wake up. I was being very patient and being nice while trying to wake him up but literally nothing worked... I even poked him a couple of times on the leg and nothing!

After trying different things I had enough and I knew I had to threaten him so I said that if he didn't get up right away I would actually kick him out of the bed. He responded by saying "I'm awake, I'm awake" while still laying on his tummy in the Japanese futon with his eyes closed. By now I was getting mad... why do I have to babysit him? Last time I checked I stopped taking care of kids almost 2 months ago!

He finally got up and went to take a shower! If you know you are running late you take a short shower and get ready quickly... Not Wes! He took his sweet time!!!!!!! It takes a lot for me to get angry but this was making me so mad!

He was finally ready (after asking me like 3 times my opinion about his outfit) and left the house at 11:10am. On our way he said he needed coffee... Starbucks coffee!! (Are you kidding me dude?!?!) I said NO! I said he had time for $1 7Eleven coffee, he kept insisting he wanted Starbucks!

Since Starbucks was on our way I said that only if there was no line. We stopped by starbucks and no line!

He stood in front of the food counter, looked at the food but he couldn't decide... then he asked the girl "Do you have a bagel?" COME ON?!?!?! where does he think we are? It couldn't believe him!

When his order was ready he decided to wait for the girl to put his food in a paper bag and if you have ever been to Japan you know that they do everything slowly and perfectly so she put a cardboard liner inside the paper bag and then very gently she placed the coffee and the sandwich. I was in disbelief of what had just happened because if it was me I would have said "No bag, thank you" and would gotten out as soon as possible. Not Wes! I even said "Was the bag necessary?" and he had a huge smile and was impressed by how in Japan they give you paper bags with cardboard liners in Starbucks. I had no choice but to laugh.

The metro ride to the last station was alright, it just felt like he was moving in a molasses kind of speed, he was not getting the memo that we could miss the ceremony! He even argued that all weddings always started late...

We made it to the last stop... the Tokyo Disneyland stop where shuttles from the hotel would take us there. We got off and he was just looking all around. He even stopped to talk to two Japanese girls wearing Minnie Mouse sun glasses and told them that their glasses were cool! I wanted to kill him!

I didn't know where to go and of course I went the wrong way until we asked a lady where to take the shuttle and she actually walked us all the way to where the shuttles stop and told us exactly what to do! Japanese people are just so kind!

We waited for a while for the shuttle and it wasn't until after that I realized that we could have easily taken a cab but it totally didn't occur to me! :(

Finally we arrived to the hotel and finding the place of the ceremony was not easy. The front desk sent us one way but was still a little tricky to understand but we found a lady who took us straight to the Chapel but before she said "I think ceremony is over"... I wanted to cry!

Once we got in they were exchanging rings, they kissed and it was over... at least I got to see that!

When we went out we were given flower petals to toss to the newly weds. It was so beautiful to see them walking down with bubbles all around them.
Immediately after they got out of the chapel Ayako tossed the bouquet! It was raining a little bit so I was impressed that none of the girls running to catch the bouquet fell!

We then walked to the reception area and had cocktails before entering the room.

Once we walked in I was impressed by how beautiful the room was!

I sat in a table with Kay's friends Erik, Keethan, and Wes. We all had a bag with gifts for attending the wedding. How nice!

The table was set beautifully.

After a little bit Kay and Ayako made their big entrance and she really looked like a princess and the dress... Oh so GORGEOUS!!!!

Once they got to their table Kay said thank you to the attendees and a series of speeches started. I found it really interesting that both Kay's and Ayako's bosses were the first ones to give speeches. Very different that the weddings I have attended!

Shortly after the beginning of the reception and a couple of speeches they cut the cake.... WAIT! WHAT?!?! Back home cutting the cake happens after dinner! I was very confused!

After cutting the cake we started to get our super fancy dinner !!!

While we were eating Ayako got escorted out of the room by her mom, who was wearing a beautiful Kimono!

While Kay and Ayako were out they showed 2 slideshows, one with pictures of KAy and Ayako growing up and another one of the ceremony and the first part of the reception. I was impressed by how fast the people work to put together such a nice video!
It made me happy to see the ceremony and everything that I missed but at the same time I felt sad that I came this far to have missed the most important part of the day!

A little bit later Kay and Ayako made their second big entrance! This time Ayako had change to a beautiful Tiffany's blue dress and wore her hair down. Kay had also had a little wardrobe change, adding a vest to his suit!
They entered the room and went all around lighting up the center pieces on each table.

Once they were done lighting up the candles it was the friend's turn to give speeches! That included Erik, Keethan, Wes, and myself! I did not prepare anything so I just said what came out of my heart! haha

Our speeches were followed by Ayako's co- workers and friends along with some other people.

After the friend's speeches it was Kay's turn to say something to Ayako! I have no idea what anybody said since everything was in Japanese but I bet Kay had some pretty lovely things to say to Ayako.

As a tradition in Japanese culture, the bride has to write a letter to her parents to be read at the reception. When Ayako read her letter the whole room started crying and it was very emotional but at the same time beautiful.

After her speech they each presented their parents with flowers and Kay's dad proceeded to give a speech.

The reception ended by Kay giving another speech! This Japanese wedding was full of speeches and good food!

The reception ended and we proceeded to the after party... after all it was still only 4pm!

The after party had a lot of food and booze but no water! I don't really drink and at the reception I already had champagne and a glass of wine so I was in desperate need of water so I went to the back and got myself a pitcher of water for the after party...

Kay forgot to mention that it is customary in Japan for the guests to pay the entrance to the after party which was $100! I had no idea and no money... quite embarrassing!

In Japanese weddings there is no dancing but instead there are games and entertainment! At the entrance of the after party we all got a card to write our wishes for Kay and Ayako and write our names. All the cards were placed in a container and in a lottery style were drawn to have a chance to win one of the prices: a piece of meat, 2 tickets to Disneyland Tokyo, and a $500 gift acrd for transportation in Japan (or something like that).

To make things more interesting there was a barrel with holes in it; when a name was picked the person would grab a plastic knife and stick it in one of the holes in the barrel. The person to stick the knife in the hole that made the top explode would win!

After the games there was a fabulous Bartending show!

And after the show the after party was over :(

I don't think I have ever gotten a decent picture of us!

What a great day and I am so happy that I was able to share such a special Day with Kay and Ayako!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!