Yep, Saturday 10th october, I was married, Umm, No pictures (yet) But I'll try and describe how things went the best way I can here - its kinda still blurry and hard to believe so forgive me if its rough, but its still hard to believe =)
First of all a little background, I met Noriko around 11 years ago, and we have always been good friends, as it turns out there was a dance/party thing around 5 years ago where we were both losers and had no dates, so we went together for the fun of it and it just...lastest....
Anyway, I was up around 6am yesterday morning, I already had everything prepared the night before, but I couldn't sleep, at around 9am, I was being driven over to the The Westin Miyako Kyoto, we had a shrine ready for the ceremony (it was a Shinto style ceremony), outside under the trees, and the season made it a very beautiful time, and lots of people marry at this time of year.
As with western style weddings, Noriko and me don't see each other until the event.
We both wore Kimono for the ceremony, mine was black, with a grey 'hakama' (thats the bottem part for men, imagine it like a long skirt), I also had a black 'haori' (a short outer kimono thing)
Noriko....Noriko Noriko Noriko...How can I even describe how amazingly beautiful shwe looked? It was a hot day, and her face just seemed to shine Brighter than the sun, and her hair was jet black, but gleamed as though it had caught the silvery light of the moon in a mesh, Such radience...Everything about her just seemed to absorb the light, yet give it back in hues more marvellous than before...
She was wearing a pale blue kimono, worn very loosely that seemed to make her figure more slender than anything I'd ever seen her wear before and against the trees she just looked.....AMAZING!
We met on the grounds and made our way to the shrine, this part is very short, but very important. There are very few guests at this point, just close friends and family (The wedding is not only a union of two people, but also their families)
Anyway, A Shinto preist gave the ceremony, its pretty short and simple. During this he purifies us, and I then read the oath of faithfullness and commitment, I can't repeat that here, its a very traditional thing, But it basically says how I will honour, protect and give loveto no other (imagine the vows in western weddings) After this Myself, Noriko, drink sake to signal the union of family, we then exchange rings and make symbloc offerings of twigs to Kami (god) Sake is then served to the other guests to signal the union of family.
After this (around 12pm) we were officially married, but there was some time before the afternoon reception started. Here where I changed clothes, into a second kimono, same style as the first, more bold, black with red highlights, and outlines in red.
I ate a bowl of instant ramen in my room with Seiji (my best friend) and we misbehaved a bit (we had about 2 hours before the reception) During this time we managed to lose one of my socks - it must still be in that room somewhere, anyway, after this chaos I had changed clothes, and met Noriko again outside the hall where we would have the reception, it was a big hall, and one end was completly glass, that tinted and became black as the light outside faded. The view was overlook a valley, filled with trees and some ancient temples, and in the far distance, was the denser central part of Kyoto.
Noriko had redone her hair and this time it was tied up and had gold combs, this time she was wearing a red and gold silk kimono with a very rich pattern. Clearly she had spent more time getting ready than I had (although I didn't waste all my time with Seiji, I DID spend lots of time getting ready -this was my wedding day after all and I didn't want to ruin it - we had fun too though)
We stood at the doors and the guests started arriving here at around 2.20pm. We greeted ALL the guests as they arrived, with thanks, talk and bows and exchange of gifts, (we gave a small "thankyou" gift to each guest, and we usually got much better than we gave but thats expected) It took around 1 1/2 hours to welcome the 200-300 guests here, friends, familily, work friends ect...but its good to meet everyone BEFORE you start getting wild later in the party ;0
After this we went to our table at the back of the hall, and the first meal was served, mainly small nibbles and such the rest was pretty simple, talk, food, drink, and more talk
There was a main dinner served at 7pm, there was a choice of dishes, I had the duck (NOMNOMNOMNOM)
After this, there was some speeches, from the preist, both fathers and finally Noriko and I stood up and gave our speech, we thanked everyone spoke abit about Noriko's father nearly forgetting to wear trousers, there was laughter, and since we had spoken to the band earlier, when we gave them the word, they started playing and we sang! More people joined us, and we soon had the whole hall going.
And thats it, the next 6 hours were music, dancing, joking, drinking and food, and lots of good fun. The last few people left around 12.30 and but 1am we were heading back to the room for a "good nights sleep"
Its worth mentioning here that we did have cake too, and alot of cash was gifts, which is very useful for the days ahead, theres a few nice homes we have already looked at....but that can wait until after the honeymoon
As soon as I'm done typing this, I have to finish packing for a week away on a nearby Island. We leave Later today, and i put this together quickly so forgive me if it dosen't make sense (some people may find it boring but meh)
ANyway I just want to say...THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE FROM TAILEDFOX!!!
I love Noriko!!!
EDIT: I just saw how long this is...if anyone actually read it all, then you get double thanks =D
Congratulations Ero
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