Wedding in Perth and Japan
Posted September 2nd, 2009 in Japan, Ume's Interests 6 Comments »
I can’t believe my wedding is just 2 days away! I still can’t feel it’s real. We’ve lived together for years already, so we are like married couple anyway…
I didn’t really dream to be a bride since I was a child. I was like “well if it happen to me it’s fine”. I knew I was little different from my friends. They were type of people who wanted to get married and have kids while they’re young. In fact, most of my friends in Japan got married ages ago and have few kids already :p.
So, I wasn’t a typical girl who dreamed to be a housewife. But now, I’m becoming “Mrs” soon and I realized that I should enjoy this once-in-a-life-time moment seriously…! I’m trying to be calm and imagine how the things are going to change in my life.
The biggest thing I can think of is where I stay. As I am getting married with non-Japanese boy, and we have a life together in Perth, I think I am settling down myself in this city. Hmmm I still miss Japan though (><) Hope I can go back to Japan at least once a year to spend time with my family.
As I mentioned earlier my family and friends are not coming to our church ceremony in Perth. I don’t mind it at all, but I still wish if my family could get involved in this special occasion somehow. So I decided to go to a photo studio in Japan and get some photo shoot with my family and his family all together. This idea is nice actually. I wear a wedding dress in church ceremony here in Perth, then I can wear kimono (Japanese traditional dress) in Japan.
Japanese people are very tuned in to the stages of their lives, and in old times people changed their kimonos to fit both the season and the occasion. There are few types of them … ↓↓↓
Furisode kimonos (kimonos with long-flapped sleeves) are worn only by unmarried women. In old time young Japanese women declared their love for a man by fluttering the long-flapped sleeves of their furisode kimono.
At weddings, the bride wear a pure white kimono known as a shiromuku. White color symbolizes the ability of the wife to change as need be to suit her new family, because white fabric can be dyed any color. It’s also said that white color signifies the beginning of a journey.
Once a woman is married, she no longer wears a furisode. Instead, she wears a tomesode, a kimono with shorter flaps on the sleeves. The tomesode can be either black or another color, and black tomesode are worn for formal occasions, such as the weddings of one’s relatives. Colored tomesode can also be worn on formal occasions.
Traditionally a bride wears a white kimono (shiromuku), but I think I will wear “uchikake” – an another type of wedding kimono. (the photo)
My mum and mother-in-law are wearing tomesode 🙂 It’s of course her first time to wear a kimono for mother-in-law, and I hope she can wear it! Kimono is quite uncomfortable to be wearing for long time, and hard to move around.
It was few years ago when I wore a kimono the first time, when I was 20. In Japan when people turn 20 years old they wear kimono (or these days some people wear suits) and cerebrate this special occasion. In Australia they cerebrate when they are 21, but in Japan we cerebrate when we are 20. I was wearing furisode , and it was really really uncomfortable! Although I loved the kimono, I couldn’t wait to get changed :p
Email: 
that’s a great idea! 😀
hope you have a great wedding and honeymoon! best wishes to your and your soon-to-be husband. 🙂
angie and esther
awww u look so pretty~~!!
Angie
ThanQ~~~ (>v<)w !!!
kelz ,
Oh no, the photo is not me! :p
This is just a sample photo for “uchikake”.
I wish I’d look like her though 🙂
Yo! “Mrs” U-chan!!
Good luck for your wedding! I hope it’s a very special and wonderful day for you and your new husband ^_^
All I ask of you is to keep doing this site. I really love it and I hope your busy life as a housewife doesn’t stop you from posting as ofter! Hahahahahaha!
Cam…
Bishonencam
Thank you for your kind message 🙂
It’s very nice to hear that someone is reading my blog and want me to keep up!
Don’t worry I won’t be an ordinal housewife 🙂