The clothing

The Delightful Miss E and I decided that we would have a Shinto wedding in a Shinto shrine, which means that we would also need to wear Japanese style clothing. Miss E chose not to wear the full traditional bridal kimono because the wig looks rather silly and would look entirely too much like fancy dress on a Westerner; however, she was able to wear a normal kimono, and to go with it I wore the men's kimono which one occasionally sees in modern formal ceremonies in Japan. We also selected a purple kimono emblazoned with butterflies for Miss Violet, and a charming red and black flower-scattered kimono for the amusingly disgruntled Annaleah (not her real name, of course), seen here looking happy despite having arrived on an overnight train a mere 2 hours before the wedding.

These clothes are remarkably corset-like about the waist, requiring two women at full strength to tug the various cords tight and to ensure that everything was strictly in place. I must say I don't have quite the same poise in these clothes as, say, Koizumi Junichiro (Japan's last prime minister); but I did feel a little moment of samurai splendour when I first emerged from the training area in this get up. And how better can one look for one's own wedding than wearing a dress, thongs and sandals?