I hope someone out there has some knowledge of shinto weddings.  I plan on getting married soon enough and really would like to give her a traditional shinto weddding, either at a shrine in Yokosuka or Kamakura.  Does anyone have any sites/numbers for any wedding packages?  thanks.

I saw a traditional Shinto wedding going on last year. They are very beautiful to watch. For the life of me, I can't remember where it was. I know they're not cheap.

Anyway, you may find this to be quite informative:

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/qu...ml?0+63741

Oh boy my landlord has a big family. We have been to alot of weddings in the last two years. All I can say is go with the Japanesse style wedding! WAY more fun than a tradtional american wedding.

But I think you should ask her what she wants. I have seen the wedding where they wear the kimons and then I have seen the wedding where she wears a white dress at a church for the ceramony. The thing that always is the same from the 4, I have been to is the after party. They ususally have a lion dog dance and the kids of the family do traditional dances. Then they have professional drummers and fan dances and sanshi ect. Then the people she is close to in her family, like younger sibings or nephews or cousins do something special. One omg one I went to her sister sang and she had such a voice! Another all the cousins did play sort of thing which was really funny because it was the teen to 20 something males dressing up and doing the girl parts too!(and they did it as a joke.)Then the bride and groom do a dance or two as well. Most of them had the bride going through atleast 4 dress changes. The Bride and Groom also present their parents with things during it and then the couple does things that thier parntes did or they want to do. Like lighting candles and all sorts of stuff.Oh and then when its all over there is a drinking party with just the family you are to show up to sometime that night. Its usually the bride and grooms parents and siblings and aunts ect. Kinda like a lets get drunk and get to know eachother thing. Then they keep having these drinking parties until she gets preggers.
So all in all the Japanesse do things a little differnt when it comes to weddings. Lot of it has to do with the family.I would ask her parents and her what they all want and how they want to do it. There are so many options for everything now.

Larryy, I recommend that you seek the advice of a local American who has a Japanese spouse and has direct experience. As an alternative, you might also inquire at a local Japanese venue such as a larger hotel which often offer Wedding Services. There are also 'Kekkon-Shiki Hirou-ens' i.e. which specifically cater to weddings. Unless you are fluent in Japanese, you will need someone to act as an interpreter and accompany you. You should also have a relativly large budget for this. The Hotel or "Hirou-en" will have it's own 'Shrine" area for this purpose. The majority of urban Japanese will follow this model. The Japanese Wedding Industry is not geared to offering wedding packages to couples who are both foreigners. Your quest may not be impossible but could prove to be quite a challenge. Actually having the event at a shrine ( are you thinking Tsuruoka Hachimangu in Kamakura?) could be even more difficult.

My wife and I were married at Oomota jinja in Okayama nearly 22 years ago. our reception was at the nearby Makibi Kaikan. We contracted individually for each. I can't remember exactly but the jinja was relatively inexpensive. The reception ran in excess of $50,000 for a medium sized wedding. We didn't have too many people at the wedding itself (maybe 40 close friends and family) but I would imagine more could have attended if we had wanted.

The jinja was beautiful and we were married in traditional Japanese garb. We were prepared to hold a garden reception at the jinja which would not have cost a ton of money but my in-laws had a lot of "face" at stake and wanted to go with the full kaikan reception which included a change of clothes into a tux and wedding dress (at least for me, the kimono was FAR more comfortable) and a bilingual MC.

I think you might want to find a jinja you like and ask a Japanese friend to reach out to them on your behalf for specifics.

2 things you should know...

1. Kekkon-shiki / Hirou-en are different

As YokosukaSailer said, in Japan, Wedding ceremony and after party are considered different thing.

Kekkon-shiki (Wedding ceremony) are held at jinja (shrine). I think this is what you want. This part isn't such expensive, but just a ceremony. The URL below is the explanation page for shinto style wedding for the famous Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine at Kamakura.

http://www.hachimangu.or.jp/about/wedding/

The page says it costs 150,000 Yen. But it includes only few things. I mean it doesn't include:

- Kimono
- Photo
- No food, parties

So you have to go to rental dress shop for your Kimono and to ask a photographer to take your weddings photo separately. (another costs...)

Hirou-en (after party) are usually held at hotels, restaurants or dedicated halls. The cost varies depend on how many people you will invite, what class of food you will prepare, etc.... Rea explained her Japanese wedding guest experience nicely, but most of them are from "after party" part. If you and your fiancee are both American, I think you can't expect any of Rea's experiences as they are done by bride and groom's friends and/or relatives who are Japanese in Rea's case. Of course you can invite your (most likely all American) friends and relatives to you Japanese style after party, but none of them will play any "Japanese style" things.

2. Wedding isn't expensive, but after party is expensive

In fully Japanese style after party, guests are expected to pay "congratulate money" (I don't know how to say this in English) which is usually 30,000 Yen per a guest for friends or 50,000 Yen for close relatives or bride couple's boss. So actually, bride couple can earn some money from their after party. Because of this custom, it's not a big problem to spent a lot of money to the party for wedding couple. But it's not for foreign couple. Your friends and relatives may bring some good presents for you, but not cash, right?

If you need professional consulting, I think Watabe, the largest wedding organize company in Japan is one of the good starting point to go. They offer "Overseas Wedding" for Japanese people, but I think they also offer "Japanese style wedding" for foreigners. They should arrange a shrine booking, Kimono rentals, etc. for you, I think. (Sorry, not sure, but most likely they do.)

http://www.overseas-wedding.com/

Watabe has a shop at Yokohama Grand Plaza:
Nisseki Yokohama building
1-1-8 Sakuragi-cho, Naka,
Yokohama 231-0062
5 minutes walk from JR or Yokohama city subway Sakuragicho station. Nisseki Yokohama building is the building in front of Landmark tower. (Station side)
Open daily 11:00-19:30 except Tuesday.