International Wedding Customs of India and Japan

It sometimes seems a culture's wedding traditions are completely incomprehensible and yet beautiful and romantic. They seem occasionally even perhaps absurd, culture and so you may or may not want to actually try integrating some of it into planning your own wedding extravaganza. The results can be a truly wonderful mix of elegant international romance and you will certainly surprise some of your guests by adding some international flavor to your wedding ceremony.

Japan
In Japan the bride wears one of the most beautiful styles of wedding gown in the world. It is a spectacularly embroidered kimono that is extremely long and truly elegant far beyond words. It is at least on par with the most beautiful of western dresses, if not far more beautiful due to the intricate embroidery, so look into it as some brides will still prefer a western gown and some would certainly prefer the Japanese style. It's all up to the personal taste of the bride and also the general aesthetic of the wedding extravaganza you are actually planning. Another feature specific to a wedding in the style of Japan is a hood called the "tsuno kakushi" which is similar in appearance to a round white orb which opens at the brides face. It is worn to hide her proverbial "horns of jealousy" and protect the groom from her possible jealousy and selfishness. Perhaps your

India
Indian weddings are an extravaganza far beyond the scale of most cultural wedding traditions. It is a celebration that usually lasts for several days and can include a guest list far beyond the size of any in a normal western wedding. If you are planning a western wedding and your wedding guestlist seems like it is going to include a record number of attendees, you will likely be astonished at the gigantic size of Indian weddings. Anyone who has ever seen a proper Bollywood style Indian movie knows that one moment a couple can be having dinner together and the next second they are dancing and singing about their love with a thousand or so backup dancers. A normal wedding in India supposedly comprises anywhere from 400-1000 guests or more, many of whom the bride and groom do not actually know. One beautiful feature of Indian weddings that you may want to include is one that is actually gaining in popularity in western weddings. That is the truly spectacular and ornate practice of applying Mehndi (Henna) to the hands and feet of the bride in a way that resembles a kind of floral tapestry that is temporarily and naturally applied to her body like a tattoo, albeit a painless and temporary tattoo.

Add some Asian beauty to your wedding plans and you will likely be very pleased. The results can be truly elegant and thoroughly dazzling.

The author writes for Wedding Junction, which has a lot of great information on wedding speeches.