In the west, tradition has it that the bride's father usually pays for the wedding ceremony, reception and evening do. As costs and expectations rise, the costs are increasingly shared between the groom's parents or even the couple themselves.
But DID YOU KNOW that in Japan, most of the costs are borne by the guests of the wedding ceremony, reception and indeed the evening party. Guests typically give a gift of money to the happy couple rather than furnishing and appliances for the apartment. As most couples are actually married before the ceremony, they usually have most of that stuff already.
Single guests usually give a monetary gift of around 30,000 yen (around $300) to the bride and groom. Married couples usually give 50,000 yen ($500) and parents and relatives more to cover the costs of the wedding which can be as high as 4 or 5 million yen ($40,000 - $50,000).
The logic behind this tradition lies in the fact that whatever the background and social status of the couple, they can have the wedding they have dreamed of.
Who pays for the wedding in your country?
Leave us a Comment below or take a look at More Did You Know: Japan
Good review Yes you are right about Japanese weddings.
I went to a my friend's weddings and it cost me 30,000 as a gift.
The evening party cost 7000 yen so total cost was 37000. Also transport and clothes etc I spent maybe 600 dollars for that wedding.
The evening party is always rip off. Usually only for 2 or 3 hours. It's free drink and food but the food is usually just a fried buffet.
It was a great day but expensive