Wedding No. 1 The Japan One

That's bad English for "Happy Monday." I'm planning a Japanese wedding ceremony for Feb. 24.

"EEK!! SHRIEK!! OMG!!" the girl who's getting married yells out loud just a second ago. That's exactly one month away.

It's pretty remarkable that I will have an 85 person wedding and have done very little planning. Even more amazing is my first freak out came just a short while ago.

Step by step I'm learning what goes into a Japanese wedding, even though I actually won't be married legally. Why am I going through all this for a "faux" wedding?

I always like to "go out with a bang" and thought what would be more appropriate than a sayonara of all sayonaras?? Plus, it'll be a unique cultural experience as well. I hope to mix a bit of American style with a clump of Japanese.

First, we will be having a Buddhist ceremony at a temple on the seaside. Really, not sure at all what this entails, I imagine chanting will be involved and a blessing of good fortune. It sounds like an exceptional chance. I'll be wearing a formal white kimono and I think Gino will be wearing a mens' kimono.

Then I'll change the white overcoat to a colorful intricate one and will greet guests at the reception locale. Following cocktail hour is a handful of speeches by people close to us. Then comes the dinner, wedding cake, DVD of us growing up and that's it. Usually Japanese weddings are short and sweet, around two hours.

Two hours seems kind of a waste. I'd like to incorporate some western influence. Japanese weddings are very formal, from the speeches to the dresses. Any ideas to loosen the mood?? I'm going to leave the dancing factor up in the air. It would be something for Gino and I to start breaking it down and the guests looking at us like we were nuts.

Any advice from my married audience? Need an idea for table centerpieces too.