Weddings: who pays what in japan?

Hello,

When it comes to weddings in Japan, who pays what usually?

For example, does one side pay for the wedding ceremony or are expenses split (what's expected in this regard in practice)?

Same for the banquet, who's expected to pay traditionally?

How much does a ceremony costs and how much in advance one must make reservations?

Thank you in advance!

This may not be entirely representative, but from my experience getting married in Japan:

When it comes to weddings in Japan, who pays what usually?

The couple pays for everything (with help from the guests, as money is the traditional wedding gift in Japan).

How much does a ceremony costs and how much in advance one must make reservations?

I asked the planners when we were shopping around for a venue, and they said the average smaller wedding for 50-80 guests costs around 3,000,000 yen. Reservations depends on the place, and making them at least several months ahead of time is pretty usual.

smaller wedding for 50-80 guests costs around 3,000,000 yen.

Dear Lord!

Yea, definitely not cheap. I think the quote was something like an average of 35,000 yen per guest including food and gifts. And I think most couples about break even after considering wedding gifts. Of course, not everyone has these types of weddings, and there are far cheaper ways to do it. The marriage itself costs less than 2000 yen for all the paperwork.

Thanks for the tips, I don't think that there will be more than 20 people actually (it's just for the most intimate friends), also I don't think we're going to book a big hotel and let them do anything, more like having a ceremony at a shinto shrine and then book a nice restaurant.

This way, how much would it cost? Any other suggestion as to how to save as much as possible?

This way, how much would it cost?

You can find other threads about this on the forum, but when were were shopping around the shrine ceremonies cost between 50,000 and 300,000 yen depending on the place and what was involved. Rental fees for the kimono were about 100,000-200,000 yen.

Restaurant weddings are apparently becoming more popular and are generally cheaper than hotel weddings. You could probably do that part for half as much as the hotel wedding. Still, with 20 people its going to probably cost at least 5000 yen a head just for food. And then gifts for the guests is supposed to be around 5000 yen per person.

Any other suggestion as to how to save as much as possible?

All in all, a Japanese style wedding will still end up costing quite a bit. But some of my friends have had weddings in Japan that weren't expensive at all, but they were very non-traditional. It really depends on the couple and on who will be attending.