Saturday was business. It is the main reason why we are here in Tokyo.
If you haven’t heard by now, Tyler, which is Brittany’s brother, got married about three weeks ago in Gainesville. They had a traditional American Christian wedding and reception with bridesmaids, groomsmen, the whole nine yards. Now, since Mana, his wife now, is Japanese, and most of her family lives in Japan, so of course, they needed to have a wedding in Japan so her whole family could enjoy the wedding as well.
So, we’re all here and I got to photograph it. Which means I get a lot of different and unique portfolio shots.
So, we woke up and headed to Chinzan-so, which is the resort where the wedding was held. It was a Four Seasons Hotel (see an earlier post about Thursday). Now, this wedding was very VERY time constrained and they were very strict about where to be and what to do, which left NO time for creativity and getting different, interesting shots. Literally, I had less than five minutes to get group shots and a few portraits together with the two of them. They obviously run things quite a bit differently than we do in America. But, on the plus side, at least at this hotel, the people who are coordinating the whole wedding (and I mean people in plural; there were probably 10 people assigned to this wedding to make sure everything goes according to plan and on time) set everything up and got all the people in the right spots for me, leaving me just to shoot it.
So, we started with Mana getting reading ready in her very ornate kimono:
I got quite a few other detail and more formal shots of her in preparation, but this one is just so kawaii and so japanese that I have to post it. It shows fancy, formal Mana in her true self.
But still, you can see how much goes into getting prepared for this wedding. She had to RENT this kimono, hired two people to dress her and fit her wig (no way that’s her real hair), and get her fully prepared. I don’t know how long it took exactly to get her dressed, but I would imagine it’s a few hours.
Then we moved on to see Tyler in preparation:
He couldn’t turn around to show us the front as there was someone in front of him getting him dressed, but you can get a glimpse of it here (and more later). And let me tell you, those clothes are sweet. (I don’t know the name of it; do you??)
Another fancy thing about having your wedding here is that you get a big portrait done with the whole family in one of their three photo studios. In the hotel. Crazy.
So after a brief meet-and-greet with the whole family and guests, we headed to the studio for the portrait, which I was included in, which was very cool. Photography note: they were using medium-format film Mamiyas. I do wonder why there were using film… and yeah, it was definitely film. i got a good look at the cameras the day before.
Anywho, after that, on to the garden where we did a large look-down-on-everyone group shot, then families, friends, and portraits.
Here you can see their outfits very well. Very traditional (and bad-ass). We did a few more of these shots, moved on to a small red bridge that is a popular photo spot on the grounds, then headed inside for this quick shot.
Unfortunately, do to the extreme time constraints, which might be a cultural thing (maybe photos just aren’t AS important as we make them to be in America?), this was about as creative as I had time for. I simply had to get the shots that REALLY counted. From the beginning of the groups to this last portrait shot, I had a total of about 5-7 mins. Tops.
But I did something I haven’t done very much, which is to have two cameras, one with a short lens and an on-camera flash and a radio trigger on one shoulder, and another camera with a telephoto and a radio trigger on the other shoulder, and an off-camera key light with a radio receiver, thus utilized by both cameras. This enabled me double the shots in half the time, which was very handy. I had done this before, just not with them both linked up to one key light.
Seeing all the photographers around the hotel (and there were many of them; there were TWENTY weddings there that day as it was a Saturday, and a favorable day in the rotation for weddings) got me inspired to do this, as they all had two cameras around, though i didn’t see any of them with an off-camera light more than a few inches. Not saying that means they took bad photos at all, I’m just making a point to not that. Maybe in sucha gun-and run place, they don’t have the flexibility or manpower to tote around an extra light. I, on the other hand, only was able to use that second light during these portraits and during the reception, where I had everything to do in a small location.
Moving on to the timeline, after these photos, we were off to the reception. The parents greeted all the guests by bowing as the guests walked in and took their seats. Mana and Tyler were announced and took their seats at the head of the reception hall. Now, there were a few toasts (I think), then dinner was served, where Mana and Tyler left the hall to go change into their more western-style clothes. During this time, there was a quick slide show showing eachothers lives, their lives together and a few photos from the wedding in Gainesville.
They returned half way through dinner (which was very awesome), and looked amazing.
I’m telling you, Mana was smoking in that dress and fancy jewelry. They looked really good together and their clothes rocked – way better than a normal tux and white dress, in my opinion.
After this point, dinner was finishing up, there were a few toasts and speeches, a bit of entertainment by the family and friends with music and more speeches, a traditional Japanese folk song, and a summary from friends’ perspectives on how they met. That took, at most an hour. Mixed in with this was a cutting of the cake, again, all coordinated by the reception staff, so all I had to do was shoot. Also, a final thank-you from the parents, then we all left.
I did a few more portraits in their western clothes in two small locations around the hotel, and got a final photo of the two of them and me and Brittany, which I really like:
I think the four of us have really bonded this trip. Haha. Corny, I know, but they’re kind of the reason that we’re all here. And they’ve helped us so much with getting around Tokyo and getting to know the culture.
So, overall, the wedding process was very similar to an American wedding, with, at least in this particular instance, the time allotted was very compressed. A few differences: the obvious costumes differences, tied to their long cultural history, and the fact that they changed clothes completely; the reception didn’t have any dancing, which could still be tied to time constraints or preference on their side, but looking through other photo albums at the hotel, I didn’t see any photos of people dancing; the high involvement of the parents of the bride and groom – the bowing, the speeches, the meet and greet, everything – it’s more of an entire family tradition, rather than just centered on the bride (and sometimes the groom).
It’s great to see another cultural perspective on a wedding and I picked up a few ideas that I can use back in the states when shooting American weddings. One major thing is to include the bride and groom in shots of each and every table. Here in Japan, they deliver gift baskets of party favors to each table, at which time they take a group photo with that table – something we can do here if it’s coordinated correctly. It’s not something I have dominantly seen in America, but it is something I have seen in both Asian weddings I have witnessed: Vietnamese and Japanese.
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Enough formalities. On to the after party.
We all met up in the hotel lobby and headed out to an izakaya to get some beers, sake, and food with a fair amount of people – about 15 of us or so.
From left to right: Steve Evans (Brittany/Tyler’s Dad), Mana’s cousin (name?), Mr. Takao Watanabe (Mana’s Dad), Mana Evans, Me, Tyler Evans, Brittany Evans, Janis Evans (Brittany/Tyler’s Mom); other side from the back: Mrs. Hiroko Watanabe (Mana’s Mom), Ben Hurd, Akie Mori (Ben’s Fiancee), Mana’s friend (name?), Bill Hunt, Mana’s cousin #2 (name?), and Cliff Cramer. Sorry if I couldn’t get everyone’s name. If someone can tell me, I’ll be sure to add them.
Such a great bunch and we had TONS of food, lots of beers, and cold sake in some COOL bottles.
This is Brittany and me before the night really got started. Notice the shirt I’m wearing if you can read Japanese: Yopparai. I figured it’s be fitting for an evening of beers and sake (it means drunk, btw).
After this, a handfull of us headed to a karaoke bar close by. And guess what? Free drinks during karaoke. Some more beers. Haha. So we had a bit more to drink (and some mizu to wash it all down), plenty of songs to sing and laughs to share. If you were following me on twitter that night or via facebook, I said this was probably the best night of my life. Well, that could have been a bit of yopparai speeking, but let me tell you, definitely top five. Definitely. I couldn’t have imagined a better night on the town, soaking in the late night Japanese culture and enjoying some great people in a city that has so much to do.
Yeah, definitely top three, then. Totally rocked. I mean, look how much fun we’re having:
Anyways, This day rocked. I’ll get to the past two hopefully in the morning.
I have gifts for most of you that responded. And if I couldn’t get anything for you specifically, I’m bringing back a bunch of generic goodies to hand out.
It’s now Monday night at 12:46am. Tomorrow is my last full day in Tokyo and we’re having a free day of shopping and exploring the town one more last time. It’s going to be so sad to leave. I heart you Tokyo.
-Ben
