February 4, 2014

Wedding Ceremony and Reception/結婚式と披露宴

Last Friday night, I left home past 18:10 to take an 18:59 train to Nagaoka, where I waited for two hours to take a 22:05 expressway bus for Osaka Station to attend my niece's wedding. The bus arrived at Osaka Station at around 6:30 the next day. I'm not sure how long I could sleep in the bus. Maybe one or two hours. The station was surprisingly deserted. I wandered around, and quite luckily, I found one bakery that opens at 7:00. I later knew it was a dominique saibron shop.
先週の金曜の夜、18:10過ぎに家を出て、長岡行きの18:59発の電車に乗り、長岡で2時間待って、22:05発の大阪駅行きの高速バスに乗りました。姪の結婚式に出席するためです。バスは翌日の6:30頃に大阪駅に着きました。バスの中で何時間寝れたかはっきりしません。1、2時間かも知れません。駅は驚くほど人気(ひとけ)がありませんでした。歩き回り、運よく、7:00に開くパン屋さんを見つけました。後で、ドミニク・サブロンの店だと分かりました。
  
The hot morning coffee was 210 yen.
ホットモーニングコーヒーは210円でした。 
I was the first customer of the day. When I left the shop at around 8:10, the shop was about 70-80% full.
私がその日の最初の客でしたが、8:10頃店を出る頃には、席が7~8割うまっていました。

I took a free shuttle bus at 9:00, and reached the wedding hall before 9:20. I immediately put on my formal attire (reifuku in Japanese) in the dressing room for the bride's relatives, went to the waiting room for the bride's relatives, and talked with my father, who was already there, and other relatives. The "introduction to relatives" started at 11:00, and the wedding ceremony was held in the chapel located in the premises of the wedding hall at 11:30. After the end of the wedding ceremony, everyone was given a handful of petals, and waited for the bride and groom to appear. After receiving a flower shower, the bride and groom tolled the bell together.
9:00に無料シャトルバスに乗り、9:20前には結婚式場に着きました。すぐに新婦側の着替え室で礼服に着替え、新婦側の待合室に行き、すでに来ていた父や他の親族と話をしました。「親族紹介」が11:00に始まり、結婚式は結婚式場の敷地内にある教会で11:30に行われました。結婚式の後、皆、花びらを一握りもらって、新郎新婦が現れるのを待ちました。フラワーシャワーの後、新郎新婦は一緒に鐘を鳴らしました。   
The guests then headed for the reception hall, and on our way there, we were offered these and others.
それから出席者たちは披露宴会場に向かいましたが、その途中、こんなおもてなしがありました。
 
 
In the reception hall, I found my seat.
披露宴会場で自分の席を見つけました。 
A pair of chopsticks!
箸もありました!

To be continued.
続く。

4 comments:

Sissi said...

Excellent idea to post about a wedding party! Are petals traditionally Japanese or is it a recent "importation"? We also do it in Europe! (Some people throw rice for prosperity but petals are considered more elegant and they don't get into hair etc... it's also somehow not nice to waste food, so I'm always glad to see petals).

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Rice and flower showers are not traditinally Japanese. In a shizen or jinzen wedding ceremory, you won't see such a shower.
When my wife and I had a wedding ceremony in the chapel at a hotel in Karuizawa (a famous summer resort) almost 20 years ago, we were greeted with a rice shower after the ceremony. I think that in Japan, a flower shower is a more recent trend than a rice shower.

okasan said...

what kind of ham is it that carved from a cradle? It looks like the Iberian ham I had when I was in Spain. There is name on the cradle with a name of a 牧場, I assume it is local product.

Hiroyuki said...

okasan: What we call nama hamu (raw/uncured ham), I suppose. I'm not sure if it's Iberian ham.
I checked the website of the manufacturer, Hirata Bokujo 平田牧場, but found no relevant information.
http://www.hiraboku.info/