We walked around until we came to the shrine. It was a lot bigger than we expected and when we approached the entrance a group of girls dressed in traditional Japanese kimono were coming out. We thought perhaps there was some kind of function going on but it wasn't until we went through the entrance that we saw the bride and groom and realised it was a wedding!
The bride was dressed in the most beautiful white kimono and had a small group to help her around. We had heard from our guide, Yasushi, that a traditional Japanese kimono can cost around £40,000 to hire because of the number of people it takes to dress the bride and help her around. It was amazing to see it but just when we thought it couldn't get better, we turned around and saw a procession of some sort leaving the shrine itself...
We soon realised it was another wedding! With one couple gone, another were just leaving the shrine in procession. The bride had the equivalent of bridesmaids and a lady to hold an umbrella over her to protect her from the sun.
It was so beautiful to watch the wedding procession on such a gloriously sunny day and in such contrast to yesterday. All of the hope and happiness of a wedding, it really did make us feel happier and reminded us of our own wedding day and why we were in Japan in the first place. Despite what has happened, we are here to celebrate our wedding and seeing that ceremony today again reminded us how lucky we are...
After the wedding, we both felt more content and continued on our walk through the gardens, feeling more chilled and happy.
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