Wedding kimono

Since I was a small girl, I have dreamed about my future wedding with kimono.

A bride with traditional Japanese kimono looks so peaceful and spiritual.

"Shiromuku" is one of the traditional wedding kimono. I wish I can wear Shiromuku at my future wedding like my cousin. By the way, in Japanese, Shiro means white and muku means pure.

A bride wears a simple white kimono made of silk. She also wears "Uchikake," an elaborate rich patterned silk brocade kimono, over the white kimono at the wedding reception.

When I go to a shrine for worship, I sometimes ran into the wedding ceremony like the picture. The brides with Shiromuku looked so beautiful and always took my breath away.

Uchikake can be any color, but the most traditional color is red. Rich in fine embroidered patterns, the uchikake is embellised with scenes of flowers, cranes, pines, flower carts or nature motifs.

The recent trend color among young brides is black Uchikake.

Last year, I was invited to two of my friends' wedding ceremonies, and both girls wore black Uchikake.

Yes, they were very beautiful with their balck kimono, but I was wonder why black color?

Black makes a Japanese bride looks more skinny or stylish.

Mmmm, maybe, it is true..... but wedding must be the happiest moment for a bride. I prefer to wear more colorful Uchikake such as pink with red or purple, and traditional white one.

Sometimes, the bridal kimono used to be handed down in the family or made into futon bedding later in life. Making new wedding kimono is really expensive, so most of the time, a Japanese brides just rent their wedding kimono at the Bridal stores to save money.

* The pictures are from google image