Traditional Japanese Wedding Kimono is very beautiful, there are usually 2 kinds of Kimono called Irouchikake and Shiromuku for bride, and one named (Montsuki) Hakama for groom (male). My husband and I had a photo shooting in Kimono in Kyoto, Japan! Here are the flow, locations, price, information through our experience for your reference!
Japanese Style Wedding
In Japan, you need to fill out a marriage paper and hand in it at city office, then you will be officially married. No vows needed. Then, people have a wedding at wherever they want, like shrine, church, venue, restaurant, etc.
It’s pretty common that they take a wedding pictures called “Mae dori” before their wedding party. And they use the pictures on the invitation card for their wedding, decorate it at welcome space on the wedding.
My husband (American) and I (Japanese) actually got married in San Francisco, and we had a plan to have a Japanese-style wedding in Japan. Although, Covid hit and changed the situation..
We decided to take wedding picture in Kimono in Kyoto instead of just waiting, because that’s what we can do until the situation gets better. We still want to have our wedding in Japan since my family and family couldn’t come to our wedding in the US.
Traditional Japanese Kimono For Wedding
Wedding Kimono for Bride
There are 2 kinds of Kimono for wedding for bride; Irouchikake and Shiromuku. I don’t go narrow it down here, but simply Shiromuku is white one and Irouchikake is colorful. Both of them is high-ranked kimono.
The average height of Japanese female is around 158cm though I am 169cm, but it was ok for me to find the proper size.
Wedding Kimono for Groom
Montsuki Hakama is a wedding gown for male, it (usually) is simple because the bride is main on Japanese wedding before (i wouldn’t agree with it now though).
My husband did not have any specific preference though, he is VERY TALL such as over 200cm / 6″5′. There is NO Hakama sized for him and that was the hardest thing for us to find the studio.
Luckily, one of studios that I inquired offered us that they would prepare his size with an extra fee that was affordable.
Mon = Mark, Tsuki = attached with
Wedding Photo Location in Kyoto
The location is very important! There are too many beautiful locations to choose.. but here are the locations that we’ve chosen.
Yasaka Street
It’s a hill where you can feel very nice vibe with beautiful cobblestone. There are shops and restaurants on the street that look good to take pictures with. Watch your steps since it’s a bit bumpy.
Yasaka Tower
Yasaka Tower is one of landmarks in Yasaka area, it is cool to have it on the picture in my opinion. It’s a quite difficult to take picture with from closer, you need to have distance to take a good pic with it.
Yasaka Koshindo Temple
Kongoji = Yasaka Koshindo Temple is very popular as insta-worthy spot! According to their rule, you need to go pray first, and then you can take pictures there.
Maruyama Park
I choose this park because i wanted to take pictures at stone-bridge, and also this is the oldest park in Kyoto city.
Also, in autumn, it’s getting leaves turning to red/yellow that is very beautiful. We did it on 1st week of November, and it was not changing much yet, but still we could find some “fall”.
Price For Kimono Wedding Photo in Kyoto
To be honest with you, I took time and researched a lot for finding the perfect photo studio for us.
People would like to know the exact price, so i tell you that was $1400. It’s not cheap, but it’s all worth for us.
The photo plan includes:
- Photographer
- Photo data ( +300 pictures )
- A mini photo album (10 pages)
- Kimono (Irouchikake or Shiromuku) for bride
- Kimono (Montsuki Hakama) for groom
- Inner wear (socks included) for both of us
- Car + driver to take us to the location
- An assistant coming with us
It’s not easy to find and buy the inner wear for Kimono, especially if you don’t speak (read/write) Japanese.
Flow from Appointment to Photo shooting
Inquiry & Get an Estimation
There are a lot of studios and photographers in Kyoto. I sent an email to many studios, actually. I recommend you to check the website, and also let them know what you’d like when you inquire.
- Location(s)
- Season/date
- How many kimonos you’d like to wear
- How many pictures you’d like them to take
- How you’d like to get pictures (data, album, etc)
I collect the estimation from each studio that i was interested in. And we choose one of them after comparing the proposals/ plans.
Choose Kimono
Usually, you need to go to the studio to try them on and choose which kimono you’d wear for photo shooting, although we couldn’t since we live in California, USA. They told me that i can choose 3 kimonos from the pictures on their website and they’d keep 3 of them for me for that day so that i can try them on in the morning and decide which one to wear.
Final Estimation & Payment
You need to get a final estimation, because the price might change due to additional options like which kimono you’d wear (+ extra decoration), additional location and etc.
My husband and I liked the final estimation + plan, so I applied officially and transferred the amount of money to the studio to make a payment.
Schedule Of The Day Of Photo Shooting
Very roughly i remember how it went.
- – 9:30 Arrive at the studio
- 9:30 Choose the kimono
- 10:00 Hair & Makeup * i did my makeup by myself
- * BATHROOM
- 10:45 Wear the kimono
- 11:30 Leave for the location
- 12:00 Photo shooting at the first location
- 13:00 Move to next location
- 13:15 Photo shooting at 2nd location
- 14:15 Back to the studio and take off a kimono
- 14:45 Take a survey
- 15:00 Finish
Receiving the Data
The DVD was arrived at my parents place in Japan, I installed to my cloud and shared it with my husband who were in the US at the time. (He went back to USA earlier for a reason)
Some studios might share the data with you on cloud, you should check if you can’t receive a package in Japan.
What you should know For Kimono Wedding in Kyoto
When You Wear Kimono…
I don’t know if you have ever wore kimono before, but Irouchikake & Shiromuku are very heavy. Montsuki Hakama is heavier than Yukata, although it shouldn’t be that hard.
It’s difficult to go to bathroom during wearing a kimono, i usually make sure i go to bathroom before putting a kimono on and try not to drink a lot of water while i wear a kimono.
Season is Very Important
Kyoto is known for its weather being very humid in summer and cold in winter. In addition, its scenery are different on each season. I personally like spring and autumn in Kyoto.
Plan Details
You should check what the plan includes/excludes like a photographer, underwear (for kimono), hairset & makeup, and etc. Also check the cancel policy and changing the date due to weather (raincheck, etc).
We will have a Japanese wedding at shrine in 2022 or 2023 depending on pandemic situation, I will write about it when it’s decided. Stay tuned if you are interested!
Over all, our experience of photo shooting in Kyoto in traditional Japanese wedding kimono was very satisfying and memorable!
