The founder of Kyoto Wedding Association
Watabe Hidetoshi
Watabe Wedding Company representative

Kyoto possesses a 1200 year history, a rare city where the passing down of wisdom from its predecessors occurs alongside artisans inventing new creation after new creation: shrines and temples, tea ceremonies, textiles, dyed goods, pottery, food, a large portion of which has become a world cultural heritage in the present day. While Kyoto is a place where there are many great traditions and history and culture to be found in the scenery, its popularity has not waned as ‘a place where there is a new discovery to be made with each visit’. Nowadays, the merchant houses built over 100 years ago have been repurposed as restaurants, the old primary schools rebuilt as museums. A city which, with a kind of contrast which cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, could be called futuristic with its fusion of old and new.

A word which became a topic at the final presentation for the 2020 Olympics is “Omotenashi,” another fundamental aspect of Kyoto. Omotenashi is the realisation and the putting into practice of the wishes of your guest before they are voiced. For the first steps you take with your chosen life partner together as a family, the stage of Kyoto, packed with the idea of adornment + arrangement + entertainment = omotenashi, is the ideal place.

Greeting you on the day of your photo wedding with an air of the famous and ancient temples is the Japanese-style clothing, which will, of course, be used for the ceremony. This clothing, in which one can glimpse the history of design, has been handed down from the forefathers of the distant past. Borrowing the backdrop of Kyoto itself and clad in clothing with the essence of the land of our forefathers, we would like to make a vibrant commemoration and record of the birth of your new family.

Finally, my wish is that “Kyoto, the birthplace of my family” will become your family’s spiritual hometown and I earnestly hope that, on occasion, you shall return. Children’s festivals, anniversaries: we would like to offer the “omotenashi” required for these important life events through our people, services and shrines and temples.

We eagerly await your visit to our city.