*0* ... our wedding shopping in Shanghai!

If you are sober enough, you will ask – how about Jin? Anything for him from Shanghai/ Suzhou?

Shopping for Jin happened in Shanghai. Again, advice/ prototype from Clara’s…Clara’s husband got his tuxedo in Shanghai’s Fabric Market last year at CNY 600. How’s Jin’s?

It was a shopping mall with 3 stories. We checked 2 stories but found most designs were just similar, if not identical. THE WAR BEGAN. Shops offered from CNY 1,100 to CNY 1,300. We started from CNY 500 and finally got a deal at CNY 700, inclusive of the jacket, bow tie, waist band and trousers. We requested some modifications to make it a unique one but this remained an uncertainty that I am not fully confident…anyway, we will see.

(trial fit in 2 days)

I also bought a tailor-made business suit in the Fabric Market, too. CNY 480 for suit jacket plus two pairs of trousers. Very good deal.

The real crazy shopping happened the other day when we return again for trial fit. We found a lot of ties and thought it might be good to get Jin a few. (I am gradually changing things inside Jin’s wardrobe…haha)

Initial offer – CNY 25 each. I dug out from the mountain of ties and got the best 8. We also got two pairs of cuffs. My mind was not very sharp that time and needed to re-negotiate…final deal at CNY 260 for all. I feel we could have get a better deal, but again, it’s good enough for HK & JP standards.

番外篇: I also had a "negative purchase" in Shanghai - paid to remove my pretty nails (>< .

I noticed one change in me after getting married – I am becoming money conscious! I never have bargained that hard before…but I felt it at ease and… indeed necessary!!

*0* ... our wedding shopping in Suzhou!

Jin felt a great pity not being able to accompany me throughout the wedding preparation (esp. costume arrangement) in Hong Kong. Here comes the chance! In his return trip to Japan after HK registration, Jin stopped in Shanghai for our brief shopping in the city and in the outskirt city of Suzhou (蘇州).

It is always good to be a “junior” bride, with experienced wife to guide and advice me =). The important persons for this Suzhou mission are Clara and Ann. This was in fact not the first Suzhou trip for us 3 (Welcome Jin!). Clara went through the same process last year and I was her bride’s maid. Ann is always the professional to advise us in terms of design, quality and price!

Ann also offered us to stay at her cozy home. With her super warm hospitality, we quickly restored our energy from all travels and became “genki genki” throughout the trip. (A big THANK YOU to Ann!)

Pre-trip preparation:

• Confirm schedule with my important “local” guides and better the train tickets. Yeah, thanks again to Clara & Ann for making their time.
• Basic research on Suzhou’s “wedding dress village”, Tiger Hill (虎丘)– Yes, the whole district is full of wedding dress shops. We cannot afford the time to check every single shop, therefore, needed to know the grading, style, price range & general customer comments in order to highlight just a few. Thanks Kate for getting me the “Shopping strategy guide of Suzhou wedding dress”. It was indeed very helpful.
• Get to know my “dream dress”. It is crucial that we know what kind of dress that we want because we will see hundreds of them…too much uncertainty is time-consuming and side-track our decision-making process. I am lucky that I have already gone through the “look-see-and-match” process in HK. I have already formed an idea of what dress suits me. Besides, Jin bought me some wedding dress magazines from Japan (wao, they are mostly high-end super dress). My idea of a “dream dress” was formed accordingly.
• Budget – not too much a worry. Making one in Suzhou is always cheaper than renting one in Hong Kong…But we really need to spend the time to select and check the details. And, most tiring of all – bargain, bargain and…bargain.

On the way to Suzhou

With all the experience and preparation, we believed a one-day trip will do. We departed early for a 9:15 train from Shanghai to Suzhou. Well…we barely… missed it. This marked the beginning of our “run & rush” day…haha. I cannot recall when was the last time I ran like crazy in a city! We explored a lot different means (which is in fact a good learning experience re: transportation in Shanghai!) and finally arrived Suzhou via private car around noon time.

"Yuk"…I guess this was the first word we said about Suzhou…traffic there was still (compare to last year) messy, demolition and construction, dust here and there; no proper traffic signals, drivers squeeze in and turn whichever way…really aggressive and DANGEROUS! We were dropped at a very unhygienic place…bad smell made us headache (>< The mess stopped when super Ann was able to get us return tickets to Shanghai at a favorable time. (official ticket booth said earliest available ticket was at 11:30 PM!) We took a lunch break and our happy money-washing trip began.....


1st stop – Chinese dress making at 石路
Making a Chinese Cheongsam is a must-do item on my list. I wished to make a gorgeous one for the wedding banquet and a few elegant ones for special social occasions.

Thanks to Clara’s experience, we immediately rush into our target, 瑞富祥, a department store that specializes in silk product.

Wao… silk cloth with all sorts of patterns and design. We checked rolls after rolls of cloth, quickly located some really good ones.

And, the WAR BEGAN! Room for bargain was really limited for this department store. Thanks to Ann’s soft strategy, we were able to get really good deals from both the cloth and the tailor handcraft fee!!!

Time flies when we were in crazy shopping mode. It was already close to 4pm when everything was done. (p.s.: what did Jin do during the crazy hours of ladies? He kept taking greedy happy photos of us…and kept giving amazing faces of “I can’t believe it! It’s soo cheap!!”)

2nd stop – Wedding dress making at 虎丘
Time was running out and I prepared everybody that Jin and I might need to come again the other day to continue the shopping. I never expected “Love at first sight” would happen!

Again, we did our “focus shopping” – quickly rush into the shop that Clara got her wedding dress last year.

While we were disappointed at the limited availability of the dresses and about to leave…the salesperson held us and presented us a dress of treasure, hid at the roof top of hte store which was wrapped in an ugly plastic bag…the salesperson started the story: they are so proud of their refinery of dresses that they made and transformed to the exporting business. By serving European and Japanese customers, they were earning a good fortune now. That was why they stopped from making fair dresses (for local needs).

My eyes…blink blink when I saw THE dress!!! It was a gorgeous one full of detail, handmade for sure. The long tail also fits perfectly for my march-in at the chapel of our wedding banquet in Japan. I quickly tried that on and fell into it. Offer at CNY 2,800. (Salesperson said they usually ask for CNY 4,500, but offer a great discount to us as old customers, blablabla). Jin didn’t say a word until that point as he could feel that I was getting emotional…he didn’t want to make it an impulsive purchase. He said “in order not to regret, let’s check other shops and come back afterwards”. We left the shop with the lady chased after us “what is your budget? We can try to match….” We said max. CNY 1,800 and she agreed. “hmm…too easy as if it’s not a good bargain…”

Anyway, since we agreed to keep looking, we then followed the “strategic guide” and checked isle by isle, however, nothing comparable. In 15 mins, we know we should return. Our strategy advisor, Ann, said it’s a signal of failure if we just rushed back so shortly. We therefore kept wandering around, checked also evening dresses, and planned our WAR, or in order words, DRAMA.

We wanted to set up a scene as:

I liked the dress so so much (to justify our return) but Jin doesn’t like it (not so perfect that it doesn’t deserve the price). We made our faces really bad and Ann as a mediator brought us back to stop our “quarrel”.

Although Jin acted so well that I even thought he really did’t like the dress, this stupid drama couldn’t get us any further discount (><. We finally made the deal at CNY 1,800...with some modification requested.

We must say all were super good deals in terms of both HK & JP standards – HURRAY~~ our successful shopping trip!!!

P.S.: the amazement didn’t stop. The cheongsam tailor wanted me to go back for a fit with the draft dresses, in merely 48 hours. Jin and I went to Suzhou again the other day and couldn’t help clapping our hands at the marvelous art did by the tailor. The handmade cheongsams were 80% done!!! The match of color, the detailness, everything were done so nicely. While I tried them on, other customers also amazed and ordered the same design as mine…Look forward to the final products (>w<

P.S. 2: This time we were able to take the train...which was 99% similar to JP's 新幹線 @_@

Price paid for the service.....

28th April was our first day of team work to battle against our common enemy. They were once our trustworthy agent, but it turned out that their service was nothing but ridiculously nonsensical. 'Twas really an experience for Jin to see how a "service of non-Japanese standard" would be, but in general, it was even below it... We were not treated as a customer even though we paid a fortune for their "worthless service".

***Note well: The following explains the content of the battle we fought with our Photo Shooting agent - Romantic Life - for their mistreatment they served us with, and the accomplishment we achieved from the battle. This post is NOT to put down on Romantic Life of their service, nor is it to provide our readers with how they can things be negotiated. This post is only to share with you what we had to go through for what they have done and we had to go through.

The mistreatment they had on us.....

1. Treated customers as if they were friends - called Jin with a nickname in Cantonese knowing that Jin cannot understand it.

2. Called Carol with a comment which was not appreciated at all. Such comment was not at all a fit since Carol had put sooooo much an effort to get into such result, and the treatment she received was just too cruel.

3. None of the arrangements and communications were intuitively made, and resulted in stress, burden, extra work, and also a mistreatment from the photo shooting staff (located in Taiwan, met for the first time when we were in Nara).

As a result, the first promise / explanation we received from the customer representative "We are here, a one stop service to make the communication with the staff as much as possible and transparent, to make the stress on the bride (since in this market, such miscommunication happens and puts burden and stress onto the bride, which yields to increase of stress level to the couple...) as little as possible" was not executed. Instead, the customer representative's activities were so junior and irresponsible, that we became the victim of their miscommunication. This was extremely stressful.

However much the arrangements were horrible, the end result of photo shooting was still satsifactory. The photo shooting crews and we were focused in making a one-and-only superb album. Our focus was very intense, that we want to give complements to the photo shooting staff.

So, the battle was against the Hong Kong arrangement crew. We met with the Shop Owner and explained the above. In the beginning, the Shop Owner thought we were complaining about the photo shooting crews. However, as our explanation elaborated, they started to feel the guilt. Fortunately (and indeed, this is a good thing), the Shop Owner is responsible of the customer operations and customer satisfaction, and since she was from Taiwan, she has the Taiwan customer oriented focus which resulted in a sympathy and feel of apology from all of the explanation we had elaborated.

This was a good thing, and the communication from here went smoother.

As a result, we were able to receive quite a number of accomplishment, which really is priceless.

1. ALL soft copies of the pictures we had taken in Kimono. This is because as I elaborated in the earlier post, the Kimono which Carol wore - furisode 振袖 - can only be worn by an unmarried lady. Hence, by practice, this was the one and only chance Carol could wear this type of Kimono in her whole life. It was very important that we have as evidence as possible of this period of time.

***It turns out that the number of photos taken were over 100 which resulted in quite an amount of bonus we were able to receive.

2. Discount in the creation of album. Since the number of photos we chose were a total of 100 (the package only included 30, hence we needed to pay for the extra 70 pictures to be included in the album). This discount also was quite some amount.

All in all, we felt that this battle was well thought, and we both did a good job. On top of this, the Shop Owner was really rational, understanding, reasonable, and fair. Her mind was sharp at all times, and was thinking in realtime of what went on, and what needed to be done in order to "keep the customer satisfaction, yet keep their store stance." We feel it was fortunate that we fought with her and no one else.

Currently, the album is in production, and the Shop Owner (since she insisted in taking over the production operation, because she has a 12years of experience in this operation, and she wants to do this for us to "gain the trust"), and she understands our trust in their service is down to the pits. It is on their hands to prove to us that they are "not as bad as what they had done to us up until now", and to make us satisfied.

Let's see the end result (^-'b

The Marriage Registration Day - 2008.04.27

On 27th of April, Carol and Jin made our eternal vow to be bonded for the rest of our lives. This is the day we start our married labu labu life!!!!! yey!!! yey!!! yeeeey!!!!!

It was supposed to be a humble & simple registration process but with all your presence, my dear friends, it became such a shiny memory for us. Thanks for coming, thanks for your blessings - we are so glad that you were there!

Friends, let us replay this very precious memory to you. Especially for friends who we did not managed to invite to come...(><

6:00 Wakeup
J: Today is a big day. I need to be fresh and healthy, ... but, .... my cold, ....... please let me sleep a bit more..... zzz

C: Wow, a straight-through deep sleep (although just 5 hours) without nightmare/ stupid dream! Mind sober, heart peaceful, Ok...let me start ticking my checklist...no conditioner for hair wash, dry hair to 100%, open button clothes..."to-bring" items ready.


7:00 Stylist (Helen) arrives to turn Carol to a princess
J: OK, gotta wake up!!! Rise and Shine!!! From this point on, the real and serious day starts!

C: I saw Helen from my window at 6:45 am. She arrived early and waited downstair...pressed my door bell at 7 am sharp. Helen knew my character & request (she remembered it so well!)from the trial make-up, thus, quickly started her art. The whole process was just relaxing and fun, especially with my cat, Ken Ken who welcomed Helen and sat still looking how Helen played the magic. I really like Helen, she is more than a stylist, she just wants to help. She also helped me to dress up, escorted & brought our stuff all the way to the car park....Thanks a lot, Helen!! I will defintely go back to Helen for my make up next year (make sure I book her well in advance to secure her timeslot!! ><).

9:00 Fiona (Carol's old friend) arrives to pick us up with her car

J: Whoa!!! The car soooo pretty pretty!!! Thank you soooo much to the sisters!!!!! Carol really does have very caring and gooodo goooodo friends around her!!!

C: Wow!!!! I did not expect my 'house members' to prepare the car decoration! When Helen pointed at the pretty car, I said I was not sure it's for us...coz my friend told me her car is just a not-so-good one...hey, Captain, it was GREAT, OK?! We were all very excited...and Captain said she washed the car the day before...hahaha...yey! Thanks 'house members'! It was a big present and a pleasant surprise!


9:30 Pick up kaachan (Jin's mom) at hotel
J: As kaachan (母ちゃん) and I had briefed before flying to HK, the outcome was as expected. Nicely done, as usual.

C: Wao! Kaachan looked so nice in Kimono. It was a humble one yet very elegant! Many of my friends are coming purposely for Kaachan's Kimono...(?_?) They won't be disappointed!


10:00 Meet at Cotton Tree Marriage Registration Office
J: A bit nervous, but more than that, my cold...... (>___<; But, I have a strong will, so I should be fine. Keep my integrity and I will be fine. But, since the guests are all of Carol's, I felt both envious and sad. I wouldn't have this much of a crowd on my side, ... and at the same time, but then, Carol has such closely bonded friends... iinaa...

C: My Papa arrived really early, he dragged my uncle all the way from Canada back to HK and escorted my grandma. I could feel the intense love they have for me and their welcome to Jin as a new family member. For every small move they take, especially my papa, was full of caring and love...(n_n. I guess my Papa was the No.1 nervous person for the day... Friends started coming, one after the other, some were long-time-no-see friends, some are super good friends, colleagues...I was so hyper to see all their faces! In fact it wasn't the full list yet...I still have many good friends that I wished to invite while either couldn't come or ran out of time to invite...(sorry!) in 2009...!!


10:30 Marriage Registration Starts

J: Nervousness had gone away, and I was fine all the way. I think Carol's father took all of our nervousness into him..... The feeling I had was more, ..... of a fulfillment of "finally, we have come to this stage". Throughout the registration ceremony, I was thinking of the happy image of our married life and thus, I couldn't even shift my eye focus to the guests (sorry all...!!)

C: Happy, hyper! But maybe too hyper that I didn't check/know what I was supposed to do...hahaha. It is indeed lucky to be a "junior" of marriage to enjoy the advices & help from my experienced married friend - Erica! I did some stupid things (e.g. pop in the marriage hall before guests were seated, wondered whether guests could see me from the veil....) (><

The other day a photographer told me that 9 out of 10 girls could not finish their vow smoothly becuase of the tears... I didn't feel anything at all. Probably same to Jin, I was filled with positive energy to anticipate our new life.

My papa looked really "heavy", as if a dark cloud is ahead of him....Papa, we will be alright, we are commited to be faithful partners to each other, we promised, together, we will make better lives. Papa...I know you really love us, I know you were surprised how fast time flied and worried how far we will be apart...we assure, our bond is always there, no matter the distance/ frequency that we could meet.

Photo shooting with everyone:

• scene 1: In the office

J: Still daydreaming. Really thank Daisy for the initiative in started to lead in taking the photos.

C: THANKS DAISY and FIONA as back-up cameraman!!! BIG THANKS TO ERICA on her help with my dress and all 'Dos & Don'ts'! (><

• scene 2: Outside the office

J: This is the first moment when we are out in public as a married couple. I want to scream out of happiness and accomplishment!!! But, ... can't still yet! Pictures pictures pictures. Take all as much as you wish!!! But more than that, Carol is sooooooooo wonderfully beautiful!!!!!

C: hmm...how can I treat my dear friends? offer our photo-shooting buffet...take photos photos and photos...we really wanted to make sure we entertained our guests and thanks every of them to come to withness our big moments. (hmm..but always keep my friends waiting..sorry ><) But it was a bit too dark and we moved quickly to another location.

• scene 3: By the small deck with white pillars

J: Better location la. Gooodo goooodo!!! Get them flashes and shutters sing a song to us!!

C: quick...I need to make sure everybody was taken into the photos. Friends, come come...

• scene 4: By the big stage of Beijing Olympic front sign; a group photo

J: Stairs for group photo la!!! C'mon everybody!!!!! :-D

C: ....this was the area with Beijing Olympic 2008....very patriotic. The stairs served as a platform for group photos. Yey!

• scene 5: By the waterfall in the back

J: Ooops, our crowd is sooo huge we're blocking the way... Sorry!!! It is then, kaachan elaborated her current situation, that her feet hurts, and thus she wants to change from the Japanese kimono to something easier. I quickly relayed the message to Carol and was able to pass the message to Fiona to snatch her items from the car. Thank you to Fiona for her kind and spontaneous act, and Stephanie's kind help in assisting kaachan change.

C: It was a great day for photo shooting, not too bright and no rain. It was probably a nice day for a walk in the park, too. Crowded crowded and we were blocking the way ><. We probably took quite some time for photos and the parents and elderlies get tired. Also thanks Eva, Shirley & Mavis to check availability and get them settled in the teahouse.

J: (to add to Carol) ... [thanks to Eva, Shirley & Mavis] also for passing the gift photo for those early leavers!!!


Photo shooting with some close friends and us two alone:

• scene 1: By the pond

J: yey yey yey!!! More pictures la!!! Getting hyper both from the medicine and the feeling. Carol's beautiful, her bouquet and hair flowers match so well with her, .... She is an angel!!!!!

C: Mic seems to be in his mood...started taking artistic photos of us...like the photo-shooting we did in Japan! hahaha...

• scene 2: By the barrack (I was learnt the other day that my colleague passed by us in HK Park, the couple was wondering "is this Carol???")

J: Kind of a silly picture, but was interesting. Still hyper hyper!!!

C: hehe...I always enjoy silly photos with Jin, and my secondary school friends...hahaha..we all couldn't help but laughing so hard...oops... I need to be elegant...(><


Family lunch at Lock Cha Tea House

J: More and more guests have left by then, and we only had the really close close friends and the family members share the lunch. The vegetarian dim sum was simple but nice enough for everyone to enjoy. Give gifts and received gifts. Gooooooooddo nya!!!!!

C: The first funny thing was...getting ourselves changed. There was no elegant place but a privacy place...W.C. (><) It was just simple food...everything was just simple enough to make a cozy environment with slow slow pace. We had the quality time chatting with family and family-alike friends. Thank-you all for today! We will treat you a better meal in our wedding parties!!! We finished at around 2:30pm and Mr & Mrs Takamura rode on Fiona's pretty car again and went back home.

Overall comment:
J: I think all went well with the limited briefing. I really feel that Carol does have very close mutual friends who can make a very close teamwork just on the spot. I think this is a treasure. Moreover, Carol was, ....... just toooooooooooo beautiful!!!!! Her efforts in making this event the one and only best one did indeed come true. Her body fit and slimmed down, her face so bright and smooth like a baby's face, everything was just perfect. On the other hand, how about me? I kind of was a bit shamed since I haven't done much; not as much effort in keeping myself fit or taking the steps to make the event one and only. Is this ok or not? I just cannot stop wondering and thinking.....

C: haha..Jin, please don't say that. You did of course, put efforts and did something revolutionary - shaved! Everyone said you look so refreshed in your new look =P hoho, handsome handsome yo~

Meeting Jin is a very beautiful thing in my life. Our path was indeed short and our passion has made it even shorter… (time flies all the time)! It was probably too short for me to portrait the details of our wedding and on THAT DAY, I was totally blank and in an inexperienced + curious + looking forward mode all day long…

With that psychological state, my sensor to the external world was so much more sensitive then to the inner self. I could only feel my darling Jin’s soft eyesight, mild words and heated heart, I could only see my dear family members’ and friends’ happy and touched faces…All these turned my smile and made me the “1/10” girl who did not cry while making the vow of love…

Apr 27 was in fact a rehearsal and a kick-off - we needed to register early to merge our lives together via the legal procedures. It could be a bit too rush that I was not well prepared and underestimated the joy we could bring to our friends…it was only a simple registration and nothing good to treat friends, I therefore, did not really plan perfectly and invite all my important friends to come. (><) Friends, please be patient with us. We need one year’s time to prepare our real celebration with you, and you will witness again our real love, where our passion, our caring and loving hearts are still as heated as we are now, and the warmth will be like ashes that bring every of you comfort.

There are always something "better than words" - snapshots of the day:

Our Wedding (Part 1 - HK registration)

The Marriage Registration - Background Information

I think we have made our loyal readers wait tooooooooo long. We must apologise for the loooooooong wait. There are just toooooo many things which happened all at once, and we need some time to prepare the posts. It does not mean that we have forgotten or become lazy. It is just that our private lives and our work lives are full of events all at once. Please be patient; for once we are back in pace, new posts will be uploaded.

This post was prepared to show our audience just a bit of information on how our customs of getting married in Hong Kong and Japan are different.

□■Background
Marriage is logistically an easy thing when the bride and the groom is of the same country. Under that country's law and custom, bride and the groom requests legal authority (whether this is a social or religious authority) for an eternal vow between the couple. And when the authority approves this "legal contract", the bride and the groom becomes a "bonded couple for life".

However, things are different when the bride and the groom is from a different country. We need to get both of our countries' authority to acknowledge that we had registered as a married couple. In our case, we took the choice of getting a legal authority in Hong Kong to register a HK citizen and a foreign spouse marriage, and then report this to the Japan authority.

However much we are a "married couple", that doesn't mean that the foreigner can come into the country like its citizen. If it is that easy, then a criminal of country A can force a person in country B to get married and escape to another country. It doesn't work as easy as this. The spouse of must apply for a legal permit for that "foreigner" to stay in his/her spouse's country. In our case, this applies to Carol to apply for legal permit to stay in Japan, since in the long run, we are planning to base are lifestyle in there.

So, the battle of getting the legal permit - called the spouse visa - starts here. Getting a spouse visa seems simple but really not for Japan. It requires:
1. Applying for legal permit to keep Carol in Japan for extended time (over the 90 days tourist visa). This is called the 在留資格認定証明書. It has a number (in fact, many many) of items we need to prepare, which includes snapshots of us two (to prove we are labu labu and that we did perform the marriage ceremony), an essay of how we got together until we decide to get marry, etc. This process takes from 1 to 3 months.
2. When the permit is issued, it is then sent to the citizen's (Jin's) address.
3. Citizen (Jin) delivers this to the foreigner (Carol).
4. Foreigner (Carol) takes this to the Japan Consulate Visa section and applies for the spouse visa. This takes about 2-3 days.
5. The spouse visa is issued to the foreigner (Carol).
6. Foreigner (Carol) buys a one way ticket to the country (Japan) and flies.
7. If the immigration passes through, then 無問題. Foreigner (Carol) can stay for 3years (limit for spouse visa). If not, then we need to start from step 1 once again and foreigner cannot enter the country.
8. Within 90 days after arrival into the nation, foreigner (Carol) needs to request for a "foreigner registration card" 外国人登録証明書 which serves as an ID in Japan.
9. After the limitation of the spouse visa, the foreigner has three choices:
a. Apply for naturalisation (Carol becomes a Japanese).
b. Apply for permanent alien visa (no need to renew, and can keep the alien status).
c. Apply for an extension of spouse visa (3years once again).


Phew, ... Really a long and scary project we are in.... (>_______<;
However, we have barely stood on its starting line. The project starts from here!!!


□■Difference of HK and JP "Marriage Registration"
a. Hong Kong: ceremony
The Hong Kong style Marriage Registration is a full-fledged ceremony. The couple applies, pays the deposit and picks the date of registration. After then, our marriage request will be posted up for public evaluation for 2weeks. Once no objections are made within this period, the date is confirmed and we are good to register.

On the day of marriage (in our case, we only did the registration, but it is common that the wedding ceremony and the marriage registration are done on the same day), we start from early morning to be the best bride and groom of the day, and move to the registration office. There, we first of all pay the charges for registration and submit our ID's. Then, in the actual ceremonial hall, we vow in front of our guests that we will become a married couple, and have our marriage rings exchanged and marriage certificate signed by two witnesses.

The marriage certificate is then provided at the end of the registration ceremony. Then, all is dismissed for further photo shooting and/or lunch. The ceremony was in total of about 30 min.

b. Japan: logistical handling of paperwork
In Japan, marriage registration is just a submission of paperwork. There is a form we have to submit which requests the legal authority to move the bride into groom's family tree (or visa versa, if groom decides to take the bride's family name). This form is called a 婚姻届 and this also requires two witnesses to sign and place a chop (印鑑). The bride and the groom, or either one can submit this form, and this can be handed in at any time (24x7); during non-office hours, the guard on duty will receive the form, but the record of submission will be counted on the date and time of submission to the guard. There are no certificate of marriage provided, but a sheet of paper which proves that the form has been received 結婚届受理書 so that at least, this proves that the marriage request has been submitted. After several days, the family tree 戸籍 will contain the name of the spouse under the groom's family tree. There are no charges or ceremony to be performed. This is just a transaction over the counter and will not take more than 5min.

However in our case, since we had already performed the marriage registration in HK, we cannot do it once again. What we can do is to report to the JP legal office that we have married under the HK law and obligations. In order to do so, we went to the JP consulate office in HK. This is the only legal office representing Japan and have Japanese authority and legality in HK. After filing the necessary form to report to the JP consulate, it normally takes about 2months to reflect the marriage registration to my family certificate 戸籍.


So, as seen above, the practices are quite different. Let's see how we have done in the next post (coming up soon) of what went on during the Marriage Registration!