Tag Archives: kekkon-shiki

Thank-you Cards (“making of” and delivery evidence) / Kekkon-shiki

settling in for a session of addressing, signing, inking, glueing, stamping and stickering these cards to prepare for a journey

Following our wedding festivities, we dutifully and cheerfully made up several batches of thank you cards to sent to folks who made the trip or sent gifts or letters/cards. 

Thank you card source materials, ready for scissor, glue, ink and substrate
a stack all ready to go, with special stamps and stickers and sparkly envelopes

While each batch of cards was different – and some cards required boxes and packets – the general design aesthetic captured in exquisite little photo essay created by nature photographer Cheryl A. (you should check out her cards for sale) which captures the details of the envelope treatment:

Continue reading Thank-you Cards (“making of” and delivery evidence) / Kekkon-shiki

Invitations arrived, vol. 2 / Dave + Ryoko 4-20 Kekkon-shiki

JH in Vancouver

What follows is a gallery (vol. 2) of received invites “in situ” wherever they end up in the world / generally unannotated to protect erstwhile privacy unless publicly shared by recipient.   

PM in Winnipeg also received books from our pal Grant Lawrence on the same day

Overall, 300+ packets mailed. Some will get lost in the mail (speaking from experience) but anyone who doesn’t receive a dossier in the post can create their own as desired, plus checkout the pieces not in your packet. 

Lovely Crystal in Singapore

The 6 (at least) tranches of mailouts had varied contents and packaging as the batches were sent from different countries, using different printers (pro and home) and different iterations of items, specifically a variety/sub-set of:

* Announcement storybook (4 panel, 2 iterations) 

* Invite to ceremony (2 panel)

* Invite to party (2 panel)

* RSVP card (pre-stamped for folks in Japan)

* Transportation info card (for folks in Japan)

* Letter to friends (on Grand Oriental Hotel letterhead)

* Gig Poster by Joanna Pag (mini-size via various printers and substrates)

These items are easily found within this archive should you desire further inspection. 

Continue reading Invitations arrived, vol. 2 / Dave + Ryoko 4-20 Kekkon-shiki

Giftbag Round-up / Dave + Ryoko 4-20 Kekkon-shiki

At weddings in Japan – unlike in “western” countries, guests usually bring cash in special envelopes as a gift rather than a household appliance or other oddment from a registry. The cash is often in 2 envelopes – one as a “gift” and other the cover their portion of party expenses. Regardless, the notes as fresh and crisp and in a special envelope with appropriate decorations and minimal written sentiments.

The guests are almost always sent on their way with a gift bag of treats with items which reflect the spouses personality (not always the case), or the region or season of the wedding. Anyhow, we took the gift bag part on with great enthusiasm and vigour as we wanted all the guests to take a piece of our heart reflected in hobbies, interests and whatnot.

As it goes, with all the work assembling the gift bags of disparate objects, we neglected to document the items dutifully. Fortunately our pal Robert Scales did a pretty decent job of capturing the assortment which included the following

  • Bizen Yakima saké cup – nearby Bizen one of 6 great centres of pottery of Japan, the cups were handmade by master potter Hosokawa-san and fired with no glaze for 2 weeks at 1000 degrees Celsius in a massive kiln
  • Note: cups were wrapped in newspaper and packed into hemp cloth drawstring bags

  • Matcha tea – from Kyoto, in a metal tin with bamboo accessories: whisk chasen and scoop chashaku
  • Gig Poster – the Taisho-era jazz/travel inspired art for the wedding made by Joanna Ambrosio of Ganamo Design (Vancouver/Mexico) and professionally printed (A4) by Fujii Printing
  • Sakura oil painting print – from Dave’s Gravelly Beach series, printed A4 by Fujii Printing, signed and number (150)
  • Commemorative postcards (2) – featuring paintings by Dave of Rural Caprine Farm’s noted gingko tree in full yellow splendour and haiku postbox (there is the actual postbox on site) of a poem about letters and peaches. Postcard backs designed with Olympia typewriter. Printed by moo.com
  • Thank you card – hand-lettered (Japanese and English) by Ryoko, accessorize with stamps from US and Vatican, printed by Fujii Printing
  • Incense – ceremonial from Bali
  • Ceningan Divers invitation – a special offer from our friends with a dive resort in Bali
  • Vendor thank you – round-up of all the vendors who assisted, contributed etc to the wedding, including URLs for thanks and reviews etc.
  • Gift bag – blue heavy corrugated paper bags with string handles from Usigaya decorated by hand with a special ink stamp (thanks parents) and gold/silver paint marker flag flourish (by Dave)
  • Finally, a special “typewriter card” paper clipped to each one to make unique and washi tape to close each bag.

All the materials were ordered, delivered etc and then moved to the goat farm’s kitchen table where dear helpful pals (under supervision of lawyer Lindsay and the Jen-eral) assembled and moved down to the goat farm so the area looked like a splendid festive morning. Then, each guest (mostly) received their bag with (hopefully) delight.

Note to self: there is a snap somewhere of the guide to assembling gift bags to add here.

Farm Plan for Party / Dave + Ryoko 4-21 Kekkon-shiki

In planning for the wedding party at Mr. Mac Kobayashi’s Rural Caprine Farm, we set out to transform his goat barns into a 1920s-ish Taisho-era-esque jazz lounge meets eclectic nature retreat. We needed places for band to set-up to play comfortably, for ceremony with seating and small stage, for a grand table for bride and groom, an area to have guest book and photo booth, stash gift bags, make name tags and choose and decorate custom bamboo cup, plus dancing, chilling, serving food, cooking food (bar–b-que spits), and also 10+ beverage stations including a tea ceremony experience and oh yeah, an area for mothers and babies to chill out.

In all this planning came the following sketches (executed by Ryoko), shared here for posterity and amusement. (Note: possibly more sketches to follow).

Oh and these were used by Oka-sensei who constructed stages and backdrops and other staging in a truly remarkable manner and by friends who set up stations and decorations on the morning of the event.

Note: more evidence of the results are found elsewhere in this archive.

Checklist for Party / Dave + Ryoko 4-20 Kekkon-shiki

Checklist, various tasks

チェックリスト Checklist

 

  • Make a name badge 名前入りバッジを作る
  • Take an insta-photo インスタ写真を撮る
  • Sign guest book ゲストブックに署名する
  • Play with a goat ヤギと遊ぶ
  • Visit pony and pigs ポニーと豚を訪問
  • Try various drinks 様々な飲み物を試してください

⃞ 1  ⃞ 2 ⃞ 3 ⃞ 4 ⃞ 5 ⃞ 6 ⃞ 7 ⃞ 8 ⃞ 9

  • Have a dance ダンスをする
  • Eat food 食べ物を食べる
  • Eat more food もっと食べ物を食べる
  • Eat cake ケーキを食べる
  • Meet a new friend 新しい友達に会う
  • Give someone a hug 誰かに抱擁をする
  • Say congratulations to D+R 新郎新婦におめでとうを言う
  • Receive gift bag (write your name) ギフトバッグを受け取る (あなたの名前を書く)
  • Thanks to Mr Kobayashi 小林さん、ありがとう
  • Thank the band バンドありがとう
  • Post a photo to SNS with #DRO420 SNSに写真を投稿する #DRO420