Strike a pose!

Rich and I somehow got asked to be models for a wedding shoot. Neither of us claim to be one of the "beautiful people" or think of ourselves as even capable of modeling. However the money was great and we were approached about it, so somebody thought we looked the part. Japan is funny like that. They love how westerners look and they use them in all sorts of ads. I've seen plenty of western models in ads here and they would never ever get booked for a job back home. Here though, just about any decent looking foreigner can pick up a few extra bucks to smile. So Rich and I were picked up and transported to Shozan Hotel in Kyoto. I was told to bring my own dress and shoes, however they would do my hair and makeup. Rich was put into an odd fitting tux (shirt kept poofing out) and some high heeled and very uncomfortable men's shoes. Our roles were the wedding guests. It was really easy b/c the photographer would tell us to stand and talk to the bride and groom and that's what we did. Every scene was a party scene and we just acted the part and the photographer snapped away. Now a few of the photos (unflattering photos of us though) are on the website and there is suppose to be more added and a brochure will be sent out. Check out the website and watch the slide show (2 photos of us in there) and also if you click on "Wedding Top" at the bottom there is one photo of us in that slide show.

Side note: The wedding industry in Japan is a huge money maker. This hotel had a special lot with a chapel and reception hall designed in a European style. Also the chapel was western and included a big glowing cross, even though Japanese typically aren't christian. Western style weddings are the trend right now. Many people have never even seen a traditional Japanese wedding b/c everyone wants the western one. The hotel sells packages for the entire shebang, including daily dress rental. The wedding dresses start at $1,000 a day up to $3,000. That's a lot for one day. One of the models had to wear a Barney colored dress. She did some shots for what looked like a prom setting. Wonder what that dress rents for? The really sad part is that the dresses seemed really dated to me, circa 1980s. Also for the price of a rental you could buy a fabulous dress in the states. Now if dresses begin at $1,000 just imagine what the price is to rent the facility, to have it catered, decorated, hire a photographer, hire a western preacher (actor) to read some passage in English (yes they really do that and we met one that stays pretty busy), etc. Somebody is making a nice mint off of this racket. But really isn't the wedding industry like this worldwide??? I guess the prices here just seemed inflated a bit more.

*These photos were taken by me during a break.*