Wedding Bells

Our friends, Aiko and Iken, got married on April 15th. It was a beautiful wedding! They had the ceremony in their garden. The forecast had predicted rain that weekend, but luckily it was a perfect day.

It was Miki and Ken Iwata's daughter, Aiko, that got married. Miki is Julian's "pottery partner". The Iwata's are a very friendly, community oriented, artistic and dynamic family. We were honored to be invited to the wedding. They have made us feel so welcome in their home and in their lives.
What was truly wonderful about the ceremony and the party was the thought that went into every aspect of the event.

Miki made Aiko's beautiful wedding dress. Aiko's dad, Ken, made special woodblock prints of Aiko, Iken and their new house with two doves to give to the guests. It's traditional for the couple to give gifts to the wedding guests. Miki also made 150 ceramic cups to give to the guests and to toast the couple!

A lot went into putting together the wedding. Her parents making gifts and musical performances and speeches by family and friends. Even setting up for the wedding was great. Julian worked on cleaning the studio for a couple of days and I lent a hand with some of the food preparation as well. It was really nice to be apart of it all.

At the end of the reception Aiko and Iken sang a song for us. Aiko is gorgeous! Congratulations you two!!

By the way, I'm trying out the above photo slide show which is embedded into this post. Please comment and let me know if it works and if you like it.