Japanese Gardens

Welcome to our Friday series. Each month we bring you a multi-part blog series centered around one or two themes. This June our theme is "garden." Summer is full of outdoor weddings and we'll be keeping up to speed to the most popular garden wedding trends!

Like English gardens, Japanese gardens are idealized landscapes. In Ancient Japan, noblemen and emperors used their gardens for entertainment and sport. Buddhist monks meditated in serene, simple gardens. This is the perfect venue for a small, romantic wedding close to nature.

However, unlike English gardens, Japanese gardens are often contain a lot of symbolism pulled from Buddhism and Japanese culture. For instance, water and stone represent yin and yang. These two elements create harmony. Rocks and miniature waterfalls may represent famous natural landmarks in Japan. These gardens are usually laid out according to Buddhist geomancy and cosmology in the most fortuitous arrangement. Japanese gardens are therefore extremely lucky places to tie the knot. The plants and their placement also mimic Japanese landscapes, such as marshlands, mountainous streams, and river basins.

There are several different kinds of gardens, but the main two categories are wet and dry gardens. Wet gardens always have water, either in the form of lakes, waterfalls, or both. In dry gardens, water is symbolized with white sand.

For couple who are having their wedding or reception at a Japanese garden, here are some planning ideas:

Serve Tea

One type of Japanese garden is the tea garden. Visitors were meant to be inspired by the stroll to the tea house to enter in the right mindset to appreciate the ceremony. Encourage your guests to have a cup of tea in the few moments before the ceremony starts.

Soft Music

Some couples hire a violinist -- I imagine a classical guitarist would work just as well -- to serenade the guests as they wander through the gardens.

Incorporate Japanese Elements into Your Wedding

Some popular ones are mocha, a delicious rice pastry that is usually filled with red bean, peanut filling, or black sesame, but ice cream would work in a pinch. You can also incorporate bridges and koi into your wedding imagery.

Less is More

Traditional Japanese architecture in garden is minimalist and elegant. Consider having a wedding Japanese-style where all the extraneous elements are eliminated. Not only will it be less expensive, but the things are left will be memorable.

Posted by Natalie T.