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. . . but I wonder if the author has researched Japanese weddings for the sake of comparison? Unless the wedding is of a socialite daughter or a woman from a wealthy family, American weddings still sort of pale compared to the more-or-less typical Japanese wedding, especially in Aichi Prefecture. In fact, I'm pretty the Japanese were the first to come up with the Disney princess theme.
These lavish affairs, beginning with traditional Shinto ceremonies, and then typically moving on to "wedding halls" for additional Western-style ceremonies and/or receptions, averaged $20,000.00 a couple of decades ago. In some cases the traditional ceremony is followed up by a combination Western wedding/honeymoon to Hawaii or Australia.
Perhaps they've become more modest affairs since the collapse of the Bubble economy, but they were jaw-droppingly extravagant back in the 1980s and early 1990s.
