Japanese couples lining up for Christian-like weddings

What do you do when you want a white wedding in a church, but you’re not Christian? In Japan where only one per cent of the population identifies as such, it’s a question that many couples face. And a problem that celebrant Norman White is happy to solve.

Having grown up with images of white puffy dresses and throwing the bouquet, a traditional Shinto marriage ceremony is not what many Japanese couples imagine their wedding day to be.

Instead, the majority of couples opt to have a ‘chapel wedding’ – one which looks remarkably like a church wedding, but no one is Christian.
Not even the man at the front of the room, dressed as a priest.
“In our ceremonies there are prayers, there are hymns and there are religious-themed topics that we go over,” says Norman White, a celebrant living in Shikoku, Japan.
“It’s part of this ceremony, it’s part of this tradition of a chapel wedding.”
Although people in Norman’s industry are sometimes referred to as ‘fake priests’, the former US resident rejects the term saying that he’s not selling religion, but a ceremony.
“When people come to these places it’s like going to Disney Land," he says.
"When we go to Disney land we realise that the person in the Mickey suit is not really Mickey Mouse. But we turn off that feeling of fakeness when we walk into Disney Land, or when they come into this building.”