Editing a Japanese wedding, from the ceremony to the letter to the parents
A Japanese wedding usually gives you two very different kinds of footage. The ceremony is short and quiet, often attended only by close family, and may be a Shinto ceremony at a shrine, a chapel-style ceremony at a hotel or wedding venue, or a ceremony held before the guests themselves. The reception that follows, the hiroen, is a tightly run program of speeches, a kanpai toast, an outfit change and, in many weddings, a letter the bride reads to her parents. Upload the day as one WeddingEditor project, name the people and moments that matter, and receive a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser made by WeddingEditor's AI editing.
Speeches, the kanpai and the room's own music can be heard, with music in support as your audio preference sets.
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Last updated October 2026
Three steps for a Japanese wedding edit
- 1
Upload the ceremony and the hiroen together
Most Japanese weddings are a single day, so one project often holds everything: the getting ready, the shrine or chapel, the portraits and the reception. If you also filmed the nijikai after-party and want it kept apart, give it a project of its own. Add the files from each camera as they are; there is no file count limit and each file may be up to 5 GB.
- 2
Write the brief WeddingEditor cannot guess
WeddingEditor does not know the families or the running order of this hiroen, so spell it out. Say who gave the guest of honor speech, which outfit the bride changed into, whether the letter to her parents should carry the end of the film, and which relatives must appear. Each preference question is optional; any you leave blank are simply left blank, never filled in for you.
- 3
Pay, watch and send notes
Choose One Wedding or a plan credit and start processing. Expect the finished edit typically within 24 to 72 hours, though there is no guaranteed turnaround. It appears in your project to play in the browser and download as a widescreen 1080p MP4, and up to two rounds of emailed revision notes are included.
Brief notes for a Japanese wedding
Notes like these, written into the preference questions, tell an edit made outside the banquet hall where to look.
The outfits
"Bride wore a white shiromuku with a tsunokakushi at the shrine, then changed into a red iro-uchikake for her re-entrance at the hiroen. Groom in a black montsuki haori hakama all day. Please show both of her looks."
Speeches to keep
"Keep a line or two from the groom's manager, who gave the guest of honor speech, and the kanpai called by the bride's former teacher. The groom's father gave the closing thanks; his last sentence matters to the family."
The letter
"The bride read a letter to her parents near the end. Please let it be heard and use it as the emotional close. Her mother is in a black tomesode kimono, front left table."
People to feature
"Feature the bride's grandmother (lavender kimono, seated at the family table), the two friends who ran the uketsuke reception desk, and the groom's university friends who performed a skit."
At the shrine
"Filming inside the hall was allowed only from the back corner, so those shots are wide. The procession under the red parasol is our best ceremony footage; open with it if it works."
Leave out
"Skip the long seating chart pan, the staff resetting tables during the outfit change, and the slideshow that played on the screen; we do not have rights to its music."
What Japanese wedding footage usually holds
One of several ceremony styles
Many couples in Japan choose a chapel-style ceremony led by an officiant, often in a hotel or dedicated wedding venue, whether or not they are Christian. Others choose a Shinto ceremony at a shrine or in a shrine room inside a hotel, and some hold a jinzen-shiki, a ceremony with the guests themselves as witnesses. The legal marriage is registered separately at a municipal office.
A small ceremony, a larger reception
A Shinto ceremony is commonly attended by close family only, while friends, colleagues and relatives join for the hiroen. That means your ceremony footage may have few faces and your reception footage many, which is worth saying in the brief.
A reception with a set program
The hiroen is usually run by an MC to a timed program: the couple's entrance, a speech from a guest of honor, the kanpai, the cake cutting, an outfit change and re-entrance, friends' speeches or performances, and near the end a letter from the bride to her parents and flowers or gifts for both sets of parents. Practice varies by family and region.
Formal speeches, quiet rooms
Speeches are central and often long, delivered at a microphone in a hotel banquet hall or wedding venue. Your audio choice in the brief decides how much of them is heard against the room's background music.
Sound and footage, as you filmed them
The edit works from what your cameras captured and keeps the voices that matter. WeddingEditor uses music alongside them, and the audio preference sets the balance.
One edit per project
A project produces one deliverable, chosen when you create it: a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser. A separate nijikai film needs its own project and its own purchase or credit.
Parts of a Japanese wedding day and what to put in the preferences
| Part of the day | What to film or flag | A note for the brief |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Kimono dressing and hair, often with a dresser, at the venue or a salon; the groom in hakama or a suit | "Show the dresser tying the obi, briefly." |
| Shinto procession | At many shrines, the priest and shrine maidens lead the couple and families through the grounds, a red parasol held over the bride | "Open on the procession if the light is good." |
| Ceremony | Shinto rites or a chapel ceremony with an officiant, vows and rings; often family only | "Keep the sake sharing and the vows, nothing else from the hall." |
| Reception entrance and speeches | The MC introduces the couple; a guest of honor speech and the kanpai follow | "Two lines from the manager's speech, then the kanpai." |
| Outfit change | The couple leaves and returns in new clothes, often to a fresh entrance | "Feature the re-entrance in the red iro-uchikake." |
| Letter and gifts to parents | The bride reads a letter to her parents; the couple hands flowers or gifts to both families | "Let the letter be heard; it is the close." |
| Send-off | The couple and parents stand at the door to thank each guest as they leave | "End on the bride's parents bowing to the last guests." |
What a Japanese wedding video edit is
A Japanese wedding video edit shapes the footage of the ceremony, the hiroen and, if you filmed it, the preparation into a short film. With WeddingEditor that film is a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser made from your upload, shaped by WeddingEditor's AI editing according to the people and moments you list.
It is not the reception's own video program, such as the profile film or the closing credits roll some couples show on the banquet hall screen. Those are made before or during the day for the room; this is an edit made afterward from your raw footage.
Japanese wedding editing questions
Can WeddingEditor make the closing roll that plays at the end of the hiroen?
No. Those films are shown on the screen before the guests leave, while processing typically takes 24 to 72 hours after you start it. Treat a WeddingEditor edit as the film you deliver after the wedding.
Our ceremony was at a shrine and the reception at a hotel. One project or two?
Either works. One project gives you one highlight of the whole day. If you want a film of the shrine ceremony on its own, create a second project with only that footage; each project needs its own purchase or credit.
The speeches are in Japanese. Is that a problem?
Say which speeches matter and roughly when they happened, for example the guest of honor speech right after the entrance and the bride's letter near the end. The edit can keep the recorded voices; it does not add subtitles, so add those yourself after download if the couple wants them.
How do I make sure both of the bride's outfits appear?
Describe each one in the people question, with when she wore it: the shiromuku at the shrine, a colored kimono or a gown after the outfit change. Then list the re-entrance among the moments that must be included.
Will the slideshow music from the banquet hall be in the film?
It can, if your cameras picked it up, alongside the music WeddingEditor uses. If you would rather the film not carry it, say so in the avoid question.
Can my assistant shooter at the nijikai upload to my project?
If they are signed in to your WeddingEditor team, yes. WeddingEditor can set up a team upload link, and their files land in your project.
What does a Japanese wedding edit cost?
One Wedding is $119 one-time for one wedding; on a plan, the project uses one credit instead. Up to two revision rounds by email come with each full edit.
More for Japanese weddings
From the shrine path to the send-off at the door
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