--- title: "Shinto Wedding Ceremony Highlight Video | WeddingEditor" url: https://www.weddingeditor.ai/wedding-video/japanese/shinto-ceremony/ last_updated: 2026-10-11 --- # A Shinto ceremony highlight, made as its own project A Shinto wedding ceremony, shinzen-shiki, is held before the kami, either at a shrine or in a shrine room within a hotel or wedding venue. It is commonly short and attended by close family, and is led by a priest with shrine maidens assisting: purification, a prayer read by the priest, the couple sharing sake from three cups, vows read by the groom and an offering of sakaki branches. To get a highlight of it, upload only the ceremony footage as its own WeddingEditor project, list its moments and people in the preference questions, and WeddingEditor's AI editing makes a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser. Shrines set their own filming rules. The edit can only use what you were allowed to record. [Start your first wedding](https://app.weddingeditor.ai/sign-up?redirect_url=/dashboard) ## How to get a Shinto ceremony highlight 1. **Upload the ceremony as one project** Create a project just for the shrine: the arrival, the procession through the grounds if there was one, the rites in the hall, and the family portraits that usually follow. Include every camera's files. If the rest of the day needs a film too, it goes in a separate project. 2. **List the rites and the people** Write the rites you filmed into the moments question in order, and name the people: the bride and groom, both sets of parents, the relative who carried something in the procession. The audio question decides how much of the priest's prayer and any live gagaku stays audible. Use the avoid question for anything the shrine asked you not to show. 3. **Receive and review** After payment or a plan credit, processing typically takes 24 to 72 hours, with no guaranteed turnaround. The edit lands in your project as a downloadable 1080p MP4. Up to two revision rounds are included, requested by email. ## Moments of a Shinto ceremony to list Use the names the shrine used if you know them, and describe each moment plainly as well. - **The procession**: At many shrines, the priest and shrine maidens lead the couple and their families across the grounds to the hall, with a large red parasol held over the bride. This sanshin no gi is often the most open, best-lit footage of the ceremony. - **Purification**: The priest waving a wand of paper streamers over the couple and the families while they bow, cleansing everyone before the rites begin. - **The priest's prayer**: The priest reading a prayer to the kami, announcing the marriage and asking for blessings. It is chanted in formal language, and everyone bows. - **San-san-kudo**: The couple sharing sake poured by a shrine maiden from three cups of increasing size, each taken in three sips. It is short, still and close, so name it. - **Vows and tamagushi**: The groom reading the vows aloud, the bride adding her name, then the couple offering a sakaki branch decorated with paper at the altar. Many ceremonies also add a ring exchange. - **Families sharing sake**: Both families drinking sake together to mark that they are now joined, often followed by the priest's closing words and a group portrait. ## What happens at a Shinto ceremony, in order This is the shape the ceremony commonly takes. Shrines and families differ, so confirm the order with the shrine before the day. - **1. Procession and entrance**: Where the shrine holds a procession, the couple walks behind the priest and shrine maidens, the bride in a white shiromuku with a wataboshi hood or tsunokakushi headpiece, the groom in a black montsuki haori hakama, families following. Everyone then takes their place in the hall, the two families facing each other. - **2. Purification and prayer**: The priest purifies the couple and guests, then reads a prayer to the kami. Gagaku, Japanese court music, may be played live or from a recording at some shrines. - **3. San-san-kudo and vows**: The couple shares sake from three cups. The groom reads the vows, and at many ceremonies rings are exchanged, a more recent addition. - **4. Tamagushi, shared sake and closing**: The couple, and sometimes representatives of each family, offer tamagushi at the altar. The families share sake, and in some shrines a shrine maiden performs a dance. The priest closes the ceremony, and photographs follow. - **A highlight of a short, quiet rite**: The ceremony is commonly brief, so a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes can show most of its stages, or you can choose a Social Teaser of its strongest images. Either way it is one edit for this project. - **The ceremony's own sound**: The prayer, any gagaku and the quiet of the hall can be heard as you recorded them, with music in support as your audio preference sets; the clearest sound depends on where you were allowed to stand. ## Parts of the Shinto ceremony and what to put in the preferences | Part of the ceremony | What it looks or sounds like | Preference note | |---|---|---| | Procession | Priest, shrine maidens, the couple under a red parasol, families behind, crossing the shrine grounds | "Open with the procession; bride's mother in a black kimono just behind." | | Purification | Everyone bowing while the priest waves the purification wand | "One short shot of the purification." | | Prayer | A chanted prayer, the room still and bowed | "Keep a few seconds of the prayer audible." | | San-san-kudo | A shrine maiden pours; the couple sips from three cups in turn | "Must include the sake cups, close." | | Vows and rings | The groom reads from a scroll or card; rings at many ceremonies | "Keep the groom saying both their names." | | Tamagushi and family sake | Sakaki branches placed at the altar; the families drink together | "Feature both fathers during the family sake." | ## What a Shinto wedding ceremony is A Shinto wedding ceremony, shinzen-shiki, is a marriage rite performed before the kami by a Shinto priest, commonly at a shrine or in a shrine room at a hotel or wedding venue. A Shinto ceremony highlight is a short edit of that rite, built from the ceremony footage you upload and following the moments you list. Not the same as: It is not the chapel-style ceremony many Japanese couples choose, with an officiant, an aisle and a choir, and not the jinzen-shiki held before the guests. It is also not the hiroen reception, which follows separately with speeches and the outfit change. ## Shinto ceremony video questions ### Can I get a highlight of only the Shinto ceremony? Yes. Make a project for the ceremony footage alone. It produces one edit, so the reception can have its own project and film separately. ### Can the groom's reading of the vows be heard in the highlight? In many shinzen-shiki the groom reads the vow, the seishi, aloud before the altar. If your camera caught it clearly, say where it falls in the speeches question and choose More speeches and voices, so his reading leads over the music. ### How do I make sure the san-san-kudo is in the highlight? Name it in the moments question and describe it: the couple sipping sake from three cups, poured by a shrine maiden. It lasts only a short while, so a plain description helps the edit find it. ### Will the gagaku music be in the film? If your cameras recorded it, yes. Choose More speeches and voices if the gagaku and the prayer should lead over the added music. ### Does WeddingEditor decide what can be shown from a religious ceremony? No. The edit follows the footage you upload and the notes you write. Agree what is appropriate with the couple and the shrine, and put any limits in the avoid question. ### What does a Shinto ceremony highlight cost? One Wedding is $119 one-time for one wedding, or one plan credit for subscribers. Every full edit comes with up to two revision rounds. ## More for Japanese weddings - [Japanese wedding video editing](https://www.weddingeditor.ai/wedding-video/japanese/): The ceremony, the hiroen and what to put in the preferences - [Japanese wedding highlight](https://www.weddingeditor.ai/wedding-video/japanese/highlight/): About 5 minutes of the whole day - [Japanese wedding teaser](https://www.weddingeditor.ai/wedding-video/japanese/teaser/): A short widescreen piece to share first - [How revisions and delivery work](https://www.weddingeditor.ai/features/revisions-and-delivery/): Watching, downloading and sending notes - [All cultures](https://www.weddingeditor.ai/wedding-video/cultures/) ## Keep the three cups and the vows, in the order they happened Create your account, upload the shrine ceremony as its own project, and list the rites that matter to the family. [Start your first wedding](https://app.weddingeditor.ai/sign-up?redirect_url=/dashboard)