Weddings & Events in Tokyo

Weddings & events in Tokyo: flowers for an April or a November bride

Weddings & events in Tokyo cluster in two seasons, April–May and October–November, with a smaller following for June and its Western idea of the June bride, even though the month sits inside Tokyo's rainy season. The month narrows the bride's bouquet; guests choose between jumilia and lilies by home and occasion.

Peonies in spring, peony roses in autumn: the bride's flower by month

Japan gives the tree peony a grand title, the king of flowers, while the herbaceous peony is called the prime minister of flowers, a quieter rank for the variety that actually supplies most cut stems. An April or May wedding date falls inside the main Northern Hemisphere cutting window. Growers in the Netherlands and France cut from late April into June, and China's harvest runs from late April into May, so a spring bride's timing lines up with the weeks when peonies are being cut.

An October or November date misses that window, and a rose bred to copy the peony's shape takes over. Peony-shaped roses open into the same dense, many-petalled head, and the English varieties bred by David Austin are the ones most often used for the effect. A duo of peony roses and peonies sets a real peony beside a peony-shaped rose in the same hand-tied bouquet, so an autumn bride can still hold both forms together. Both the bridal bouquet line and the peonies selection follow this same calendar.

Protea, white roses and the white flower Japan keeps for funerals

Protea is Australian by origin, grown for the cut-flower trade in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, and Japan is one of the main destinations for that export. For a Tokyo florist, protea is a familiar import rather than a rarity. A bouquet built around its stiff, cone-shaped flowers reads differently from a soft rose bouquet, and some wedding bouquets lean on that contrast on purpose.

White carries weight in Japan that is worth knowing before choosing a colour. The white chrysanthemum is a funeral flower there, kept for mourning and never given to the living, which takes it out of consideration for a wedding order altogether. White roses sit outside that custom entirely: a bridal bouquet built mostly in white, using roses rather than chrysanthemums, is a normal and welcome choice. The wedding bouquets range covers protea-led designs.

From the guests: two weeks of jumilia, or lilies for a home without cats

Guests choosing a gift for the couple's home have two flowers worth weighing against each other. Fifty-one jumilia in airy wrapping open into small blooms, up to seven centimetres across, white at the base and edged in pink, and in water they last up to two weeks, longer than most cut flowers manage. Fifty-one lilies in a basket need no vase at all, since their stems already sit in soaked floral foam.

Lilies carry one real warning: every part of the plant is toxic to cats, so a lily basket is the wrong gift for a couple who keep one. Once a lily opens, its pollen stains fabric badly and will not brush off, so lifting it with sticky tape as soon as the bloom opens, rather than rubbing it, is the only way to get it off cleanly. Counting matters too, since Japanese gift-giving avoids the numbers four and nine, a custom covered on the flowers page. The wedding gift line groups both options for a guest sending flowers to the reception or straight to the couple's home.

A lily and peony basket for the wedding toast

For a restaurant reception, a basket can be sent to the venue rather than to the couple's door. The Wedding line's basket of lilies, peonies and eucalyptus can stand on a host stand. Delivery to the bride and a basket to the restaurant count as two separate addresses, each costed on its own. Timing with the venue, so the flowers are on the stand before the toast, is arranged through wedding flower delivery in Tokyo.

A couple without a fixed idea can simply describe the occasion and a budget to the florist, or send a photograph of a style they like. The florist sends back options with a photo and a price before anything is paid. A small fix to the finished arrangement is best asked for from the photo taken before the courier sets off.

Where to start depends on who the flowers are for. The bridal bouquet line covers the bride herself, wedding bouquets covers the ceremony and the reception tables, and the Wedding range is built for a gift a guest sends to the couple.