There were three of us there, me, my wife, and the security guard who was working at the city hall information desk.

While many people in Japan have large wedding parties, the actual act of getting married here is rather unceremonious. It simply involves the submission of paperwork.

On a slightly cool spring night, just cool enough to send a slight chill through our clothes, my wife and I stood in the city hall parking lot next to the car we borrowed from her parents. We were early, so we talked about how we would walk into the city hall and submit the paper work. It was very important to my wife that we walk through the doors together and submit the paperwork at exactly 12:00 a.m.

At 11:58 p.m. we walked over to the back door of the city hall and, because of my mistake, we entered early. The security guard who was sitting behind the glass window of the information desk looked up at us. It was slightly awkward. My wife spoke to him and explained that we were there to submit our marriage paperwork. There was still one minute left before midnight, so we waited across the metal countertop from the security guard. He looked at us and waited while we looked from my wife’s watch to each other and back again.

At exactly midnight, my wife put the wedding paperwork on the countertop. The security guard ran is finger over the papers checking them make sure that they were all there and to see if we had filled them out correctly. When he seemed satisfied that all the paperwork had been done correctly, he looked at us and said, Okay. I’ll submit these. Congratulations!

And that was that.

Where were you when you got married? If you’re not married, where were you when someone close to you got married? What kind of ceremony or custom was there? Please share your stories in the comments below. The Steem from this post will be shared with those of you who make quality comments within the initial twenty-four hour voting period.