Just when you think the global recession is affecting large and lavish wedding planning around the world, a story like this one pops up….

Rent wedding guests

With the Japanese wedding season in full swing, instead of cutting corners in the wedding planning, Japanese couples are now renting fake family and friends to boost the size of their wedding day and presumably make themselves look more popular then they actually are.

Many people in Japan see their wedding as a very formal event, which must be attended by as many friends, family and colleagues as possible.
The story stems from the fact that at a wedding in Japan, your boss may make a speech, your friends put on some sort of stage show as entertainment and your family greet the wedding guests.
The trouble is, if you’ve got little friends, a small family and not too many colleagues, you look like someone with little importance.

Make yourself look popular on your wedding day

That’s where Hiroshi Mizutant comes in, he runs Tokyo based Office Agents that rents fake friends to brides and grooms who want to look popular and important on their wedding day.

“We’ll attend the wedding as your friend instead of your friend,” Hiroshi told Reuters.

“Suddenly, a guest might not be able to make it. Or maybe you are concerned about the gap in the number of guests you have compared to your partner. Or, there are many temp workers these days and they may be uncomfortable inviting the boss.”

For the price of 20,000 yen (around £200) – you can rent one of their staff to attend your wedding ceremony. If just turning up isn’t enough for you, then splash out another 5,000 yen and they’ll perform at the wedding by singing or dancing. For 35,000 yen the hired help will make a heart rendering speech about how wonderful you are. Presumably prepared well in advance, and not a 5 minute rambling about having just met you a moment ago.

You may think that as the recession hits Japan, the idea of wasting more money on hiring fake co-workers for your wedding would put people off, but it’s actually having an opposite effect. Work related requests are on the rise, as bosses may of lost their jobs, or team mates moved on.

Fake friends for your wedding

Mizutani stated that at one wedding, his company provided the groom with all 30 of his family, friends and co-workers purely because it was his 2nd wedding and wished to avoid inviting the same wedding guests a second time.

With about 100 requests for fake wedding guests each year, the company has around 1,000 fakers ready to stand in at any occasion, including funerals and training seminars.

“What’s important is that these are normal people… normal as in they are cheery and clean and look like they have regular jobs,” Mizutani said.

There have even been occasions when the marriage partner is totally unaware of the fake wedding guests.

“People are proud and they don’t want to tell their partner that they do not have many friends,” Mizutani said.

So if you’re planning your wedding budget, would you consider making yourself look popular by spending money on people acting as your friends?

Follow this link for other world wedding traditions

If you’re reading this in Japan (or anywhere else) then please leave a comment below…..

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