The original copy that appeared in RG Magazine was never sent to the LIBRARY, this is the undedited version.

Even the Japanese are discovering that Bermuda is a the perfect place for a wedding. by Robin zuill It's hard to imagine travelling thousands of miles to get married. Yet that's what hundreds of couples are doing every year just to tie the knot in Bermuda.

Last year, a Japanese couple with a party of 24 flew half way around the world to get married in Bermuda. They exchanged vows in St. Peter's Church, and had a reception afterwards around a pool at the Marriott Castle Harbour Resort, where they were staying.

In Japan, where the cost of getting married has become unaffordable for some Japanese, many brides-to-be are looking for an alternative, says Allister Simmons of The Bridal Suite which organised the wedding. Instead of getting married at home, many Japanese are holding their weddings in Hawaii and California, where they can have outdoor ceremonies.

The Japanese market is so big that the Bridal Suite, together with the Department of Tourism and Fuji Films, filmed a mock wedding on the grounds of Camden House in Botanical Gardens. The tape which is being reproduced in the US will be distributed throughout Japan and Japanese communities in the United States.

The Bridal Suite, which specialises in putting on weddings for overseas couples getting married here, says Bermuda has tremendous potential to capitalise on the wedding market. "More and more people want to do something different -- get married outside, on the beach, on the golf course,'' says Simmons, who runs the Bridal Suite with his wife Carmen.

The couple have returned to the Island from promotional tour through the Northeast with a tentative booking this year for a wedding party of 200 from Boston. In North America, Simmons says weddings will cost on average $15,000 -$20,000, but promises that for a group coming to Bermuda to get hitched, it will cost no more than $15,000.

Bridal Suite offers several different types of wedding packages to suit the tastes of their customers. Packages are all inclusive.

Japanese bride Kume Obi and husbnd Junsuke tied the knot in St. George's RG MAGAZINE MARCH 1993