Dog Weddings: The Next Big Thing In Japan?

Maybe not, but this wedding ceremony for two dogs made the news yesterday:

The wedding was put together by a company in Hiroshima that specializes in pet weddings. For the equivalent of a few hundred dollars, pet owners can dress their pet up in traditional western wedding attire (the company has several sizes available) and force one animal to “marry” another animal. The wedding is conducted by a fake minister, and the pets are given wedding collars in the place of rings. After the ceremony, they officially “sign” their wedding certificates with paw prints, and a wedding cake is cut. While the wedding ceremony in the video made the bride’s master shed some tears, it’s not like her little “child” is going away: both dogs will continue to live where they did before!

[Sidenote: The news report also mentioned that the number of animals kept as pets in Japanese households now exceeds the number of children between the ages of 0 and 15. I'm don't know how this compares to other countries, but it is an interesting factoid. ]