Shotgun Weddings At Least a Quarter of All Japanese Weddings

Shotgun weddings in Japan, also known as “dekichatta kekkon” or “dekikon” for short, are becoming more and more common. Several news reports seem to indicate a rise in weddings in which the baby has been conceived before wedlock.

Shukan Bunshun Online Magazine reports that about 60% of all the pregnancy photos in the popular maternity magazine “Tamago Club” are wedding photos.

They note that the negative connotations of “dekichatta kekkon” seem to be waning.

Recently bridal, seeking to meet the needs of consumers as the number of wedding ceremonies in Japan decreases, have put a positive spin on the phenomenon by calling wedding ceremonies with pregnant brides “Angel Weddings” and “Blessing Weddings”.

Popular magazine “Zexy” refers to the ceremonies as “Double Happy Weddings”.

One 29 year old woman interviewed was quoted as saying that she had such terrible morning sickness that it was all she could do to put on a happy face during her ceremony. This kind of problem is also causing growth in the number of “Weddings with Children in Tow”. People are waiting until after the child is born to have the ceremony.

A representative from the wedding planning company Ladirb commented that in the past, people were ashamed of a shotgun wedding and tried to keep it discreet. These days, however, people are more open about it and more than happy to celebrate the pregnancy and the marriage at the same time.