Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. After my Japanese-American boyfriend, Tom, and I became engaged last July, we decided we wanted to incorporate some Japanese traditions into the wedding. Japan has many beautiful wedding customs, one of which is to fold 1000 paper cranes.
Cranes are symbolic of long life, good luck, and prosperity in many Asian cultures.
In Japanese weddings, they represent for the couple a long and happy life together. Cranes in the wild mate for life, and this is probably why they have become such a symbol for weddings. We had fourteen months until the wedding, and we were confident that we could finish 1000 cranes in plenty of time. First we needed paper. And we wanted really nice, handmade Japanese rice paper, something in a nice shade of white.