You Can Get Alpacas To Attend Your Wedding

Having a dog walk down the aisle at your wedding is so last season. If you really want to be on the cutting edge of wedding fauna, try getting married at the Japanese hotel that can provide you with alpacas at your wedding. I certainly know that when I pictured my wedding as a little girl it included several white, fluffy alpacas.

Hotel Epinard Nasu, which is located in the Tochigi Prefecture on the island of Honshu, offers the surprisingly popular alpaca-wedding service. The hotel is able to provide guests with access to alpacas because it is located right next to a zoo, so the animals are conveniently placed and readily accesible. Wedding alpacas come with a designated alpaca trainer to make sure that there are no alpaca shenanigans on your big day.

To answer the natural question that comes to mind when one hears about alpacas at weddings: No, there is no cultural or spiritual significance to having an alpaca observe you as you exchange your vows. They're just really cute, and many Japanese couples that choose to forgo the more traditional Shinto wedding rituals are open to novel, original wedding plans (some of which just happen to include fluffy Cameloids).

I can't say I'm the most sure as to how anyone came up with the idea to tap the heretofore unexplored "alpaca wedding market," but what I can say is that I'm really glad someone did. Also, if anyone wants to invite me to their alpaca wedding I am happy to offer my services as a (completely unqualified) alpaca handler.

There is so much yes going on here:

If alpacas aren't your thing (but aren't alpacas everyone's thing?), but you still want a funky wedding idea, check out these five wacky wedding services you can actually book around the world:

1.Get Married In The Sky

"Wedding in the Sky" is an offshoot of "Dinner in the Sky," a company that hoists up an entire dinner table — guests and all — 180 feet into the air. It sounds incredibly romantic... unless you have a problem with heights.

2. Or Underwater

If you're an avid scuba diver, you can get married underwater. Just be warned: According to the St Croix Weddings website, you might not be able to actually say your vows. "Typically I use vows that are on laminated waterproof sheets," the site reads. "I have also used underwater communication devices but the costs skyrocket when those are in use."

3. Have a Robot Officiate

Robots are being used in all aspects of wedding ceremonies these days, from serving as ring bearers to actually officiating the wedding. I can't tell if I love it or hate it.

4. Say "I Do" In a Cave

Nothing screams "I want to spend the rest of my life with you" like getting married in a damp, creepy cave, like this one in Somerset. Inexplicably, the hotel lets you add a "circus trip" option for guests, because if caves weren't scary enough, there are always clowns.

5. Ride in on an Elephant

A lot of Indian wedding planning services, like this one, will book elephants for you to ride in to your ceremony on. Elephants: for when riding in on a horse just doesn't feel like enough for you.

Images: Ceili & Roger/Flickr; dinnerinthesky_official, adamoprisphotography, sbr.design, cheetahplatt/Instagram; Wookey Hole Caves/Facebook