The traditional wedding kimono, known as a uchikake, is a long robe worn unbelted over a regular white or pastel kimono (kakeshita) and sash (obi). The uchikake is longer than an everyday kimono - about six feet long - and has a heavily padded hem so that it trails behind the bride as she walks.

Before the Meiji era and the opening of Japan to Western influences in the mid-19th century, uchikake were worn by female members of samurai families and were not exclusive to weddings. Nowadays, the uchikake is strictly a wedding kimono. Because uchikake are worn only by brides, they have the long, swinging sleeves characteristic of the furisode kimono worn by girls and unmarried women.

A form of furisode kimono is also worn as a wedding kimono. Like the uchikake, it is much longer than a regular furisode and has a padded hem; it is also decorated with symbols appropriate for weddings. Unlike the uchikake, it is worn belted with an obi sash. The wedding furisode is worn during the reception.

The most formal contemporary wedding kimono is the juni hitoe, worn by women marrying into the Imperial family as well as by female members of the family during the most formal occasions such as enthronements. The juni hitoe, which literally means twelve unlined layers, dates back to the Heian era, around a thousand years ago, when women wore their kimono in many layers,often more than twelve despite the name.

The maximum number of layers was eventually fixed by law at five, which is the number worn today by Imperial brides. Only brides from the very highest levels of Japanese society are married wearing juni hitoe. However, some uchikake are trimmed with four or five narrow bands of silk on the sleeves and hem in imitation of juni hitoe.

In the last few years, a new style of uchikake with an unpadded hem, a train, and shorter sleeves, known as a mai curren uchikake, has become popular. Mai curren uchikake show the influence of Chinese design in their square-cut shorter sleeves and lack of padding at the hem; their designs are more contemporary and often lack the symbolic meanings of the traditional uchikake. They do, however, retain the juni hitoe-style trim.