I know a bit about the dressing process (as I said I took a couple of basic workshops). What gets me is the really fine details for such things as how much of the edge of the underkimono collar should show, the appropriate obi knots for the kimono you are wearing, and even the position of the obijime! Also the Japanese color sense is very different from the Western/European color sense, so sometimes I'll see obi and kimono combinations that seem jarring at first.
I've seen pictures of the device that helps with the obi tying.
I find it interesting that you actually like the weight of all the layers! I know I've often heard people complain about that. And I have a sister-in-law who got married to a gentleman from Japan. They had two weddings, one here in the States for her family, and one in Japan for his. The wedding in Japan was the full-on formal Shinto wedding. I've seen the wedding photos from that one, and there are at least a couple in which she is trying really hard not to show how uncomfortable she is!
Very beautiful of course, but not the most comfortable thing to wear, what with the layers of kimono and the wig pinned to her head and everything else.
The very first piece I ever got was a kimono. The two friends I love to "blame" for my hobby had purchased a bale of kimono (this was 20+ years ago because it was at least a year or two before I got married), and brought some of the kimono to a party at another friend's house. They knew that enough of us were interested in costuming and/or textile junkies that they could sell at least a few of these piece. One of the two friends pulled one out of the pile for me and said "here, Amy, I think you'll like this one." Yes I did and I bought it from her. When I got married, she gave me another kimono as a wedding gift, and I was doomed.
Within the first year of my marriage, John (my husband) and I went to a huge antique show, and there was a vendor there who had both Chinese and Japanese clothing among other things. You should have seen the exquisite Chinese embroidered robe I tried on! However, it was several hundred dollars outside my price range. So he showed me some other things, and I fell in love with this wonderful burgundy colored haori. This was before I had really learned much about the various dyeing methods, so I didn't really at the time I bought it that it actually had some very simple but interesting shibori work. It is also a wonderful patterned silk, with a design of mountains on it. That was my first haori. And I've been collecting ever since!
