How Much Does a Wedding in Japan Cost? (2026 Guide)
Japan is a country of artistry, tradition, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. But what does it actually cost to get…
Time Is the Real Luxury: What a Kyoto Innkeeper Taught Us About Weddings
At a ryokan in Kyoto, an innkeeper who had hosted guests for forty years told us what she remembered most. Not the famous guests. Not the grand occasions. The quiet mornings. When two people sit together and say nothing. And it is enough.
Yūgen: The Japanese Word for the Feeling Beneath the Feeling
The Japanese call it yūgen. A beauty too deep for words. The ache of noticing how beautiful something is while it is still here. It is not sadness. It is not joy. It is the feeling beneath the feeling. The one that has no name in English.
The Third Place: Why the Best Weddings Happen Where Nobody Knows Your Name
At home, you are someone’s child. At work, you are someone’s colleague. But in a third place, you are only yourself. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg believed these spaces were essential. What happens when your wedding takes place in one?
The Wedding That Philosophy Built: Seven Disciplines, One Ceremony
A wedding is not a party. A philosopher would call it a public declaration of vulnerability. An anthropologist would call it a tribal bonding ritual. A neuroscientist would call it a synchrony event. It is all of these. And not one of them requires a ballroom.
To Live Inside the World: What an Elopement Actually Is
At some point, life becomes structured. Calendars fill. Responsibilities stack. An elopement is the deliberate choice to step outside that architecture and do something that belongs entirely to you, in a place that does not know your name.
The Things We Carry: What Crosses an Ocean to Be in That Room
Nobody crosses an ocean empty-handed. Your aunt carried a photograph of your grandmother. Your friend carried a secret she had not told anyone. Your father carried a speech he rewrote eleven times. The fact that they are there is the gift. Every other present is a footnote.
The Village That Time Forgot
A mountain village of 700 people. A 150-year-old Japanese residence. A bride in a Sailor Moon headdress. Studio Ghibli scores playing through the mountains. This is what happens when a couple trusts the process and goes completely off the map.
The People You Grow Up With | AsiaWPA 2026 Tokyo
We’ve been judging in the wedding awards world for more than a decade. Last week at AsiaWPA in Tokyo, sitting on the panel and watching the next generation receive their awards, something stirred. We want to enter again.
Walking Paradoxes
Some people want you to pick one thing. Photographer. Planner. Creative. Business. But the most interesting work lives in the overlap. This is why we’ve always embraced the in-between.
