I’ve been sitting on these photos from the destination wedding I photographed in Tokyo for far too long and I’m so stoked to finally have a free moment to share my adventure! To preface: This obviously all took place pre-Covid. A friend of mine referred Marie and Jimmy to me while they were still living in Boston. I took some engagement photos for them and we really hit it off. They told me they were planning on moving to Toyko (where Marie is from) within the year and having their wedding there. I decided to go ahead and throw my desire to do more destination weddings out into the universe and offer to travel to Tokyo to shoot their wedding and they took me up on it!
I spent a little over two weeks in Japan because there was no way I wasn’t going to make the most of this opportunity. I could gush forever about all the things I saw, did, and ate, but we’ll stick to business for now. This particular wedding was broken up into two separate days of shooting. According to Marie and Jimmy, couples in Japan are increasingly favoring weddings with a more western feel. This means white dresses and black tuxes instead of kimonos and ceremonies held at a church or secular venue rather than at a Shinto temple. In order to continue to honor their traditional culture while still doing their wedding day their way, many couples are opting to do “kimono sessions” prior to their wedding. The structure of a kimono session is the same as that of an engagement session. The photographer just snaps a bunch of portraits of the couple in the location(s) of their choice. The star of the show is the wardrobe. Couples rent traditional wedding kimonos to wear for the session and hire a team of professionals to dress them. It takes around a half hour and many extra hands to put a kimono on correctly. We started off our day in Marie’s parents’ neighborhood of Akasaka. We took photos in their building and at a nearby temple. Then we made our way to Hinokicho Park.
After that, we took a brief intermission to wait for it to get dark and to meet Jimmy’s cousin at the airport. From the airport, we headed to Shinjuku where we (or maybe it was just me) stuffed our faces with noodles before getting back to work. Shinjuku is a ward of Tokyo best known for its nightlife and its Godzilla head. That is correct. It’s Godzilla head. The head is perched on top of the terrace of The Hotel Gracery so that it looks like Godzilla is attacking the city. Once every hour, he roars and breathes fire (smoke and colored lights). Marie and Jimmy decided to not warn me about that in advance so that I could have a more authentic experience, which I actually really appreciated.
The wedding was a few days later and the ceremony was held at Marie and Jimmy’s church - St. Alban’s Anglican-Episcopal Church in Minato City, another ward of Toyko. A close group of friends and family from all over the world were in attendance and it was super cool to be amongst both locals and people who were just as jazzed on being in Tokyo for the first time as I was. After the ceremony, we grabbed some portraits around the immediate area, which didn’t leave anything to be desired. We hit Tokyo Tower and some beautiful green spaces around Minato City.
My favorites of the day were hands down the photos I insisted on taking in front of a kushikatsu restaurant Marie and Jimmy took me to earlier in my trip. They ended up being such a huge part of my experience in Tokyo. They taught me the cultural dos and don’ts, showed me how to navigate the city, and took me to all their favorite spots. I didn’t go there expecting to hang out with them a ton and was fully prepared to be on my own, but they really took me under their wing and made my trip. I would probably still be lost somewhere in the city to this day without them. I feel like these portraits really honor our new found friendship.
Next, we made our way to Ginto Zoe, a restaurant in the Ginza area of Tokyo, for an awesomely chill, intimate reception. We all enjoyed some amazing French food and equally amazing drinks. There was no dance floor, just a lot of really great conversation and laughs. It was really cool to see so many different cultures come together as a family and the slower pace gave me a unique opportunity to participate in the reception in a way I don’t normally get to.
After all the formal festivities ended, we walked to a bar for the after party and squeezed a few portraits in along the way, including some in front of the Wako Department Store, which was featured in a scene in the original Godzilla movie. (They’re both big fans, which I highly respect.)
I feel like there’s no way to accurately describe the magic of this experience in a single blog post, but hopefully this does it at least some justice. A million thanks to Marie and Jimmy for going above and beyond to make me feel comfortable, showing me an amazing time, and being so unbelievably patient while I got hopelessly lost every time I tried to meet up with them. I can’t wait to get back to Japan to with my boyfriend after we come out on the other side of this pandemic!