37 FramesCharles Dickens once wrote:
“The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.”
We read that and had to stop. Because isn’t that the essence of this work, of this life, of this relentless calling to tell stories and build celebrations?
The Love That Comes First
Anyone can construct. A building, a business plan, a generic wedding package. Step-by-step, bolt-by-bolt, measurable and tidy. And those things can be loved, eventually—once they’re standing, polished, and ready to be used.
But creation? Creation is different. Creation begins with love. With the vision that stirs before it’s tangible. With the heartbeat that whispers: this matters, even before it exists.
That’s how we feel about every wedding we plan and every frame we capture. We don’t wait until the day to love it. We love it before it takes shape. In the sketches. In the late-night Zoom calls. In the quiet emails where couples say: “Do you think this is possible?”
We love it when it’s only an idea, a hope, a fragile thread of a story.
Construction is Safe. Creation is Risk.
To construct is to assemble. To create is to leap.
And leaping is terrifying. Because creation asks you to believe in something no one else can see yet. It asks you to love something invisible. To hold a wedding in your mind long before the cherry blossoms bloom, before the beams of the ryokan glow with candlelight, before anyone clinks a glass or exhales a vow.
Creation is faith. And it’s costly. It takes time, heart, courage, and yes—a fair amount of sleepless nights. But that’s why it’s unforgettable. Because it’s loved before it’s real.
Why This Matters in Weddings
Weddings are the ultimate act of creation. They are dreamed into existence long before the guests arrive. Couples imagine themselves walking an aisle, whispering vows, stepping into forever together. They create in their hearts before they construct with their hands.
And here in Japan, we see the difference every day. Hotel wedding plans “construct” weddings. They follow a template… efficient, predictable, the same set menu and same ceremony format repeated again and again. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s construction.
We choose creation. The kind that asks: What do you dream of? What feels like you? What’s never been done before?
And as planners, photographers, and filmmakers, we stand in that same current. We don’t just execute timelines. We hold visions. We translate dreams. We protect fragile ideas until they’re strong enough to stand.
We love the story before it’s visible. That’s the difference.
The Ache and the Gift
The danger of construction is that it ends once the scaffolding comes down. The danger of creation is that it never ends.
Because when you create, you always feel the ache of what hasn’t yet arrived. The next wedding. The next story. The next film. It’s a hunger that doesn’t stop, because creation isn’t about ticking boxes… it’s about birthing something that wasn’t there before.
And yet, that ache is the gift. Because it means you care. It means you’re alive to the work. It means you’re still willing to leap.
Our Promise
At 37 Frames, we don’t construct weddings. We create them. And we love them long before they exist.
We love them in the first call when you say, “We’re thinking of Japan.” We love them when we sketch out three timelines to account for rain, typhoons, and the perfect Fuji view. We love them in the days leading up, when everything still feels like possibility.
And when the day finally arrives? That’s when everyone else sees what we’ve been holding all along.
Final Reflection
Construction is safe. Creation is vulnerable. But creation is where love begins. And isn’t that the point?
To love something before it exists. To believe in it before it’s real. To say yes to the invisible, and then work like mad to make it visible.
That’s not just the heart of Dickens’ line. That’s the heart of every wedding. Every photograph. Every story we’ve ever told.
📋 Planning the invisible | 📸 Photographing the impossible | 🎥 Filming what was only a dream yesterday
🗝 Edited with our @imagen.ai profile (The Modern Classic — because construction is easy, creation is forever)
37 Frames
