It Started With Two Cameras and a Vision
Two women in Tokyo. Us. Two cameras. A shared sense that love stories deserved to be told with care, and that the places where they unfolded mattered just as much as the people in front of the lens.
There were no investors. No roadmap. No certainty that it would work. Just long days, late nights, and a belief that destination weddings in Japan could be something more thoughtful than what was being offered at the time.
That belief became 37 Frames.
Building in a Closed Market
When we started, destination weddings in Japan weren’t really part of the conversation. Shrines were closed to international couples. Venues weren’t set up for flexibility. The idea of someone flying from Chicago or Sydney to marry under cherry blossoms felt unrealistic, even naive.
But we thought differently. We believed Japan could be one of the most extraordinary wedding destinations in the world. So we did the work. We knocked on doors, built relationships, translated contracts, and proved that international couples could honor Japanese traditions with care. We learned. We listened. We sat in meetings where the answer was “no” more often than “yes.” We worked to understand not just the logistics, but the cultural expectations underneath them.
Progress came slowly. Through trust. Through showing up again and again. Through a relentless love for what we do and what we believed destination celebrations in Japan could be.
It was years of late nights, cultural navigation, and persistence. And slowly, the doors opened.
A Brand That Traveled
From Tokyo, the vision grew. Over time, our world expanded. We stepped onto bigger stages – literally.
As we spoke at international wedding and photography conferences, our name began to circulate beyond Japan. The kind of momentum you can’t manufacture. Accolades were won. From consistency. From doing the work well. From people watching how you show up, and recommending you because they trust you.
Soon, international planners began reaching out with couples who wanted us there – not just to document a wedding, but to translate a place. To bring the same storytelling approach to Tuscany, France, Byron Bay, Iceland, Seoul, Cyprus, Vietnam, the Caribbean… and everywhere in between.
Our work has always been rooted in sense of place. In adapting to cultures with respect. In finding the human story inside the landscape.
And that is what made the work travel.
Growing Together
As the work evolved, so did the people around us.
Our network grew slowly and organically. Not through strategy, but through shared values. Along the way, we were lucky to learn from and work alongside some of the most thoughtful planners in the world, friends we deeply admire, including Matthew Oliver Weddings in the UK, Global Weddings in Bali, and others who pushed us creatively, challenged our thinking, and grew alongside us.
We weren’t watching from the sidelines. We were all learning in real time. Building brands. Refining standards. Raising the bar together.
As that collective work gained momentum, the scale of the celebrations expanded too. We found ourselves documenting weddings for families connected to heads of state, including the Prime Minister of Vietnam. A wedding in Italy for the head designer of Armani. A royal wedding in Oman. Celebrations with Olympians, artists, and couples whose lives unfolded on the global stage.
Some gatherings were intimate. Others stretched into the hundreds, even thousands of guests.
But what stayed consistent was never the scale. It was the reason people came together.
Then the world stopped.
What the Pause Taught Us
When the pandemic arrived, it stripped everything back.
It didn’t matter who you were. Or how many guests you had planned. Or how elaborate the celebration was meant to be. What remained was something far simpler and far more powerful.
The need to celebrate is human.
To mark time. To gather. To create memories that carry you forward through life.
That pause clarified something for us. It reminded us that the heart of this work isn’t prestige or production. It’s meaning. It’s the quiet importance of creating core memories, whether there are ten people present or a thousand.
Where We Are Now
Now that the world has reopened, we still take on a small number of large-scale celebrations around the globe each year. That part of our story hasn’t disappeared.
But our center of gravity is clear.
Our global brand feels most alive right here. In our adopted home. In Japan.
This is where we listen deeply. Where we create with intention. Where we collaborate with our small, international team of creatives. Where every couple, regardless of background or guest count, is met with the same care and attention.
This is where our work feels most honest.
And where it continues to grow, not outward, but deeper.
Two Women, One Team
37 Frames began with the two of us, but it never stayed that way.
Over the years, our team grew carefully. And they stayed. Many have been with us for more than a decade. Not because of contracts or titles, but because of trust, shared standards, and a deep respect for the work.
That continuity matters. It means our couples aren’t hiring a rotating cast. They’re working with people who know each other’s rhythms. Who have weathered complicated days together. Who stay calm when plans change, because they always do.
What Sets Us Apart
1. Experience
Not as a badge, but as perspective. Hundreds of weddings have taught us what lasts and what fades. Where to focus. When to step back. When to protect a moment rather than perfect it.
2. Cultural Fluency
We live here. We’ve built our lives here. That shapes how we plan, how we communicate, and how we move through spaces that require patience and care.
3. Global Perspective
Working internationally has sharpened our eye. It’s helped us bring a global standard to Japan while staying grounded in place, culture, and context.
4. Storytelling
The business expanded to international wedding planning. But photography and film are our foundation. Everything flows around that. The way we plan the day around the cinematic elements of light and composition. Then everything else follows. Timelines, planning decisions, even logistics are built around how a day will be remembered, not just how it will run.
A Global Brand Without Losing Its Center
People sometimes try to compare us to others in the industry in Japan. We understand the instinct, but we’ve learned those comparisons don’t ever really fit.
We don’t work in volume. We don’t sell packages. We don’t believe weddings should be templated.
What we care about is how a day feels. How it’s remembered. How it sits in a couple’s life years later.
That focus has shaped our growth. Slowly. Intentionally. Without losing what mattered at the beginning.
Final Reflection
37 Frames was never meant to be just a business. It was always a way of seeing. A way of connecting. A way of documenting love at its most human and places at their most breathtaking.
From Tokyo to Tuscany, from shrines to chateaux, the story hasn’t really changed. Two women, a shared vision, and a commitment to doing the work with care.
The fact that it continues to grow isn’t something we take lightly. It’s something we feel responsible for. And that responsibility is what still guides us forward.
37 Frames continues to grow, not because we chase it, but because couples trust us to tell their story. And that, for us, will always be the real measure of success.
📋 Planning | 📸 Photography | 🎥 Film by @37frames | Edited with the 37 Frames @imagen.ai profile (The Modern Classic)
