37 FramesThe Word We Didn’t Know We Needed
There are words in other languages that feel like they were written for us. Words that catch in the throat because they say something we’ve always felt, but never had the vocabulary for.
Kaukokaipuu.
A Finnish word, meaning a deep longing for faraway places. A desire to travel, to step into distant worlds, to see who we become in them.
We know this word. We live this word. We’ve built a life on this word.
Beyond Plane Tickets and Passports
Because kaukokaipuu isn’t just about plane tickets and passport stamps. It’s about the pull of somewhere else. That itch under your skin that says what if?
It’s the reason we stood on a platform in Tokyo twenty years ago with two cameras and no Japanese, wondering what on earth we were doing. It’s the reason we ended up planning and photographing weddings in places like Mt. Fuji, Hokkaido, Iceland, Paris, Byron Bay, and Tuscany.
It’s the reason we’re dreaming of Greenland and beyond next summer.
Our Couples Feel It Too
And here’s the thing. Our couples feel it too.
You don’t choose a destination wedding because it’s the easy route. You choose it because kaukokaipuu whispered to you. Because you wanted to say your vows at the foot of Mt. Fuji, or under cherry blossoms in Nagano, or in a ryokan garden with Ghibli’s Totoro tree.
Because your love story deserves a setting that feels like an adventure, a backdrop as big as your commitment.
The Blessing and the Curse
We joke sometimes that kaukokaipuu is both our blessing and our curse.
The blessing: it keeps life rich, layered, extraordinary. The curse: it’s never satisfied. There’s always another horizon. Another what if. Another wedding day in another corner of the world where we’ll laugh and cry with strangers who feel like old friends by the end.
And maybe that’s the magic of it.
Why Weddings and Travel Belong Together
Because weddings, like travel, are never just about the destination. They’re about the people you share them with.
The ones who step onto the plane with you. The ones who clink the glasses under sakura petals, or dance barefoot in the Arabian desert. The ones who make “somewhere far away” feel like home for a night.
Listening to the Longing
So yes — kaukokaipuu is real. And we carry it with us. Into every story, every ceremony, every photograph, every plan.
It’s why we’ll never stop chasing.
Why we’ll never stop creating.
Why we’ll never stop saying yes to love in faraway places.
And if you’re feeling that same longing? If kaukokaipuu is whispering to you right now? Maybe it’s time to listen.
📋 Planning | 📸 Photography | 🎥 Film by @37frames
37 Frames
