37 FramesSome weddings fill a ballroom. This one filled a life.
This amazing California couple, deeply in love and deeply drawn to art, chose Japan not for the spectacle of a grand guest list, but for something infinitely more personal. Their wedding wasn’t about scale. It was about story. About aesthetics. About investing not in a hundred tables of florals, but in a memory the two of them would carry forever.
And in November, Japan gave them a canvas unlike any other.
A Kyoto Beginning: Autumn in Full Color
Their story began in Kyoto, in a private garden at the height of autumn. Scarlet maples, golden ginkgo, and rust-colored leaves carpeted the ground in color. The couple wandered its pathways in silence and laughter. An engagement shoot that felt more like a meditation than a session.
Both are art lovers. Both see the world through design. This garden was a living masterpiece, their opening chapter in Japan.
A Private Villa in Nara
At sunrise on their wedding day, light spilled into a private villa in Nara. The couple dressed quietly. Air humming with anticipation. The villa walls holding secrets.
Then came their first look. Emotional, unguarded, unforgettable. The kind of moment that is both deeply intimate and wildly cinematic. From there, straight into an early morning ceremony. Just the two of them, vows spoken in stillness. No audience, no distractions. Just presence.
A Garden Designed to Borrow the Mountains
It all unfolded in the villa’s garden, a space designed around the Japanese concept of Shakkei … “borrowed scenery.” From the terrace, the landscape stretched beyond its borders, framing the couple not only with the manicured beauty of the villa but also with the distant sweep of mountains and the national park beyond.
It felt fitting. Their elopement wasn’t only about the two of them, but about borrowing from the world around them. The autumn blaze of Kyoto, the quiet forest installations in Nara, the clay of a Mie pottery studio … to shape something wholly their own.
Into the Art Forest
Afterwards, the celebration shifted. From intimacy to vastness. From vows under tatami beams to vows among monumental art.
In the Art Forest, modern installations towered like sculptures in dialogue with the landscape. Glass, steel, wood … all harmonizing with sky, wind, and earth. Here, the couple’s day became more than a wedding. It became a conversation between love and art, presence and place. They spoke more vows, let themselves breathe in the stillness, and lived fully in that dialogue of beauty.
Because when you’re art lovers, where else would you choose to begin your marriage than among living, breathing installations?
The Pottery Studio: A Moon Vase of Their Own
And then came the ending, unexpected and unforgettable.
In rural Mie, tucked away among mountains, Dee and Sumika had found a pottery master. A studio smelling faintly of clay and fire. A place where tradition met hands eager to create.
Here, in wedding dress and tuxedo, the couple sat down to make something together. One half each of a moon vase. Their hands messy. Laughter echoing in the studio. There was even that inevitable Ghost moment (you know the one). Yet somehow, not a drop of clay touched their wedding clothes.
When they finished, they left their half-made masterpiece with the potter, who would glaze and fire it, then ship it back to California. A wedding gift to themselves. A physical reminder of what they built together.
Because really, isn’t that what marriage is? Creating something beautiful together, from raw clay, with care and intention.
What Made This Elopement So Extraordinary
For many couples, eloping in Japan is about escape. About running toward something that feels bigger, quieter, and more intentional. For this couple, it was about art. About design. About the idea that marriage itself is the highest form of creation.
A Kyoto garden. A Nara villa. An Art Forest. A moon vase in Mie. Each chapter layered into their story, each experience woven into their memory.
This wasn’t just a wedding day. It was a gallery of moments. A collection. A living installation of love.
And for us, it was everything we believe elopements in Japan can be: intimate, elevated, meaningful, and unforgettable.
Planning Your Own Luxury Elopement in Japan
If you’re dreaming of an elopement in Japan, the options are endless. From the gardens of Kyoto, to ryokans in Kanagawa, to hidden art installations in forests and mountains, your story can unfold in places that feel cinematic and deeply personal.
It’s not about following a template. It’s about curating a journey that feels like you. Whether that means exchanging vows in front of Mt. Fuji, under cherry blossoms in Nagano, or sculpting clay in a rural studio — the magic lies in crafting an experience that can only be yours.
Because at 37 Frames, that’s what we do. We don’t just plan elopements. We design stories.
(Yes, we also carried clay-covered hands and camera gear at the same time. Balance.)
📋 Planning | 📸 Photography | 🎥 Film by @37frames
See a favourite 37 Frames wedding here: A celebrity wedding in Hawaii
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