37 FramesSomehow it’s December. How can that be? We arrived home last night at 2 a.m. after the last celebration of November. Hearts full. Feet tired. Ready for what’s next.
It was a huge month that saw us planning some of our largest weddings to date, photographing weddings in three different countries and numerous places all over Japan. And we still had a little energy left to dance up a storm on the dance floor at each celebration. But October and November is peak wedding season, and for us that literally means 120-hour weeks, airports, and scheduling discipline that would make a military general weep.
So when we arrived home last night at 2 a.m., exhausted and running on fumes, we found a pot at our door.
Friends had made soup for us. With a handwritten note that said: Fuel up. We thought you needed a little TLC. It’s only small but packed full of vitamins so you can carry on for the December sprint.
And then, totally randomly, out of nowhere… another box. From two other friends. Who just sent us a gin advent calendar. THE BEST.
Soup and gin.
Because over this season when we give our all to our clients and couples and their people, and also to all our vendor teams who we know are running on fumes just like us, then coming home to something like this… omg. Our friends, our Tokyo family… they’re incredible.
And it made me realize something. Again.
There are the people you meet. And then there are your people.
You know the ones.
The ones who don’t blink when you send a location pin at 2 a.m. from a bar in Roppongi because you need someone to hold your coat while you climb on a pool table for a spontaneous interpretive dance. (This has happened. More than once…)
The ones who don’t flinch when during dinner you continue planning a wedding with a helicopter entrance and a kimono exit. The ones who’ve seen your inbox. And still love you.
These are our people. And this blog post? This one’s for them.
The Power of Your People
Living and working abroad, especially in an industry like weddings where emotion meets production, means your people are your oxygen. They’re not always family by blood, but they become your chosen family by the moments you survive and the memories you create together. And just living in a foreign land together.
They are your red wine philosophers, your suitcase-packers, your lens-swapping, mascara-fixing, coffee-fetching, always-down-for-one-more-edit co-conspirators.
They remind you that even in a whirlwind life of timelines, travel, and tears (some joyful, some pre-caffeine), you’re never really alone.
They Get It
Being in the wedding industry is unlike any other world. Our friends aren’t just friends; they’re our support system who get it. They might not be creatives, or wedding pros. But the understand what it means to build. To grow. To have a dream.
They understand what it means to wake up at 4 a.m. to get drone footage of sunrise for every wedding. The understand your love/hate relationship with cherry blossom season. They don’t ask questions when you cancel dinner three times because “peak foliage” hit a week early in Kyoto. And when you finally sit down together, they bring the wine. And the stories. And an extra bottle (or three). Because they know.
These are the people who don’t look at your chaos and try to fix it. They enter it. And build a dance floor.
Our Community, Our Lifeline
In Japan, away from family, away from hometown comforts, we found something just as powerful: community.
A community that:
- Knows how to toast in 10 languages.
- Understands when you need silence and when you need wine.
- Leaves snacks and handwritten notes in your camera bag.
- Sends memes mid-edit to keep you laughing through the sleep deprivation.
It’s not just friendship. It’s professional survival. And it’s sacred.
The Inside Jokes That Built an Empire
From Shinjuku to Shirakawa-go, we’ve built our business on more than just talent and tenacity. We’ve built it on laughter. The good kind. The tears-rolling-down-your-face kind. The kind of laughter that echoes through onsens and ryokans and late-night kombini runs.
We’ve built it on:
- Wedding day group huddles like we’re about to win the Super Bowl.
- Backup plans to the backup plans, because… Japan.
- Karaoke. Loud, off-key, deeply emotional karaoke.
And it has made all the difference.
A Toast to the Legends
So here’s to the friends who became family. Who made Japan feel like home. Who have seen the best and worst of us – the red carpet magic and the 4 a.m. “why are we doing this” existential spirals.
Here’s to the friends who fly across the world to surprise us. Who send photos of the dog when we’re homesick. Who show up, suit up, and shut down any doubt that we’re doing exactly what we were meant to do.
Here’s to the mad ones, the wild hearts, the ride-or-dies. You are the calm in our chaos and the chaos we wouldn’t survive without.
Spoiler: we don’t.
And to You, Reader
If you’re planning a wedding or thinking of a destination celebration, know this: behind every lens, every carefully curated timeline, and every breathtaking frame is a team held together by love. A team of creatives who bring not just their skills, but their whole hearts.
And maybe, just maybe, you’ll find a bit of your people in us too.
Red wine optional. But highly encouraged.
Looking for a wedding team in Japan that feels like family? We travel. We cry. We document. We dance. And we’re always here for the story.
📋 Planning | 📸 Photography | 🎥 Film by @37frames | Edited with the 37 Frames @imagen.ai profile (The Modern Classic)
37 Frames
