37 FramesThe Beautiful, Brutal Reality
We’re about halfway through teaching this year’s wedding mentorship program, and these conversations keep coming up. How do you build a business you love without losing yourself in the process? How do you chase growth, serve clients, and keep your creative spark alive … all while still having a life that feels like yours?
These are the questions we’ve been unpacking with our mentees, and they’re the ones we wish someone had sat us down with two decades ago.
Building a wedding planning business or wedding photography business looks magical from the outside: the love stories, the world travels, the artistry. And yes … it’s all of those things. But it’s also late-night emails, mountains of edits, taxes no one warned you about, and the creeping (and mostly unwarranted fear) that if you stop hustling for even a second, it will all vanish.
We’ve been there. We’ve lived it. And after two decades of building a global brand from Tokyo, here’s what we’ve learned about growing a business without completely losing your mind.
1. Systems Are Sexy
It may not feel exciting, but systems are what give you freedom. Contracts, workflows, editing presets, bookkeeping, marketing plans, email templates … they’re not “boring admin.” They’re the scaffolding that lets creativity breathe.
If every wedding feels like reinventing the wheel, burnout isn’t far behind. Build systems early, and you’ll thank yourself later.
2. Boundaries Are Non-Negotiable
The wedding industry in Japan is deeply seasonal. Intense springs and falls, with quieter summers and winters. But here’s what we tell our couples up front: during peak wedding weeks, our communication may slow. Not because we’ve disappeared, but because our attention is 100% with the couples who are actually celebrating in that moment. They have our undivided focus while we’re on location bringing their weddings to life.
Summer and winter might look “quiet” from the outside, but in truth they’re anything but. That’s when the bulk of the planning happens — timelines, design, logistics, scouting, and a thousand unseen details. It’s a hive of activity, just behind the scenes. Wedding season is when the magic happens. Planning season is when we build it.
Set boundaries within your systems, and stick to them. If you don’t, the business will eat every available hour and still want more.
3. Don’t Compare Your Chapter 1 to Someone Else’s Chapter 20
Social media will convince you that everyone else has it figured out. They don’t. We certainly didn’t in our early years. What matters is building steadily, with your own voice, your own systems, and your own pace. Comparison will drain your energy faster than any 18-hour wedding day.
4. Money Isn’t Dirty
Too many creatives shy away from financial conversations. But money isn’t the enemy. It’s what gives you sustainability. Learn to price properly. Don’t undercut yourself to “get the booking.” Don’t be afraid to say no. A business that doesn’t profit is a hobby, and hobbies burn out fast.
5. Protect Your Creativity
Your creativity is your currency. Without it, you’re just another vendor. Protect it fiercely. That means taking breaks, seeking inspiration outside of weddings, saying no to projects that drain you, and remembering why you started.
A Real Story: Our Overbooked Year
One year, we said yes to too much. Too many weddings. Too many edits. Too many flights. By December, we were barely holding it together. The work was beautiful, but we weren’t. That was the year we learned the hard way: saying yes to everything means saying no to yourself.
Since then, we’ve been working on building seasons of rest into our business. We’ve created systems that mean the work doesn’t depend solely on us. And most importantly, we’ve learned that success is meaningless if you’re too exhausted to enjoy it.
Advice for Aspiring Creatives
- Find a mentor. Learn from someone who has walked this road before.
- Invest in systems early. They’ll save you years of chaos.
- Prioritize health. Mental, physical, emotional. Without it, there is no business.
- Know your why. If you lose sight of it, the industry can chew you up.
Final Reflection
Building a business in weddings is both beautiful and brutal. The artistry keeps you inspired. The logistics keep you awake at night. The couples remind you why you love it, and the exhaustion reminds you why boundaries matter.
But if you build with intention… with systems, boundaries, community, and care… you can have both: a thriving business and a life you still recognize as your own.
A life that feels not just sustainable, but deeply yours.
📋 Planning | 📸 Photography | 🎥 Film by @37frames | Edited with the 37 Frames @imagen.ai profile (The Modern Classic)
37 Frames
