FULL-SERVICE WEDDING PLANNING IN JAPAN
Be in the moment.We’re in the details.
Kanagawa
Your wedding in Japan begins long before you arrive. There’s the excitement of choosing a place, exploring ideas together and seeing the celebration take shape around what matters to you.
From our base in Japan, we lead the full planning process, bringing venue discovery, creative direction, budget guidance and production together. You stay involved in the choices that make the wedding yours, while we coordinate the venues, suppliers and practical details from the early plans through to the celebration itself.
“they made the entire planning process feel effortless.”
View reviewer on Google
Planning from abroad
Start with what matters to you.
Tell us about the ideas you keep coming back to, and what sits behind them. We’d love to hear about the places that have stayed with you, the traditions you care about and the things you’ve always said you’d do one day. We’re interested in what each of you brings, including where your tastes meet and where they don’t.
You don’t need to arrive with all of that neatly worked out. We want to know what draws you to Japan, who you hope will be there, and what would make the day feel yours. Those conversations give the planning its direction.
Our team is based in Japan, with our main base in Tokyo. We work in English with international couples and coordinate with Japanese venues and collaborators.
We bridge the conversations with your venues and creative teams in Japan, helping them understand the ideas, traditions and expectations you bring. It works both ways: we help you understand the cultural nuances and ways of working here, so the meaning behind your plans comes through as clearly as the practical details.
MEET 37 FRAMES
At home in Japan.
Shaped by the world.
We’re Tracey and Dee, originally from Australia. Japan has been our adopted home for more than 20 years, and our wedding work has taken us to close to 30 countries. We’ve built a life deeply rooted in one place while continually learning from the world around it.
Being welcomed into the ways other people live, love and celebrate has shaped us profoundly. It has taught us to ask rather than assume, to understand why a tradition matters, and to recognize that making someone feel welcome can take many forms. We bring that experience to getting to know you, your people and what you hope this celebration will mean.
Here, that international perspective meets our love for Japan and the familiarity that comes from making a life in it. Our Japanese team members bring their own creative vision, local relationships and cultural understanding to everything we do. Together, we can explore possibilities with you and work thoughtfully with the people here who will bring them to life. We keep the meaning of your ideas intact as they move between languages and cultures.
Then there is the hospitality. The thoughtful welcome, the quiet attention, the care that anticipates a need before you have to ask. This is the omotenashi we love, made personal by the people looking after you.
Dee leads planning and production alongside Sumika, our assistant planner. Tracey leads photography and film, with Nick, Junko and Azusa at the core of our creative team. Our two teams work side by side, so the understanding behind your plans also shapes how we photograph and film your story.
Two teams. One understanding.
Meet 37 Frames
Full planning
Full Production Wedding Planning in Japan
Our Full Production Planning Service brings the whole celebration together, from the first venue decisions to the last part of the evening.
It’s for couples who want a deeply considered celebration in Japan, without having to navigate the logistics, language and local arrangements on their own. We’re your creative partner, planner and advocate throughout the process. Bring the ideas you’re excited about, including the one you’re not quite sure is possible yet.
From venue discovery and creative direction to supplier sourcing, budget guidance, timelines, guest experience and on-the-day coordination, we bring every part together. Our role is to listen closely, translate nuance and shape a wedding that reflects who you are while honoring where you are.
Japan is not simply the setting for your wedding. It is a collaborator in it.
We plan with seasonality, place, pace and ritual in mind, allowing the experience to unfold naturally rather than forcing a formula. There’s room for the traditions you care about, the things you’d like to do differently and the pleasure of being somewhere remarkable together.
The result is a celebration that feels seamless on the surface and meticulously considered beneath it, leaving you free to enjoy what you’ve come all this way for.
Venue sourcing & selection
Finding your place in Japan.
Some couples begin with a place. Others begin with a feeling. Tell us about the places you’re drawn to when you travel, and what makes you want to stay a little longer. We want to understand what draws you in.
Mikaylah and Shon wanted something wild by the ocean, while Nate and Yu imagined a forest fairytale.
For Michelle and Abhi, the ceremony setting began with a different way of seeing a ryokan in Kanagawa. Its long, tree-lined entrance was somewhere guests would ordinarily pass through on their way inside. We imagined what might happen if everyone gathered there instead, with the ceremony taking place within the garden rather than looking out toward it.
Gold chairs lined the path, with sculptural flowers extending among the trees and into the ceremony arch. The landscape itself gave the gathering its shape.
The choice was about more than the view. It changed how the guests experienced the garden and what Michelle would see as she walked toward the ceremony: the people gathered for them, among the trees. The setting retained its own character, while an entrance to the ryokan became a deeply personal arrival for the couple.
When they spoke their vows, their story became part of the ryokan’s history, too. The chairs and flowers would be cleared, and the path would become an entrance again. But for Michelle and Abhi, it would always lead back to the promises they made there.
We explore wedding venues in Japan with the people and the day in mind: the season, the gathering, the way you want it all to unfold. Finding a place is part of it. Seeing what you could do there is where it gets interesting.
Find your place in JapanDesign & creative direction
Give your ideas a life of their own.
The most useful detail in an early conversation can be surprisingly small. A meal you loved. A color you keep coming back to. The wish to hear your friends sing badly, and very enthusiastically, at the end of the night.
We develop the design and bring together the people who can make it happen, considering flowers, food, music, light and the space around them. There is always room for beauty, and also room for a good time.
Ideas & personal details
Guest care
The people you brought with you.
The people you love know different parts of your lives. Bringing them together in Japan gives those separate histories the chance to become something shared.
Your wedding becomes part of a collective history. Japan is no longer only a place the two of you chose, but somewhere that means something to the people you love, because of what you lived there together. That sense of belonging to the same experience is something worth creating with care.
We consider how they arrive at the celebration, where they gather and what helps them feel comfortable once they are there. Wedding-related guest coordination is part of our full planning, from transfers and wedding-related accommodation arrangements to guest schedules and the practical information everyone needs.
Tell us early about mobility needs, children, dietary requirements and the people who may need a little more guidance. We will discuss the arrangements with you and the venue, and make the responsibilities clear.
And for anyone keen to keep exploring, we can introduce you to Awayuki. Their separate, optional travel service helps you and your guests continue the experience beyond the wedding celebrations, with journeys through Japan shaped around what you’d love to see and do.
PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM
The day, and the way you remember it.
Every celebration we plan is also photographed by the 37 Frames creative team. Tracey leads the Creative Team with Photography & Film, working alongside Dee’s planning and production team from the beginning.
For us, planning and storytelling begin together. The decisions we make throughout the planning process shape how you experience the celebration, as well as how it will be photographed and remembered. We want the images to bring you back to the people, the atmosphere and the feeling of being there, not simply show you how everything looked.
We’re thinking about light when we build a timeline, about photography when we position a ceremony and about guest movement when we choose spaces. We’re also thinking about where the day needs room to breathe, rather than simply moving from one scheduled moment to the next. Time to be with your people and enjoy being in Japan matters as much as the photographs you’ll take home.
There is another important layer to this in Japan. Many of the remarkable places where we work are not conventional wedding venues. Photography, access, timing and equipment can come with very particular requirements. Our planning and creative teams explore these together when scouting a location, understanding its possibilities and its boundaries before asking you to imagine your wedding there.
Our relationships with venue teams are built on trust. They know their property will be respected, agreed timings will be followed and the experience of their staff, other guests and community will be considered. Where permissions allow, that trust can also open creative possibilities, including aerial imagery through our licensed drone operator.
Keeping planning and creative direction within one team means those considerations are understood from the beginning. Different crafts, working from the same understanding of you and the personality of the celebration.
We care about the photographs, of course. But first, we care about the life inside them.
Explore photography & film
How planning begins
From a conversation to a celebration.
First, tell us about yourselves, your preferred season or dates, the people you hope to bring and the budget you have in mind. Your plans can still have room for possibilities.
We read every inquiry personally. For couples hoping to work with us, we reply with our Collections and Wedding Planning guides. Once you’ve read them, and if we have availability and our approach suits your plans, we’ll invite you to a complimentary one-hour Zoom. A tailored proposal follows when we’re ready to take the next step together. Once you’ve booked and your planning period begins, we develop the creative and practical plans with you.
The planning fee and the overall wedding budget are different things. We will talk through both, including what is included and which costs are separate.
Understanding the investment“Our communication was great even from the opposite side of the world.”
View reviewer on Google
Good to know
Questions & answers.
Can we plan our wedding without visiting Japan first?
Yes. We’re English-speaking wedding planners based in Tokyo, working with couples from around the world. We develop the ideas together and coordinate with venues and creative teams here in Japan. We help bridge the communication and cultural expectations, so the meaning behind your plans is understood alongside the practical details.
Once you’ve booked planning with us and your planning period is underway, we can also discuss a visit to see the venues we’re considering. Share your Japan travel dates so we can work through the arrangements. It might give us an excuse for a pre-wedding cocktail, too.
What does full-service wedding planning in Japan include?
Our full planning service brings together venue and supplier sourcing, creative direction, budget guidance, timelines, production, wedding-related logistics and coordination through the celebration itself.
That includes considering how your guests move between accommodation, venues and events, as well as how the different creative elements work together. The planning fee covers our professional work. Venue, supplier and other celebration costs are separate, and your proposal makes those distinctions clear.
When should we contact you about our wedding in Japan?
You can book us and reserve your wedding date with our team up to 18 months ahead. Planning begins around a year before your wedding.
We accept a limited number of celebrations, so your first message helps us understand both the practical starting points and what you’re imagining. Tell us about the experience you want to create, not just the date you’re hoping to reserve.
Can you help us find somewhere beyond the usual wedding venues?
Yes. Our search can include familiar favorites, smaller towns and villages, and settings that have not hosted a wedding before. The starting point is whether a place could support the celebration you’re imagining.
We look at how it feels, how your guests would move through it, and what its permissions and practical arrangements allow. We won’t ask you to commit to an unfamiliar property that we have only seen online. Finding somewhere remarkable is only part of the work. Understanding what you can create there matters just as much.
We’ve already booked a venue. Can you still plan our wedding?
Possibly. You don’t need to come to us with a completely blank page. A venue or one or two supplier bookings may already be in place, provided there is still enough of the celebration to develop and manage for us to lead the full planning.
Share what you have booked, any agreements already made and the decisions still ahead. We’ll look at the whole picture before advising whether we can take it forward together.
Do you offer partial planning or wedding-day coordination on its own?
We focus on full wedding planning and do not offer partial planning or standalone wedding-day coordination.
Being involved early allows us to understand the celebration as a whole and take responsibility for how the creative, logistical and production elements come together. Wedding-day coordination is part of that wider service, rather than something booked separately at the end.
How is the planning fee different from the wedding budget?
The planning fee covers our work in planning, creative direction, logistics, production and coordination. It is one part of your overall wedding budget, alongside photography and the costs of the celebration itself: the venue, food and drinks, flowers, accommodation, entertainment, transport and other suppliers.
For weddings, photography and optional film are scoped separately from planning. We quote and plan in Japanese yen. You’re welcome to begin with a budget in your own currency, and we’ll establish a working yen budget together.
Can you plan welcome events and a celebration over several days?
Yes. We can plan the wedding day itself or a celebration that unfolds over several days, including welcome events, farewell brunches and other wedding-related experiences.
We’ll consider how you want to spend that time together and what each event needs. Substantial additional events may require an additional planning scope and fee, which we discuss as the plans develop.
Can we book planning with our own photographer or filmmaker?
Our full planning service works with the 37 Frames Creative Team, rather than alongside outside photography or film teams. Every wedding we plan is photographed by our team, so the experience and the way it is captured are considered together from the beginning.
We offer a choice of photography and film collections, with the option to add a wedding content creator. Together, we’ll find the right combination for your celebration, from the photographs and films you’ll return to over the years to the moments you can’t wait to share.
Do you offer a wedding content creator in Japan?
Yes. You can add a wedding content creator to your 37 Frames celebration, capturing short, vertical videos and edited reels alongside your wedding photography. It brings another perspective to the day, with content made for sharing that complements your photographs and wedding film rather than replacing them.
We’ll talk through the content collections with you and how they could work around your plans. You can enjoy being in the moments you’ll want to share.
Do you plan destination weddings outside Tokyo and Kyoto?
Yes. We’re based in Tokyo and plan weddings across Japan, from Kyoto and Hakone to the Japanese Alps, island settings and smaller towns and villages.
We’ll explore where your ideas could take you, then consider the season, guest travel and what each setting can support. You don’t need to arrive with a shortlist.
Begin your story
What are youimagining?
A place. A feeling. A few ideas.
Start wherever you are.