A bride in a white dress among moss-covered stone lanterns in Nara, a wild deer beside her

Destination weddings in Japan

A Western wedding in Japan, planned end to end.

Bilingual planners based in Tokyo, for couples from the US and Australia. Venue, vendors and guests handled, so the distance is our problem, not yours.

Wedding planning from $7,500 USD · Free 30-minute call

Every vendor, every guest, every conversation.

A wedding has a hundred moving parts, and in Japan they all speak Japanese. This is the work that separates a wedding from an elopement, and it is all ours.

01Venue sourcing & negotiation

Temple gardens, hotel ballrooms, rooftops, ryokan. We shortlist, visit, hold dates and contract, in Japanese.

02Ceremony design

Western vows at the centre, in a setting you could not get anywhere else. Traditional elements only if you want them, exactly where you choose.

03Guest logistics

Hotel blocks, transport between venues, and day-of guidance for overseas guests. Your family lands soft.

04The vendor team

Photo, video, florals, hair and makeup, catering, music. Vetted people, contracted and fully briefed. We handle every vendor.

05Timeline & day-of coordination

A minute-by-minute run sheet and us on site running it. You are managing nothing on the day.

06Every conversation in Japanese

Quotes, contracts, changes and on-the-day instructions all run through us. You deal with us in English.

A couple dancing in silhouette against a dusk sky at their wedding in Japan

The vows, the speeches, the first dance. In a place none of you will ever forget.

Japan wedding packages, sized by scope.

Three starting points, not three boxes. Every wedding is planned from scratch around your guest list and your city. The planning fee is ours; venue and vendor costs are passed through and itemised, so you see every line.

Intimate

You two and up to ten guests

One venue, a ceremony and a long celebratory meal. A machiya garden in Kyoto, a private dining room in Tokyo, a lakeside terrace in Hakone.

  • Venue sourcing, negotiation and booking
  • Ceremony design and celebrant
  • Photographer, florals, hair and makeup
  • Day-of coordination and translation

Planning from $7,500 USD

Small

Ten to thirty guests, one city

A ceremony and a proper reception: dinner, speeches, music and dancing, with your guests' hotels and transport handled.

  • Everything in Intimate
  • Reception venue and catering
  • Guest hotels and transport
  • Full vendor team, sourced and briefed

Planning quoted after the first call

Full

Thirty guests and up, one city or several

The complete destination wedding, up to a multi-city celebration: a Kyoto ceremony, then a Tokyo reception.

  • Everything in Small
  • Multi-city logistics and travel
  • Welcome dinner and rehearsal
  • A run sheet for every day guests are with you

Planning quoted after the first call

In every package the planning fee covers our work. Venue and vendors are quoted separately at cost, line by line, and you approve each one. No markups hidden inside a bundle.

Kyoto temples, Tokyo rooftops, Fuji views.

We match the place to your vision. These are the four we plan most, and if you have somewhere else in mind, tell us and we'll find out whether it can be done.

Kyoto at dusk, a destination for a wedding in Japan

Kyoto

Temple gardens, moss and machiya courtyards. For a ceremony that feels centuries deep.

The Tokyo skyline at night, a destination for a wedding in Japan

Tokyo

Rooftops, hotel ballrooms and quiet city shrines. The easiest logistics for a big guest list.

Mount Fuji reflected in a still lake at dawn

Hakone & Mt Fuji

Lake and mountain views an hour from Tokyo. For vows with Fuji behind them.

The Japanese Alps, a destination for a wedding in Japan

The Japanese Alps

Takayama and Kamikochi. Cedar forest, alpine light and privacy for a multi-day celebration.

Four steps, one point of contact.

1

A 30-minute call

Tell us the day you are imagining, roughly when, and how many guests. We'll say plainly whether we're the right fit.

2

Vision and scope

We turn the call into a shape: city, venue style, guest count, and what the day needs to include.

3

An itemised proposal

At a second call: venue options with real availability, a vendor team, and a real number, line by line. Nothing is booked until you've seen it.

4

We run it

Every vendor, every timeline, every conversation in Japanese. You show up and get married.

Real weddings, planned from Tokyo.

Every frame below is from a wedding we planned and ran. There are more in our portfolio.

Guests raising their glasses for a toast at a wedding reception
The toasts, at a black-tie reception in Tokyo
A couple dancing beneath hanging wisteria at their wedding reception
The first dance, beneath hanging wisteria
A full wedding party gathered outside a shrine in Tokyo
A full guest list, gathered at a Tokyo shrine

“They made planning a wedding 8,000 km away feel effortless. Worth every dollar.”

Kevin & Mako · Tokyo 2026

What a wedding in Japan costs.

Two numbers matter: our planning fee, and what the day itself costs. The fee is fixed up front. The day is quoted line by line, because a thirty-guest dinner in Kyoto and a hundred guests across two cities are not the same wedding.

Wedding planning from

$7,500 USD

Our fee for planning and coordinating your wedding. Venue and vendors are quoted separately, so you see every line. Elopement planning starts at $5,000.

  • Venue sourcing, negotiation and booking
  • Full vendor team, sourced and briefed
  • Guest logistics: hotels, transport, day-of guidance
  • Every conversation handled in Japanese
  • On-the-day coordination and translation
Book your free consultation

What couples spend all in

Planning fee, venue and vendors together. Real ranges from the weddings we see, so you can size the whole thing before the first call:

  • Intimate, up to ten guests$15,000 to $25,000
  • Small, ten to thirty guests$20,000 to $45,000
  • Full, thirty guests and up$40,000 to $80,000 and beyond

Where you land inside a range is driven by guest count, venue type, city and season. Peak dates (cherry blossom and autumn colour) carry premiums; weekdays and quieter months cost meaningfully less.

Your real, itemised number comes at the second call, after we know your guest list and your city. For a deeper breakdown first, read our guide to destination wedding costs in Japan.

The things everyone asks first.

How far ahead should we book?

Twelve to fourteen months is comfortable for a wedding with guests, and it keeps the best venues on the table. Cherry blossom season (late March to early April) and autumn colour (October to November) book out furthest ahead. We have run tighter timelines when dates were fixed, so ask even if you think you're late.

Will our guests really travel to Japan for this?

Yes, and in our experience couples worry about this far more than their guests do. Japan is a trip people want an excuse to take. Direct flights run from the US and Australia, and we handle hotels, transport and day-of guidance once they land, so all your guests book is the flight. Most treat the wedding as the anchor of a longer holiday.

Will language be a problem on the day?

No. That is most of what you are hiring us for. Every vendor is contracted and briefed by us in Japanese, and we are on site on the day, so the ceremony, the speeches and everything your guests hear runs in English while the machinery behind it runs in Japanese.

When is the best time of year?

Almost any season makes a case for itself. Spring means cherry blossom (late March to early April) and a country in celebration; it books out earliest at a premium. Autumn (October to November) is the one we recommend most: crimson maples, warm days and the year's most reliable skies. Winter is underrated, with crisp light, quiet temples, snow in the mountains and the best value of the year. May and early June bring fresh green everywhere before the rains. The honest exception is high summer: July and August are brutally hot and humid, hard on anyone in formalwear, and unless it is truly your only window we will steer you to a different month.

Is the ceremony legally binding?

The ceremony in Japan is symbolic, and that is by design. Couples register the legal marriage at home, usually a short appointment before or after the trip, and treat the day in Japan as the wedding. It keeps the day entirely yours and free of bureaucracy.

We're not sure our budget works. Should we still book a call?

Yes. The call is free and there is no budget gate on it. Tell us your number and we will say plainly what it can do in Japan, and where we would put it. Some of the best days we have planned were built to a firm budget.

What if we'd rather keep it to just the two of us?

Then you want our elopement page, where planning starts at $5,000. We also plan the Shinto shrine ceremony at working Kyoto shrines, described here.

Tell us the wedding you have in mind.

Thirty minutes, no obligation. You'll come away knowing what a wedding in Japan actually involves, whether or not you plan it with us.

Book your free consultation

Bilingual planners based in Tokyo · For couples from the US and Australia