Elopement

Who it suits. An elopement here means the two of you, perhaps a few guests, and a vow somewhere quiet, rather than a wedding with a venue package. We photograph it; we do not organise ceremonies or handle the legal side. The vow can be in a garden, on a lakeshore, in a ryokan or in a small chapel, and away from shrines and chapels it needs little more than the landowner’s permission.

The legal side. In Japan the ceremony itself does not marry you; registration at a municipal office does. Foreign couples can register there, usually with a certificate of legal capacity to marry or an equivalent document from each partner’s embassy, plus a translated passport and birth record. Whether the marriage is then recognised at home depends on your country’s rules, so check with your embassy before you plan the trip around it. Most couples marry legally at home, before or after, which frees the day itself.

Kyoto. The vow can take place in the small courtyard garden of a machiya townhouse rented for the night, with only the two of you and a celebrant or a friend, and portraits in the tatami rooms afterwards; or at a shrine that accepts foreign couples by application. Allow four to six months for a shrine application, and two to three for a machiya in spring or autumn, when rentals fill.

Hakone and Okinawa. Hakone suits couples who want the vow private and the portraits recognisably Japanese: a ryokan garden with the owner’s agreement or a hotel terrace above Lake Ashi for the vow, then the lake and the cedar-lined Old Tokaido avenue with extra hours. Okinawa is Japan’s main resort-wedding destination, and sea-view chapels on the Onna coast come with their own coordinator and a beach a few steps away; Cape Manzamo’s clifftop, a short drive on, faces west for sunset but has opening hours that can end near it.

Shinto ceremonies. Some shrines hold Shinto ceremonies (shinzen-shiki) for foreign couples, usually booked through a wedding planner, with dates, dress codes and photography rules set by the shrine. Photography inside the main hall during the rite is often restricted or not allowed. We follow the shrine’s instructions and photograph the procession and portraits outside.

Planning the coverage. Decide by what you want to remember. The base 30 minutes covers the vow and the portraits straight after. One extra hour ($150) adds getting ready — the dress, the cufflinks, letters if you have written them, a parent on a video call. A second adds a portrait walk somewhere else: the Kamo River or the Philosopher’s Path in Kyoto, Lake Ashi in Hakone, sunset at Cape Manzamo. Morning vows keep portrait locations quiet; mid-afternoon ones run the portraits into warmer light.

Weather. A vow is harder to move than a portrait session, so the fallback matters. A machiya or a ryokan gives an indoor alternative under the same roof; a beach vow in Okinawa needs a spare day in the July to October typhoon season; and during the June to mid-July rainy season a covered veranda or the chapel itself is worth holding in reserve.

What is included. You receive 15 edited photos in a private online gallery within 10 days. Venue, ceremony and rental fees are paid to those providers; hair and makeup is $100. If the vow is on private land outside a city centre, aerial photos may be possible with the drone add-on ($235), subject to MLIT rules.