Tokyo Pre-Wedding Adventure!

Half a year ago today, Lhiza and I did something crazy and had our pre-wedding shoot in Tokyo, Japan!

A culmination of eight months of work which turned out more than what the two of us expected!

After Lhiza and I got engaged, we signed up with Jayson and Jo Anne, of Jayson and Jo Anne Arquiza wedding photographers, and Muriel Vega Perez, hair and makeup extraordinaire. We wanted to do a destination shoot, and were looking for possible countries to do it in.

Japan topped our list, and the Universe conspired with us in January to make it happen! And so together with The Style Avenue we came up with concepts, styling, and plans for our shoot. It was a lot of work!

Two and a half years into our relationship Lhiza and I went to Tagaytay and figured out the next few years. We were to get married five years into our relationship, and came up with a list of places we wanted to get married. I told her that I would propose a year before the wedding, which annoyed her but made it easier to plan things out.

I made up by doing it a year earlier, on our third year anniversary. Why wait?

And so here are 24 shots of our Tokyo, Japan Pre-Wedding adventure! 24 shots for the 24 months between our engagement and wedding. It was an amazing experience.

Our eternal gratitude to Jayson and Jo Anne and to Muriel and The Style Avenue for being there to make this happen. We would wake up before sunrise (well, OK I would wake up a few hours after everyone else) and finish close to midnight everyday for three days straight. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and Lhiza and I couldn’t have thought of anyone else to be there with us!

Our first stop was Shibuya, as we got to our hotel late in the afternoon but still wanted to make the most of the day.

Shibuya crossing is iconic, but getting this shot took a lot of time and effort. It does show Lhiza and I as we figure out things as we go along, together.

Lhiza loves drinking coffee, and we mostly met at Starbucks when we were starting out. It was just right to have a shot at this store, which overlooked Shibuya crossing.

We figured that we should have a shot wearing kimono since we were in Japan. Lhiza found a place where we can rent in Asakusa. Lhiza’s kimono looks amazing on her!

This is us in the streets around Asakusa Temple after chaging into our kimonos. Day 2 of our shoot!

We were supposed to go to some park after getting our kimonos, but Asakusa turned out to be such a lovely place that we decided to stay.

This is Lhiza, with a Japanese umbrella she just got, in the middle of the long street heading to the temple.

This is us, hogging the road to Asakusa temple. A lot of tourists actually stopped and took pictures of us. The bags came with the kimonos that we rented.

That is a giant shoe above our heads. Yes.

A shot of the engagement ring I gave Lhiza last year. I believe this place is where people read their fortune.

What Lhiza got. I remember this to read something good.

Lhiza, playing with her umbrella. I thought it worked well with her kimono.

We had to have a romantic shot while in kimonos.

Lhiza prepared that 11–07–15 sign, with some of her officemates helping to make it. We found this nice spot after having lunch around Asakusa.

Last year Lhiza and I chanced upon this nice bookstore named Tsutaya in Roppongi Hills, so we had to have a shot in it. Lhiza also wanted to buy Murakami’s latest book with special stickers and Tsutaya had them!

We asked the staff at Tsutaya if we could have our pictures taken around the bookstore and they agreed as they were for personal use. They even had one of their staff accompany us as was very helpful the entire shoot!

This is my only solo shot in this set. I also got that book but have barely read it.

I seem to be discussing something with Lhiza.

Story of my life.

There was this nice cafe near where we stayed, and Lhiza was adamant that we have breakfast there and have a shoot. We ended up having brunch on Day 3 as leaving early was hard.

The staff at Cafe Exelsior were very nice to allow us to shoot. I guess you just have to ask nicely and let them know your intentions. Surprisingly, the Japanese didn’t seem to care as we were shooting around.

Our next stop was Tokyo Tower. We got out of the wrong station though, so we had to walk quite a bit. We saw this small bridge near the park and we had to take a shot.

Tokyo Tower is just iconic. We found this nice empty area with a great view of the Tower. Lhiza looks like a woman on a mission with me letting her go at it, which is what happens most of the time.

We headed to Odaiba after Tokyo Tower. We wanted a shot with the Rainbow Bridge (which unfortunately did not show its rainbow colors this time of the year). This is us walking to the seaside. I always look serious.

There was still a bit of time before sunset, so we waited it out.

Isn’t she lovely ❤

As the sky turns magical.

I realized that everything is going to be fine because I am with you. I always looked for things that made sense and this made perfect sense.

Last shoot of our 3-day pre-wedding adventure! This was an intense trip, much more than what Lhiza and I are used to, and we would like to thank our friends Jayson and Jo Anne Arquiza for the pictures and to Muriel Vega Perez for making Lhiza (and myself) beautiful!

Less than 8 months to go!

Originally published at ealdenandlhiza.tumblr.com.