Sayako and Adam’s September 2024 wedding at the Barbican in London was a celebration of minimalist elegance and botanical beauty.
Surrounded by lush greenery and the urban backdrop of one of London’s most iconic venues, the couple created a modern, nature-inspired day that perfectly reflected their style and values. Sayako, wearing a Lana Grace wedding dress, embraced the simplicity of her surroundings with dried florals and thoughtful, understated, details that were budget friendly, but looked anything but. With a focus on their guests and personal touches, their wedding was a true reflection of who they are as a couple – minimalist, modern, and deeply connected to nature.
We’re thrilled that Sayako discovered her photographers, The Kensington Photographer, through Love My Dress – we love this talented team’s work and recommend them most highly.
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Venue & Location
Our venue was the Barbican Conservatory in the heart of London. As new residents of London, we knew we wanted to have our wedding in our new home. I had always envisioned an outdoor wedding, but with the unpredictable weather here, we decided to explore botanical gardens instead—and fell in love!
Hiring the Barbican as our venue came with a wedding coordinator, Tomas, who was absolutely brilliant from start to finish. His attention to detail and thoughtful consideration of our needs made him the perfect person to coordinate both the day itself and the lead-up to it.
The Dress
Lana Grace
My dress was designed by Lana Grace, a Ukrainian bridal brand.
I purchased my dress from White Canvas Bridal, where sample gowns are sold at lower prices. The selection was fantastic for the price point, though most dresses required alterations since it’s a sample dress shop.
The woman running the shop was incredibly helpful, recommending styles and accommodating my indecisiveness by offering plenty of advice and giving me extra time to decide.
The only downside is that they don’t reserve or hold dresses of interest, and there was a bit of applied pressure to make a decision. In the end, I felt nervous about losing the dress, so I returned a few hours later to buy it (no regrets though—I absolutely love it!).
The style I ended up choosing was sleeker and slimmer than what I originally had in mind, but I absolutely loved it—I wanted to feel like a goddess for once, and my dress truly made me feel that way! My favourite details were the two shoulder veils, the leaf-lace design, and how it gave me a slightly curvier silhouette.
Adam opted for an off-white linen suit, a white collared shirt without a tie, and sand-coloured suede loafers. I loved his laid-back yet classy look!
My Lana Grace Bridal dress originally came with shoulder veils adorned with beautiful leaf-lace appliqué. However, I had always envisioned lace adorned sleeves, so, since the veils were plenty long, I had the lace transformed into long sleeves, while the remaining tulle stayed as shoulder veils.
I wore Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka perfume because my husband and I chose it together for my birthday one year, back when we lived in Tokyo.
I dried some gypsophila flowers and had them placed into my pulled-back, wispy boho braid. I made sure to dry two bouquets worth – three weeks before my bridal preview – so that I had plenty to work with before and on the wedding day. I ended up having enough for my bridesmaids to use as well!
Carla Viljoen did a brilliant job of helping me achieve the wispy, elegant look I had always envisioned, while also accommodating my large bridal party (six bridesmaids, one bridesman, plus my mum).
The Ceremony
I walked down the aisle with both of my parents, as they both raised me and I could never choose between them. For my entrance song, we chose the version of ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ sung by Kina Grannis, as featured in Crazy Rich Asians. Once I saw that wedding scene, it was all I could envision for our wedding.
Despite having no practice with the wedding party, the timing was impeccable—I ended up walking down the aisle during the moment toward the end of the song where her voice echoes on its own. Just like it was in the movie. The room fell completely silent, my parents and I were sobbing, and I had to pinch myself.
Since I am half American, we had our entire wedding party stand at the front with us, in true American wedding style. This also saved space for more guests to be seated, as we had limited seating, and it made standing in front of everyone feel less intimidating.
Our good friend and one of my bridesmaids, Nina, officiated the ceremony. She was a wonderful choice, well-spoken, knows us both so well, and full of heart. The ceremony she conducted reflected all of this and added irreplaceable value to the day!
We wrote our own vows and took turns reading them out to one another in the ceremony. Below is the second half of my vows that I feel best communicates my love for my husband;
“I promise to bask in the sunshine-filled days with you, to hold your hand through every storm, and to find joy in the quiet, mundane moments, where the true essence of our love shines through—soft, safe, and steadfast.
I vow to remember that at the core of our love is our deep friendship, our understanding of each other’s souls, and our unwavering support for every version that we have been and will become, together as a unit but also as independent individuals.?
“My heart is aflutter for you, my mind always considers you, and my adoration for you is immeasurable. If there is one thing I know for certain in my life, it is that I will always love you, forever and then some.”
We had picked one groomsman and bridesmaid to do a reading each. My bridesmaid’s reading was impressive and moving, full of intellect. The groomsman’s lovely reading was ‘Love Like A River’, by Whitney Hanson.
We walked back down at the end of the ceremony to ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire—a favourite of ours that was on my Tinder profile when we matched seven years ago (plus, it was a September wedding!).
My ring was purchased at Jewelry Tsutsumi in Tokyo, just before our ‘first’ wedding with our immediate family. Adam waited a bit longer for his, as he wanted a custom ring by Castro Smith, a hand engraver and jeweller in London.
The design represents my Japanese family crest (a crane), with feathers wrapping around the outside and a crane’s head and wings engraved on the inside.
Photography
We chose The Kensington Photographer. Adam and I were quite particular about this choice, as we are both interested in photography ourselves. We wanted someone who could capture the day in an emotive, natural, and romantic way without breaking the bank.
I found The Kensington Photographer through Love My Dress – but we booked the venue two years ahead of time and then the photographer shortly after that.
Our photographer on the day, Mick, was incredibly friendly and easy to work with, often quietly moving behind the scenes, leaving everyone and everything undisturbed and natural. The communication, photography turnaround period, and quality of the images were all fantastic, and we are thrilled with our decision to hire them.
Our videographer was the incredibly talented Richard Leng of RL Films Co. As a huge fan of cinema, I knew I wanted our wedding video to feel like a short film masterpiece. Richard’s sharp eye for storytelling and cinematography made him the perfect choice, and we are eagerly anticipating the final film in a few weeks.
How They Met
We were technically already married before the wedding day! I’m Japanese and American, and my husband is English, so although we always planned to get married, we realised that tying the knot before moving from Tokyo to the UK would make things easier, visa-wise. So, in March 2023, we had an intimate ceremony in Tokyo with our parents, siblings, and my maternal grandmother.
It was also the perfect excuse to finally get my in-laws to make the long trip to Japan, and we had a wonderful time showing them around the place we called home for six years.
Before our life in Tokyo, Adam and I lived very separate lives in the UK and USA. Nearly seven years ago, we met while I was finishing my studies, and Adam was in the States on business. We met on Tinder, so neither of us had high expectations—we both thought it would just be a fun fling with someone from a different country.
Instead, what turned out to be Adam’s first-ever Tinder date lasted 72 hours! After keeping in touch for a few months, we decided to give long-distance a try, and two years later, we started our life together in Japan. Now, we’re finally settling down and laying roots in the diverse and open-minded city of London, where we hope to eventually raise children.
The Reception
We wanted the day to truly reflect who we are as individuals and as a couple. Our tables were named after cities we’ve visited together (we sat at ‘Pittsburgh,’ where we first met).
The venue was in the city where we’re putting down roots, allowing us to introduce it to family and friends from outside the UK.
Décor was kept to a minimum, and the small amount we did was all DIY with my mother-in-law. We sourced pieces from charity shops, IKEA, and a local flower shop.
We also hung photos of Adam and me as children, along with wedding photos of our parents and grandparents, in the bathrooms as a ‘hidden gem’ for guests to discover.
Lighting in the garden and reception space was set up by the Barbican. We chose the colour pairing we liked among their choices, which was blue and purple – making for a nice party vibe at the end of the day.
I DIY’d all of my flowers with my mother-in-law, sourcing them from a local garden shop near Reading. As the venue is a botanical garden with strict rules about which plants are allowed, we opted for dried flowers in white and beige, matching our overall colour scheme for the wedding party.
We made six mini bouquets for my bridesmaids, one buttonhole for my bridesman, one bridal bouquet for myself – plus a few extra bouquets to use as table centrepieces (the bridesmaid bouquets were also repurposed as table centres). The flowers cost around £300, and many bouquets are still with us as decoration in our homes.
We decided not to have cake as we aren’t huge fans of cake, and often heard stories about it not being eaten. We redirected the funds for this to our evening comfort food, which was a huge hit with guests.
Our venue provided catering as part of the booking, with the food prepared by their in-house restaurant and team, Searcy’s.
Since my husband has graphic design background, he designed all the stationery, plus our website!
Since my family from Japan doesn’t speak English, we incorporated some Japanese into our speeches (even the Best Man, who’s from the UK, kindly included this without us asking).
We also provided them with printed translations of the order of events, menu, ceremony, readings, and speeches, so they could fully understand and participate in the day.
Evening & Dancing
Our dear friend and master on the decks, Daryl, DJ’d for us!
We chose ‘Omoide’ by Tsunekichi Suzuki, the theme song from the show ‘Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories’ for our first dance. We watched it online together when we were in a long-distance relationship, dreaming of the day we’d live in Tokyo together.
The entire day was so full of joy and love that it’s difficult to choose a single highlight. Half of our wedding guests flew in from abroad, representing seven countries in total, which left us in awe. Having moved frequently growing up, with family and friends spread far and wide, it’s often hard to reunite. I had always dreamt of having loved ones under one roof for once, and the wedding fulfilled just that. It was magical. The love in the room was palpable, and I felt like I was living in the happily-ever-after scene of a 2000s rom-com.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
There were a few things we overthought leading up to the wedding, but the actual day turned out better than we could have imagined (especially as we expected things to go wrong—it’s a wedding, after all!). There were a couple of hiccups with timings, but nothing worth worrying about. The only thing I wish I’d done differently was not worry so much about everything going perfectly! No one really pays attention to the small details as much as you think.
It’s nearly impossible to be fully present on the day due to how much of a whirlwind it is, but taking a few moments for myself (and ourselves!) every couple of hours really helped.
Whether it was journaling in the morning, taking a few deep breaths throughout the day, looking in the mirror and expressing my gratitude or excitement, checking in with my bridal party, or sharing a hug with my husband, these moments helped me stay grounded and calm. I also don’t drink (though I don’t mind those who do), and I felt that this made my experience particularly special and fulfilling because I was able to embrace every moment authentically and fully.
