Okinawa Wedding | Julia & Drew | Eloping in Okinawa, Japan

To many women, we dream of our wedding day. The perfect man, the perfect ring, the white wedding dress, a gorgeous bouquet. Surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones. You imagine walking down the aisle towards your future husband and the life you’re about to embark on. But for some, that doesn’t happen. Sometimes, life and the military has other plans. And that’s what happened to Julia & Drew when he got orders to Okinawa. While Drew was working overseas and with Julia in bed in Michigan, they got married by double proxy. As a military wife, life can be rough. We give up our jobs state side, our friends and families back home, and make the rough transition across the world for our significant other. And sometimes we have to give up our wedding day too. But what if you could recreate aspects of your wedding day in Okinawa, Japan?

Julia never got to wear her wedding dress. It was placed away in its dress garment bag for two years. When Julia reached out to me I had been following her on social media for a bit and I remembered seeing a post that she would be visiting her family and bringing her wedding dress back to Okinawa. Being a wedding photographer, my mind started brainstorming. I didn’t know her entire back story and I didn’t want to step on any toes but when we met up to talk about what she envisioned for her couples session I asked if she wanted to wear her wedding dress.

I’m so glad I got her thinking of her session in a different way because what she came up with for her session was everything any bride would want for her wedding day! Although her friends and family may not have been there physically I know they were there in spirit. And what’s even more is Julia’s pups, Sabra and Chatzy were also there with the cutest garlands ever!

As always, island weather is very unpredictable. The day of their session it was gloomy and sprinkling off and on. When we arrived at our location there was some event being held and being videotaped. The tides weren’t low enough to even use the location we had decided on and the weather there was very cloudy and windy.

So we moved on to a nearby location. And as we were heading there the clouds parted and the skies were perfect for a session! Okinawa was totally showing off for these two after all of the weird weather we had the week prior. I had never seen the water so blue! Julia made the prettiest bride and we had the best sunset! Drew looked great in his military uniform. Sabra had the zoomies during their session and Chatzy was being the cutest little old lady.

The day wouldn’t have been possible without our friend, Kellie, who was a huge help! She was the best honorary maid, helping with Julia’s dress, holding the veil and bouquet, helping out with the pups and being awesome taking behind the scenes pictures too!

Julia had the best vendors helping her out the day of her session. Big thanks to them below! If you are planning your own couples session or wedding day in Okinawa definitely check them out! Kristen’s hair and makeup holds up to all kinds of weather here in Okinawa, and the day of our session was windy and the style Julia chose was perfect for windy weather! And I was so impressed with Oki Flower Drops tropical bridal bouquet and garlands they made for Julia!

Hair and Makeup: Beauty by Kristen

Flowers: Oki Flower Drop

Dress: Sarah Seven

Enjoy the pictures below! I say this every time but this is one of my favorite sessions of 2019!