In 2008, we took our first overseas trip together, to Japan. We decided to return ten years later to tie the knot. While we used to love big metropolises, we’d somehow grown out of them. Yet Tokyo will always be special to us. We loved the food, culture, our friends, and sake. (Jean is a sake fanatic.) This time, we avoid the touristy areas—we’d already visited in the past, and we were after a different, more authentic experience.

We wanted to enjoy the simple things, the kinds of things the locals would do, and at a much slower pace. The idea was to savour the experience—both of our travels and our new engagement. Looking back, that trip gave us some of our most precious experiences together.