AILÉA — Couple Portrait, Kyoto
Kimono Portrait
Dress Portrait
Concept Portrait
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A bridal kimono, in Kyoto. A dress. A world of your own. However the two of you want to be remembered.
AILÉA (eh-LEH-ah) is a kimono photoshoot studio in Kyoto. Our Kimono Portrait puts you in a real Japanese bridal kimono — an uchikake or hikifurisode — with professional dressing, hair and make-up included. It works as a relaxed pre-wedding photoshoot, or as no occasion at all. Dress and Concept styles are here too.
Three and a half hours, start to finish — it fits between the temples and the rest of your day. The studio is a few minutes from Heian Shrine, indoors, and everything is here, so there is nothing to carry and nothing to collect afterwards.
The name AILÉA comes from aile, the French word for wing.
So that the days that matter to the two of you take flight a little more freely.
AILÉA is the couple-portrait brand of Look Make Lab Esperanto Kyoto, one of the studios of the Kyoto Kokoro Group, which has been photographing visitors in Kyoto since 2006.
Wearing a Japanese bridal kimono is something most people only get to do once — if at all. Here it takes three and a half hours: you choose the garment, we dress you, style your hair and make-up, and photograph you indoors. The getting-ready is part of the day, not a queue before it.
Many couples come on honeymoon or while travelling, some already married for years, some with no plans at all. If you have already had wedding photographs taken at home, this is an easy second look to add in Kyoto. Most people slot it into one day of a longer trip through Japan, and leave with something more lasting than the photographs on their phones.
The uchikake, a long outer robe worn over the kimono, and the hikifurisode, with its trailing hem, are the garments a Japanese bride wears. Dressing you takes a trained kitsuke stylist and the better part of an hour — which is why this is something you do in Japan, in a studio, rather than rent and manage yourself. We keep the formality intact, and bring the colour and framing up to date (Premium plan).
If a bridal kimono is more than you want, there is the lighter side of the wardrobe: komon and furisode, and antique pieces from the Taishō era. Hair, make-up, accessories and dressing are included either way, and our built sets — a gold-screen drawing room with a round window among them — are made for kimono. About three and a half hours, start to finish, which fits into a day of sightseeing without taking it over.
See Kimono Portrait
A wedding is not the only reason to wear a dress. Soft light, quiet framing, plenty of space around you — no veil and no bouquet, because the light and the framing are doing the work instead.
For an anniversary, an engagement, or a photograph to send home. Premium dresses are available on the Premium plan.
See Dress Portrait
For couples who want something other than a standard bridal shoot. Costume, set and lighting are chosen together — Taishō-era romance, cinematic, classical; a neon back alley, an antique Western room, white pillars in a green garden.
Shadow, distance and timing are composed as carefully as the costume. We direct you through it — where to stand, where to look — and build the frame as a single picture. It is closer to making a piece of work than to being photographed.
See Concept Portrait
Hair and make-up for women are included in both plans, finished on the day to suit your garment and set, and styled to look current rather than traditionally bridal. For kimono, professional dressing (kitsuke) is included as well.
Korean make-up can be added to any style. Our team includes a stylist trained at a Korean make-up school and certified as a make-up director, and that technique is shared across the team — dewy skin and a flush of colour, the way it looks in a Seoul studio.
Hair & make-up included in every plan / Korean make-up is a paid option, ¥5,500 tax incl., available with any style / Men's hair and make-up are paid options too
About Korean make-upCostume, kimono dressing, hair and make-up, the studio shoot and your retouched images — one price, nothing to add on the day. Standard is for dates, anniversaries and travel; Premium is for premium dresses and bridal kimono (hikifurisode, uchikake).
A private indoor studio, so your shoot goes ahead whatever the weather. English support is available: our team uses simple English and translation tools where needed, and guides you through the poses by showing them.
Booking starts with a date and a style. If nothing is decided yet, write to us — a question about what suits you is enough.
