Ben Jacoby had been to Japan once. Ariella had never been.Yet when it came time to choose a setting for their wedding, the California couple bypassed more familiar destinations and flew across the Pacific.

In the spring of 2023, they exchanged vows beneath a chuppah near Lake Kawaguchi, with Mount Fuji rising behind them.They planned the entire Orthodox Jewish ceremony themselves in under three months, securing a rabbi and incorporating many of the traditions they would have observed back home.