Booking Terms

These Booking Terms explain how booking, payment, cancellation and delivery work for every ILUMINI shoot. Please read them before you pay your retainer. The legal details, including our Commercial Disclosure, are in the Fine Print section at the bottom of this page.

1. Your booking

Your booking is confirmed when you accept these terms and pay your retainer. By doing so, you agree to these Booking Terms.

2. Payments

Tokyo Portrait Sessions: 50% retainer at booking; the remaining 50% is due 2 weeks before your shoot. Signature Pre-Wedding & Engagement Stories: 30% retainer at booking, 30% due 90 days before your shoot, and the remaining 40% due 2 weeks before your shoot day. If you book within 90 days of your shoot, the first two payments are combined at booking. Clients living in Japan may pay in Japanese yen. All other clients pay in USD.

3. If you cancel

Cancellation charges are a percentage of your total package price.

Tokyo Portrait Sessions

Signature Pre-Wedding & Engagement Stories

Anything you've paid above the charge is refunded.

These charges reflect the bookings we turn away for your date, the planning work already done, and the lower chance of rebooking as your date gets closer. If we manage to rebook your date with another client, we'll refund the difference between your charge and our actual costs.

Please tell us in writing (email is fine) if you need to cancel. The date we receive your message is your cancellation date.

4. Circumstances beyond anyone's control

If your shoot can't go ahead because of circumstances beyond anyone's control, such as severe weather, a natural disaster, or a serious emergency, we'll move it to a new date within 12 months at no charge, subject to availability. Each booking can be rescheduled once. Your payments carry over and your price stays the same. If a second event beyond anyone's control affects your new date, or we can't agree on a workable new date, we'll refund what you've paid, minus documented costs we've already spent on your booking (such as permit or vendor fees), with receipts. For weather, we'll decide together with you no later than 24 hours before your shoot. Light rain alone isn't a reason to reschedule.

Changing your date

You can move your shoot to a new date once, within 12 months of the original date, subject to availability. Your price stays the same and your payments carry over. Signature packages: free if you ask 90 or more days before your shoot, $200 if you ask 89 to 15 days before. Tokyo Portrait Sessions: free if you ask 30 or more days before, $75 if you ask 29 to 15 days before. A date change requested within 14 days of your shoot is treated as a cancellation under Section 3. This is separate from rescheduling for circumstances beyond anyone's control (Section 4).

5. If we cancel

If ILUMINI can't photograph your session, we'll offer you an equally qualified replacement photographer for your approval. If you'd prefer not to accept, or if we cancel for any reason other than circumstances beyond anyone's control, we'll refund every payment in full, including your retainer.

6. No 14-day cooling-off period

Your shoot is a leisure service booked for a specific date, so the statutory 14-day cancellation right that applies to some online purchases doesn't apply. Section 3 above sets out your cancellation options.

7. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Japan, and the Tokyo District Court has jurisdiction. This doesn't affect any consumer protection that applies to you by law and cannot be excluded.

8. Your photos: copyright and usage

ILUMINI keeps the copyright to all photos and videos. You receive a personal-use license, so you can print, share, and post your images for personal, non-commercial purposes, including on social media (we appreciate a credit to ILUMINI). Commercial use, such as selling images, advertising, or submitting them to contests or publications, needs our written permission.

9. Portfolio and social media use

We may use selected images from your session in our portfolio, on our website, on social media, and in our marketing. If you'd prefer to keep your photos private, tell us before your shoot and we won't share them publicly.

10. Image selection and editing

We choose and edit your final images in ILUMINI's signature style. The number of edited photos listed for each package is a guaranteed minimum. Unedited (RAW) files aren't delivered.

11. Delivery and gallery access

Your full edited gallery is delivered within 2 to 3 weeks depending on the season, and never later than 3 weeks after your shoot. Rush delivery within 1 week is available for an extra fee. Your online gallery stays available for 12 months from delivery. Please download and back up your photos during that time; after it ends, we can't guarantee we'll still have your files.

12. Time, lateness, and overtime

Your shoot starts and ends at the booked times. If you arrive late, we'll make the most of the time left, but the session will still end on schedule. If you'd like to extend on the day and our schedule allows, overtime is charged in 30-minute blocks: $250 per 30 minutes for Signature packages and $150 per 30 minutes for Tokyo Portrait Sessions. Tokyo Portrait Sessions can be extended by up to 1 hour (up to $300); for longer, please ask us.

13. Locations and permits

We arrange permits where needed. Permit fees are included in Signature packages but not in Tokyo Portrait Sessions. If a venue, landowner, or the police stop or limit photography on the day, we'll move to a suitable nearby location. That isn't a cancellation by us and doesn't entitle you to a refund.

14. Third-party services

Hair and makeup artists, florists, kimono and dress rental shops, and other vendors we arrange for you are independent businesses. We choose them carefully, but they're responsible for their own services. If you'd like kimono or dress rental, or anything else arranged, just ask us.

15. Conduct and safety

We may end a shoot early if anyone behaves in a way that's unsafe, abusive, or illegal. In that case, no refund applies for the remaining time.

16. Limit of liability

In the rare event that images are lost or damaged because of equipment failure, data corruption, or other circumstances beyond our reasonable control, our total liability is limited to the amount you've paid us. This limit doesn't apply where loss is caused by our intent or gross negligence.

17. Privacy

We use your personal information only to plan and deliver your booking and to communicate with you, in line with Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information and, for clients in the EU and UK, the GDPR. See our Privacy Policy for details.

18. Changes to your booking

You can upgrade your package at any time, subject to availability. If you change to a lower-priced package, the price difference is treated as a cancellation under Section 3.

19. Entire agreement

These Booking Terms and your booking confirmation make up the full agreement between you and ILUMINI. They replace any earlier quotes, messages, or discussions.

Booking FAQ

(The more legal-style questions from v2's new FAQ entries, kept word for word. The rest go in the main FAQ. See "Main FAQ changes" below.)

Can we print our photos and share them online? Yes. You can print your photos and share them on social media for personal use. We'd love it if you tag us. Commercial use needs our permission.

Will you share our photos publicly? We may feature selected images in our portfolio and on social media. If you'd like your photos kept private, just let us know before your shoot.

What if we're running late? We'll make the most of the time left, but your session will still end at the booked time. If you'd like extra time and our schedule allows, overtime is available in 30-minute blocks.

Fine Print

Commercial Disclosure (Specified Commercial Transactions Act)

特定商取引法に基づく表記