Stylish Send-Off

Two newlyweds explain how the Club helped them throw their dream wedding party.

The wedding was set for December in New York City. But when the Covid-19 pandemic set the world on its head, Leslie Kee and Joshua Ogg finally accepted the inevitable and cancelled.

The Tokyo-based couple began to worry that the opportunity to celebrate their union at all in 2020 was slipping away. Then they discovered the Club.

“We decided to do it right after we got our partnership certificate in Shibuya and a week after our wedding in Kyoto in September. We chose November 22, an ‘ii fufu’ [good couple] day,” says Vogue photographer Kee, 49. “That only gave us about 10 weeks, but Chizuka [Yamakita] and the Club staff were amazing.”

Yamakita, a wedding planner with the Club for more than 15 years, set about crafting a memorable event for the couple and their 180 guests. She regularly met the pair to go over every detail, from the usual food and flowers to arrangements for a room for members of the media.

Kee’s profession meant that the guestlist would be something of a who’s who from the worlds of Japanese fashion, television and music. Interest in the big day was so keen that the occasion was to be livestreamed.

“I think that added another level of pressure,” says American Ogg, 32, of the preparations for the Club team, “but they handled it beautifully. The staff consulted us on every aspect and were really flexible with our schedules—as well as what we hoped for and wanted for the day. Everything was perfect.”

While a flower arrangement is a typical table decoration at wedding receptions in Japan, Kee and Ogg wanted the floral designs to incorporate a rainbow, the international symbol of the LGBTQ+ movement.

“We wanted each table to have a unique arrangement in one color of the rainbow. In the end, we had a total of 27 different kinds of flowers in seven different colors spread over 27 tables,” explains Singaporean Kee. “It was a landscape of color that represented all of our different friends and family.”

Befitting a celebration that featured dozens of live music acts, the grooms’ wardrobe changes were equally dazzling. They appeared first in embroidered white hakama by iconic wedding dress designer Yumi Katsura before donning bespoke Thom Browne suits and tailored Yohji Yamamoto tuxedos.

Even the safety measures were customized for the day: each of the guests received a black mask emblazoned with the rainbow-colored words “We Are the Love,” with Club staff wearing a black-and-white version. Temperature screening at the entrance to the New York Ballroom and hand sanitizer at every table ensured guests could enjoy the party with peace of mind.

Although a honeymoon in an exotic locale was out of the question, a stay at one of the Club’s Guest Studios was a more-than-satisfactory substitute for the couple.

“It was really important to us to be able to have this party, to celebrate our love in this way,” says Kee. “I’ve been in Japan for 30 years and society here is not very open about LGBTQ+ yet. We wanted to be the first gay couple to have their reception at Tokyo American Club, to show people what is possible, what love is.”