Hiro + Hilary Wedding Yo-Yo

Monday, March 18th, 2013 in: Miscellany

Hiro and Hilary, two of my best friends in Japan, got married in Japan on April 4th, 2012 at Inuyama castle. In Japanese, 4 can be read as “yo,” so 4/4 is “Yo-Yo!” I was still in Korea, but they had plans to hold another wedding in the states later that year, after the US National Yo-Yo Contest. Hiro asked me to be one of his groomsmen, and to design a commemorative wedding yo-yo to give to guests.

I rang up Hans Tseng of Slime Mansion and Directions of Destiny for help. Hans is another great friend and was going to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. He was going to do an original poster for the wedding. I had some concepts sketched out but unlike Hans, I’m no artist. He drew the portraits on one side of the yo-yo, and I did the hand-lettering on the other side. I really like how they came out, and they were a big hit at the wedding, which was a blast!

The wedding was held on October 13th, 2012, at a lovely vineyard just outside of Chico. Guests came from different parts of California and Japan to help celebrate.

Hans also drew this poster based on the same art direction as the yo-yo.

The guest list was a fun mix of yo-yo champions, masters and people who had no idea how to throw a yo-yo. At the reception, we gave out all the yo-yos, including some light-up models, and had a big practice session right there. It was a lot of fun!

You can see more of my photos from the wedding on my Facebook album.

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