Beijing Pre-wedding Photoshoot | Fennie and Halim

While this pre-wedding shoot of Fennie and Halim is not my first in Beijing, it is still many of firsts for me. After all it has been a good three years since I last visited the Capital of China, and back then, we shot a pre-wedding shoot nowhere else but on the Great Wall of China.

This time, even though I wanted to, we decided that we will not shoot on the Great Wall of China, and instead explore the other parts and locations in Beijing. I got a good tip from one of my grooms to check out the Temple of Heaven and that turned out to be just amazing. Fennie and Halim also fielded their preferences to shoot at the back alleys of Beijing, a spot just outside the forbidden city, as well as at the National Center for Performing Arts. It was a very good mix of the old and new and we contrasted that with a combination of daylight and nightlight set-ups.

Now all those locations were a first for me, but those were just a few of the many firsts that I mentioned. Fennie and Halim were also my first Indonesian couple. I know it’s easy to assume that they are Chinese, which they are but of Indonesian nationality – and it is in Beijing where they met, fell in love and decided to stay together forever thus there wasn’t a place more fitting to have their pre-wedding photos shot. Aside from that, Halim is also the first person I personally know that is a Chinese Herbal Doctor. Seriously, that may seem peculiar to some (and even to me at first) but it is very fascinating. Halim took me to the biggest store that sells Chinese medicine and it was insane, he tried to explain to me what the items there do to you and I swear, I was like a kid in a museum and I couldn’t get enough of it. It is some of the most interesting stuff I’ve ever heard.

I hope you also fancy some traditional Chinese theatrical make-up because I loved Fennie’s idea of putting them on for their first look and it turned-out really beautiful.

Overall, because of the very tight schedule, I only stayed in Beijing for a total of 36 hours. Despite this, I felt I’ve learned and accomplished more than a week’s worth of things. Thanks to Fennie and Halim who wanted nothing but the best for their pre-wedding photos.

As a side note to this already wordy post, I was forced to travel to China alone for this shoot and it was a bit daunting. Everything of course went more than great and aside from the huge preparation that Fennie and Halim did, I owe a huge thank you to Siane who helped me throughout the shoot. I couldn’t have had a better shooting partner that day :)

So enjoy the photos, it’s not always you see pre-wedding photos from beijing as unique and and as beautiful as these. :)