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. :)

Since I am in a layover to my flight to the world’s second most populous country, I thought I’d conclude our series of shoots from the world’s most populous country. hahaha =) So many stories to tell about our shoot in China most especially this breathtaking Great Wall. Words escape me right now so please enjoy the photos first and I’ll continue with the texts later =)
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One of the most memorable parts of this trip was the bond that we had with Alex and Jam, who was such an adorable and nice couple. Alex is cool and organized (hahaha, he’s always asking of what the itinerary or plan is) but is always funny. While jam is sweet yet nervy =) It was always a fun experience in everything that we do. =)

Jam’s mom was also with us. Mommy Jean was as super genial and amicable =) It’s like she had four kids with her during the trip. hahaha =) She went with us in all our Beijing shoots but decided that shopping was more important when we got to Shanghai. hahaha =)

Truly one of the best experiences I had as a wedding photographer. =)

Yesterday I posted the photos of Alex and Jam from our engagement session in Shanghai. We now move over to the next two parts of this China E-session series that are both shot in Beijing.

The Chinese capital, although seemingly as modern as Shanghai, feels eerier and restrictive. I think it’s because there are less people that I see on the streets and there are more of the guards wearing green suits with red bands. Of course, these could all be just be perceptions of mine from watching to many TV series and movies. hahaha.

Put those aside, I did enjoy the time we spent in Beijing. We ate great food (peking duck in Peking! what else?!), we were able to see and shoot around the amazing Bird’s Nest and The Water Cube – structures from the recently concluded Beijing Olympics, and was simply blown away by the magnificent great wall of China.

Today I’m posting shots that we took in Tianamen Square as well as in the Olympic stadiums. =) Enjoy it while you can, tomorrow I’ll post the last part of the series with photos from the Great Wall =)

Behind-the-scenes