Singaporebrides | Photography

February 2015

An Adventure of a Lifetime

By Audrie Soh

Share this article on:
Facebook 106

These days, an overseas pre-wedding photoshoot isn’t uncommon. Many couples are choosing to take their pre-wedding photographs against a foreign landscape to capture their love in places that hold a special meaning to them or against famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Instead of picking a location for their pre-wedding photoshoot, our couple, Jing Lin and Joe Wee, decided to add an element of fun and embarked on a secret location shoot for their pre-wedding. Read about this adventurous couple’s secret location shoot with Moomedia by Andrew Mok and ended up with the trip of a lifetime and an album full of spectacular photographs to document their experience.

Wang Jing Lin, 26, Executive Search Consultant & Ng Joe Wee, 27, Process Engineer
26 October 2014

Her Wedding Gown: Bridal Veil by Michelle HuiMin
His Suit: The Men’s Club
Pre-wedding Evening Gown: Cang Ai Wedding
The Wedding Venue: InterContinental Singapore
Pre-wedding Venue: Mongolia
Hair and makeup Artist: Alicia from Bridal Veil by Michelle HuiMin
The Photographer: Andrew, Roger and Kenny from Moomedia by Andrew Mok

You travelled to the beautiful Mongolia for your pre-wedding shoot! Tell us all about it!

We actually had no idea that we were heading to Mongolia until we arrived at the Immigration in Beijing! Since Joe Wee and I couldn’t decide where we wanted to have our pre-wedding shoot, we decided to let Andrew decide on a location for us. To narrow down the possible locations, he had us play the Risk game where we placed green and red soldiers on the world map. Green meant these places were good to go, while red were places we wanted to avoid. Taking our preferences for magnificent landscape, unusual architecture and interaction with the people and culture of the selected country, Andrew picked the perfect location for us: Mongolia! It was his first time planning a secret destination shoot and we have to say that he did an amazing job of picking a location and coordinating the trip.

Mongolia’s truly an awesome place. We enjoyed basking in the peaceful environment, mingling with the locals and learning about their culture, ride horses and camels on vast plains of fields and experience life in a nomadic Ger Camp. The whole experience was priceless and our photos turned out spectacular!

What was it like shooting in Mongolia? Share with us your experience in the culture-rich Mongolia.

It was extremely fun and a great eye-opener! We spent a total of 8 days in Mongolia and every day we stayed in a different Ger Camp to experience the nomadic lifestyle. The terrain wasn’t easy to overcome but our skillful driver was extremely competent in getting us from camp to camp. We also had the opportunity to try some of their local delicacies such as fermented horse milk and cake, ride horses on a vast plain of field, visit a tribesman’s house and even took part in the Nomads’ Day festival, where we took part in games such as dung scooping, saddling a horse and building a GerCamp. And we came in first!

The locals were extremely friendly, helpful and welcoming. Everyone we met during our trip, whether it was our driver, tour guide or the people in the different Ger Camps, were truly hospitable and warm towards us. We were thoroughly impressed at how the Mongolians are able to retain so much of their culture and identity today.

How did you prepare for the trip without knowing where you’ll be heading to? Did Andrew drop you any hints on where you were going, or did you try to probe him for clues on your destination?

Packing the luggage was a challenge, since we did not know where we were heading to. Andrew also had to watch his words when he told us what to bring for the trip. He didn’t drop us any hints during the whole time, so even his instructions to pack clothes for both warm and cold weather for temperatures between 12-24 degrees Celsius was rather cryptic.

We didn’t try guessing or probing as we didn’t want to ruin the fun element but our family and friends were doing some major guessing on our behalf, up until the day we were at the airport! Andrew would also occasionally tease us by telling us that we were going to Egypt or Indonesia.

That does indeed sound very thrilling! How did you feel when you finally found out that you were going to Mongolia?

Before we arrived in Mongolia, we had to transit at Beijing. So when Andrew handed us air-tickets to Beijing, we were mildly confused, since it was one of the areas we indicated that we wanted to avoid. But we thought that perhaps it was merely a transit location. And true enough, when we were queueing at the Immigration in Beijing, Andrew handed us another set of tickets to Ulaanbaatar! We were truly speechless and excited since we did not know much about Mongolia and was looking forward to learning about their culture and meeting their people. Who would have guessed we were heading to Mongolia for a pre-wedding shoot!

Share with us some fun tidbits from your trip and pre-wedding shoot in Mongolia. Did you encounter any difficulties along the way?

I have to say that the cold weather posed the biggest challenge for me, as I had to pose for shots in my gown with the chilly wind blowing at my face and shoulders. Joe Wee and Roger would get my jackets ready and wrap me in them once the shots were done. But, despite the frigid weather, we enjoyed the photoshoot very much! We also got to take photos with their champion wrestler, who was trying to look fierce for the camera but ended up bursting out in laughter, and a group of Mongolians dressed in their traditional costumes during the Nomads’ Day festival.

The scattered animal dung was another challenge we faced. They were everywhere and we had to avoid stepping on them while on the move or during shots. But alas, they were impossible to avoid, so Joe Wee spent a night outside the Ger Camp washing our wedding shoes.

Watch the behind-the-scenes footage of Jing Lin and Joe Wee’s secret location pre-wedding shoot below!

Want to see your love story featured on SingaporeBrides too? Submit your wedding here!

All content from this article, including images, cannot be reproduced without credits or written permission from SingaporeBrides.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram for the latest article and promotion updates!