Singaporebrides | Real Weddings

April 2018

Joyce and Felix’s Nostalgic Hong Kong Pre-Wedding Photography

Joyce and Felix documented their love in a Hong Kong pre-wedding photography session, beautifully shot on film to recapture Felix’s time growing up in the city.

Drawn to each other’s sense of humour, Joyce Teo, 29, Teacher, and Felix Goh, 29, Lawyer, had harboured a thing for each other since secondary school. After they finally got together, the couple dated for six years long-distance. Joyce and Felix decided to document their story through beautiful Hong Kong pre-wedding photography, shot through with old-school vibes.

How did you meet each other?

Joyce: We were secondary school friends and remained in contact after graduation. We had always had a thing for each other, and eventually decided to start dating before I went overseas for university. He also studied abroad, so six years of our relationship was long-distance, starting even before there was Whatsapp.

What was the proposal like?

Felix: It was a quiet one at Japanese Gardens. She thought she was going bird watching, but all there were were some printed images of owls from Google Images.

Where did you go for your Hong Kong pre-wedding photography shoot?

Joyce: We decided to go to Hong Kong because Felix kind of grew up there and we like the old-school vibe. Initially, we had wanted to shoot in those Hong Kong-style cafes, on the streets and around the neighbourhood where he lived, but then we thought that those places might not be very exciting for the camera. So we did some research and wanted to go to a fishing village, Tai-O, that was a little out of the way, but Brian, our photographer from thegaleria, did a recce a day before we arrived and decided it was probably not worth the two-hour travelling time.

So we made a last-minute plan with Brian the night before the shoot and went to Tai Mo Shan instead. It is a popular spot for wedding shoots because it is easily accessible by car but looks like you had worked really hard to climb up there. We also went to two old housing estates, Nam Shan Estate and Montane Mansion, both Instagrammable spots frequented by hipsters. In the evening, we went around Central, Zhong Huan, because the area had an interesting mix of old and new. The slopes also gave us some interesting angles.

How did the shoot turn out?

We didn’t really know what to expect but had full trust in Brian from looking at his past works. We were really lucky to have found him and also that the weather held up when we were there. The shoot day happened in between two typhoons. We were all closely monitoring the weather before the trip and were actually prepared to cancel our flight to Hong Kong.

We knew we didn’t want pictures that were grand and glossy, so it was a deliberate choice to ask him to shoot in film to get the grainy and casual look. The shoot was entirely candid. He barely gave us any directions on where to look and how to pose, which we really appreciated. We were literally standing around chatting while Brian did his work from some distance away.

When will the wedding be, and what are your plans for it?

The wedding happened last year on Christmas Eve. We used some articles on SingaporeBrides for reference and also the Wedding Checklist spreadsheet for planning and budgeting, loosely. It was a rather simple lunch banquet at Mandarin Oriental. No performances, just speeches and other standard things. The guests threw colourful pom-poms for the march-in and we gave Toto tickets as our wedding favour, which got them quite excited, especially when the Toto results came out the next day. Sadly, nobody won the jackpot. We also had a solemnisation party for immediate family and close friends at our new home the day before.

The Photographer: Brian Ho, thegaleria
The Bride’s Outfits: Custom-made from Taobao // Revolte
The Bride’s Shoes: Aldo // Keds
The Groom’s Outfits: Tailor in Thailand // H&M // Diesel // Topshop
The Groom’s Shoes: Zalora
The Engagement Ring: Les Precieux
The Shoot Locations: Tai Mo Shan, Nam Shan Estate, Montane Mansion, Central
The Hairstylist and Makeup Artist: Sarah Tsang from Sarah’s Bridal Styling
The Hair Accessories: Handmade by Sarah Tsang

Images by thegaleria.

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Joyce and Felix’s Nostalgic Hong Kong Pre-Wedding Photography