Korea: Behind the scenes of a pre-wedding photoshoot at Bong Studio

I will have to say that Tyrell and I took a leap of faith signing up for a pre-wedding photoshoot package with a foreign company, without knowing much about the detailed process, nor meeting any representatives face to face. All communication was done via email only. We weren’t able to find any blog posts or information online about the actual process, but we jumped into it, which is not something we usually do. All I can say is that we have good faith in Korean studios XD

Here’s what you need to know and what it’s like to fly overseas and have a pre-wedding photoshoot with local Korean photo Studio, Studio Bong.

Overview of schedule:

1. Day 1: 1.5hrs fitting
2. Day 2: AM makeup and PM photoshoot.

Day 1: 1.5hr fitting
We met Amy, our translator, at Gangnam-Gu office station at 11am. Amy brought us to La Viju Mariee which is only 1 min walk from the station.

Females get 2 white dresses (one flare, one fitted) and 1 coloured dress for the photoshoot.

Men only get 1 basic black suit, so Tyrell brought along his own suit in addition.

I am allowed to pick 6 dresses to try on at the studio so that I can narrow it down to 3

The dress helpers who got me into the dresses in no time

Mens turn

We ended the session and were free to go off at 1230pm.

Day 2: Makeup and photoshoot
1130am – getting hair and makeup done at La Viju Mariee (the men get makeup too!) I had assumed that it would start in the wee hours but suprisingly it started late at 1130am, giving us a nice good sleep before the shoot.

Check out the multitudes of makeup!

I did not request for any particular type of makeup and let them do whatever they wanted so they did a very natural type of makeup for me, false lashes included. 

I love love love the waterfall braid!

We are both ready to shoot! Liking how they slightly curled Tyrell’s fringe and his natural looking makeup.

2pm – we are driven to the studio which is just on the outskirts of Seoul.

We arrive at the studio and are blown away at how gorgeous it is. I’ve never seen a studio of this standard before in Singapore!

Can you believe that this setting is actually indoor?

230pm – Pick scenes and start shooting (we barely had time to eat! I recommend that you pack some quick bites long.)

Choosing 10 scenes for indoor

Choose 1 selection for outdoor

We were assigned 3 staff in total: 1 dress helper, 1 assistant / translator and 1 photographer.

What typically happens: Mr Bong positions us and Amy and dress helper adjust my dress and hair

You need not know how to model at all. The photographer will instruct you about everything, how to tilt your head, where to look, how to position your body. All you need to do is to follow instructions and smile!

We even climbed on top of a Bus for a picture. And yes, it doesn’t look like much here but check out the next 2 pictures

Before editting

After editting

Changing and touching up makeup

Dress helper touching up my makeup, restyling my hair, and changing earrings and hair accessories for me (all provided by them) 

What I also found amazing was that the dress lady has these crop lace overlays that could transform my tube dress into a long sleeve or off shoulder one!

Here, I am wearing the same dress but with different overlays.

Off shoulder overlay

Long sleeve overlay

With the extra 3 overlays, it’s as if I had 7 dresses in total instead of just 4.

Cherry blossoms:

Normally, the cherry blossoms at Bong studio blooms from mid of April to end of April. So we booked our shoot on 14 April 2016, a tad early, because the cherry blossom festival in Seoul was forecasted to be from 10-15 april. But unfortunately the cherry blossoms were not yet in full bloom (it blooms slower where Bong studio is located) but they said that they will Photoshop it to enhance the sakura for us. And here it is!

630pm – end shoot

What I regretted the most?
Forgetting to bring my casual outfit! I really felt like slapping myself.. Thank goodness Bong studio had a spare mini dress for me to use and they didn’t charge me either. So sweet of them.

Receiving the edited photos: 

Bong studio sent over all the untouched pictures almost immediately after the shoot.

It takes about 3 months for Bong studio to edit the photos after you have shortlisted 30. I did have to send some back for retouching, but that’s because I’m really picky 😛

Overall
I highly recommend Bong studio! The photographers are really passionate and they know exactly where to place you and how to position you. You literally don’t have to do anything but follow instructions.

Our photographer putting our faces in place lol 

The makeup artist / dress lady is super professional and fast with getting you changed and adjusting your hair and dress so that it is perfect for each photo.

I’d have to say that the photoshoot was really efficiently conducted. I finished shooting a whopping 11 scenes within 4hrs! This also includes changing into 7 different outfits (3 additional from the crop overlays)

What I also like is that there is no hard selling of additional items. I’ve heard of couples that had to pay more for a  premium dress selection, pay for false lashes, pay for premium makeup, etc. I did not have to top up at all.

Price
2,300,000krw which is approx S$2,800. What a steal! Packages in Sg or packages in korea through agents are from at least $4,000 onwards.

(We had the owner himself, Mr Bong to take the photos for us. It’s an additional 500,000krw if you would like Mr Bong to take the photos for you)

Contact
To make a booking in advance, you can do so here:
Their Facebook page here for more sample pics
Their official website here

Check out my other post for more details of Bong Studio’s package – what no one tells you about how to pick a pre-wedding photoshoot in korea

I’ve got some really good news for all you readers! I’ve specially requested to Mr Bong to give an additional 10 edited photos to my readers, all you have to do is mention my name “Esther” and you will get:

1. 30 edited photos – digital copies (instead of 20!) 
2. 30 pages photo album (this is assuming that you print 1 photo per page. You may get less than 30 printed photos if your printed photos are bigger than a page)