What was originally set out to be a rainy Wednesday afternoon, turned into glorious sunshine for Beatrice & Yang’s pre-wedding shoot in St James’s Park. Beatrice reached out to me on Instagram wanting to organise a pre-wedding shoot with her partner, Yang, before their wedding in Singapore in April 2025. After spending 3 years living and studying in London, Beatrice was soon to be graduating and heading back home to Singapore with Yang to start their lives together as newlyweds.

Portraits in St James’s Park

With a love for nature, outdoors parks, towering trees and open spaces, Beatrice wanted to mark this milestone for her and Yang, and her fond memories of being the UK, in a place that would be visually beautiful and truly nostalgic within the photos. We decided on St James’s Park – known for its close connection to Buckingham Palace, huge lake, bridges and views of the London Eye. Starting at Duck Island Cottage, we then strolled around the park toward the palace looking for autumnal open spaces flooded with sunlight, towering trees in quiet pockets of the park and a mix of vibrant backdrops to give the photos a timeless and nostalgic quality.

Capturing Real Moments

As a documentary photographer, I’m all about capturing real moments, and it’s made possible by giving couples a mixture of active prompts, direction and conversational starters to reduce discomfort from being in front of the camera and get you both in tune with one another. For example with Beatrice & Yang, we had running through the autumn leaves, whispering a funny memory to one another, dancing on the spot, an attempt at a piggyback and (at their request!!) creative/artistic photographs with their favourite books. The appearance from the wasp wasn’t planned and made for such a cute little moment!

It was so lovely to spend the afternoon exploring the park with Beatrice & Yang, watching their love surface in fleeting moments and documenting very real memories they’re sure to reflect on and reminisce together when back in Singapore.