Ever since I blogged about JJ and Leo's engagement shoot in Oxford, I've been receiving tons of questions from both photographers and brides to be. I'll answer the photographers' questions in a separate post, but for those of you who are planning on getting an engagement shoot done, I hope the following will be of some help!

Q: How long did the shoot take from start to finish?

A: In total, we took about 10.5 hours. Out of that, 1.5 hours were taken out for lunch, breaks, etc. We didn't know how long the shoot would take beforehand...we pretty much took it as it came and only stopped when JJ and Leo felt that they have a sufficient number of pictures. The shoot was divided up into two sessions to give us more flexibility in terms of weather (it rained on the first day) and getting the best natural light possible.

Q: How in the world did you manage to get pictures in crowded places like the Radcliffe Camera without getting any passers-by and bicycles etc in the shot?

A: We did those shots at around 8am on a Sunday morning, which not only meant that we got amazing light, we also pretty much had Oxford all to ourselves.

Q: Wasn't it tricky walking about Oxford in a huge wedding gown?

A: Somewhat. JJ handled it really well and wore comfortable walking shoes. What was trickier to maneuvre than the dress was the long, delicate veil! Here's our secret to success...

Yep, that's one of JJ's bridesmaids, Xiaonan. Ladies, this is the type of bridesmaid you need. ;) She was there pretty much the whole time on Day 2, helping to carry JJ's veil as we walked around Oxford, flipping the veil up during the shoot...Oh yes, here are a few veil flip shots you might enjoy.

If JJ's awesome bridesmaid hadn't been there on the day, I would've brought Mike along to assist with the carrying and flicking of the veil.

^^Xiaonan's hand! Hehe.

As you can see, behind pretty much every shot was Xiaonan's hard work!

Speaking of hard work, part of the challenge we had during the shoot was the freezing cold temperature (around 5 deg C). While this may not be a problem if you're wrapped up warm, poor JJ had to spend quite a bit of time shivering in her strapless wedding gown! To minimize the time she spent freezing, I had her keep her coat on and composed each shot beforehand. Once I'd determined the right metering and position, the coat came off, the camera snapped away, and then the coat had to come back on pretty much immediately.

Leo was a total sweetheart here (as you can see). As I photographed JJ by herself, he'd stand at the sidelines with her coat, ready to engulf her in it as soon as we were done.

So that's all the tips for now...and to all you brides-to-be out there who are planning an engagement shoot, all the best and have fun with it!