Location · Northern Vietnam
Hanoi
Colonial arcades, citadel walls, and an old quarter that is only quiet for one hour a day.
Colonial arcades, citadel walls, and an old quarter that is only quiet for one hour a day.
Hanoi is the cheapest full session we offer and, for a lot of couples, the one that looks most like Vietnam. A thousand years of building on top of itself, in about four square kilometres you can walk.
The Old Quarter is beautiful and it is not calm. By seven in the morning the streets belong to motorbikes, delivery carts and breakfast, and by eight a bride standing still is an obstruction. So we start early. From about half past five until seven, the lanes are empty, the light comes in low and sideways down streets that run east, and the city is yours.
After that we move. The French Quarter gives you arcades, shutters and ochre walls that read as calm even when the road behind us is not. The Imperial Citadel gives you brick gates and open ground. West Lake gives you water and sky when you want the frame to breathe.
If you are going to wear one anywhere in Vietnam, wear it here. The citadel walls, the lanes and the arcades were built for that line, and it is cooler than a structured gown in August. White and cream read modern, red is the traditional bridal colour and the one families expect at a ceremony. We can arrange the rental or shoot whatever your family already owns.
Hair and make-up from about half past four, on the street before sunrise, two locations, and finished by late morning before the heat and the crowds take the city back. Some couples add a second block in the late afternoon instead, which works well from October to April.
A Hanoi session is USD 780 for six hours and two locations, with hair and make-up, two gowns and one suit, transport on the day, 300 to 400 original files and 40 retouched photographs. Our studio here is on the fifth floor at 75 Nguyen Thi Dinh, Thanh Xuan, and it is where fittings happen and where we go when it rains.
USD 780 for six hours and two locations. That includes hair and make-up, two gowns and one suit from our wardrobe, transport between locations on the day, 300 to 400 original files and 40 fully retouched photographs. There is no studio fee and no per-photo charge.
The Old Quarter early in the morning, the French Quarter and its colonial arcades, the Imperial Citadel, West Lake, and the quieter lanes around Truc Bach. For an indoor option when it rains, our Hanoi studio is on Nguyen Thi Dinh in Thanh Xuan.
March, April, October and November. December to February can stay grey and drizzling for days at a time, which some couples love and others do not expect. May to August is hot and humid, so we move those sessions to sunrise.
Hanoi is the city where it makes the most difference. The old architecture, the lanes and the citadel walls were built for that silhouette, and an ao dai is cooler than a western gown. We can arrange the rental, or your family can bring their own.
For the street, no. The Imperial Citadel and some temples charge a photography fee and have hours, and a few halls do not allow photography inside at all. We handle the asking and will tell you in advance what each location costs.