1 photoshoot, 6 looks: Xenia Tan and Shawn Thia share pre-wedding shots, featuring alpacas and a misty lake

Two years ago, local actor Shawn Thia, 28, proposed to his then-girlfriend, actress Xenia Tan, 29, under the guise of a TikTok video. 

Fast forward two years, the couple commemorated their love with a pre-wedding photoshoot in Vietnam. 

And they went all out, with the entire photoshoot spanning across three days. 

In an Instagram post on Saturday (March 16), Xenia shared snippets from the shoot, which was done with Singaporean wedding photographer, Seng Hong. 

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"Three days, two nights, six looks, six people, two alpacas," she captioned. 

In the first photo, Shawn and Xenia were seen decked out in a classic wedding get-up.

Shawn had on a smart suit and tie, and Xenia donned a beautiful white off-shoulder gown. 

Their second look featured them in more casual wedding outfits. Shawn was dressed in a checkered suit while Xenia, who was sitting on a wooden swing, wore a stunning, ethereal lace gown. 

The third was a more fun and unique one which featured not just one, but two fluffy alpacas. 

Here, the couple were decked out in matching white blazers and pants, as well as tinted sunglasses. Very suave. 

Their fourth photo had a more mysterious vibe to it as the couple were seen on a tiny boat filled with flowers in the middle of a misty lake. 

For this look, Xenia was dressed in a short white dress and a long veil, while Shawn wore a white shirt. 

A video shared on Seng Hong's Instagram page, Sojuandshots, showed behind-the-scenes clips of the lake photoshoot. 

"You all bring me to Vietnam to work! Come to some countryside to row the boat," Shawn had said jokingly. 

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In the captions, Seng Hong revealed that they had woken up at 2am just to shoot at the lake. 

"But it was worth it," he said. 

The couple opted to have some casual shots too. 

In the fifth photo, they decided to skip the wedding gear and go with a matching brown and white ensemble. 

Shawn donned a comfortable knit polo shirt with pants, while Xenia wore a brown cut-in top with a beautiful flowy skirt. 

The final photo showed them feeling at home with each other. 

In this simple yet meaningful shot, the couple lay comfortably on a bed with their legs propped up as Shawn gazed at Xenia. 

She has since asked her fans to comment in the post which look they liked the most. 

And understandably, many were spoilt for choice. 

But as local actor Leon Lee succinctly put, as long as Xenia and Shawn were in the pictures, they were nice pictures. 

Speaking to AsiaOne, Xenia shared that she and Shawn had "wanted something different from the norm and adventurous", so their photographers from Sojuandshots, Seng Hong and Wan Yong, proposed Vietnam.

 

From their first meeting to the trip itself, the entire planning and execution took around two-and-a-half months.

The photographers did most of the planning for the trip itself, while Xenia and Shawn focused on their looks.

This alone was chaotic and Xenia told us that the couple even flew to Bangkok at the last minute to tailor suits from scratch.

As for things that they couldn't find in stores, they had to source it from Carousell.

They also found a makeup artist in Vietnam.

In the end, it all came together.

"Everything worked out better than we imagined. When we arrived at the shoot location, we found our stories in them," she said.

To cite an example, Xenia shared that their shoot on a boat in the middle of nowhere reminded them of a drama they did together called The Algorithm.

In that show, they had eloped on a boat in the last episode.

As for why they went with six looks, Xenia revealed that the couple had "wanted to get the most out of their photoshoot".

"We planned four days for it but luckily, everything went according to plan and we finished in three days."

And yes, the alpacas in the shoot are real."The alpacas were a surprise planned by our photographers. We only knew when we saw them at the shoot," said Xenia.

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melissateo@asiaone.com