A Saigon Pre-Wedding at An Garden and the City Museum: Thu & Tuyen

Some pre-wedding stories work best in a single place. Thu and Tuyen's asked for two. We spent one day moving from a garden in full bloom to the grandeur of colonial Saigon, and the contrast became the whole point: soft morning light and roses, then the cool, stately calm of a 19th-century French-colonial palace. If you are planning a couple photoshoot in Ho Chi Minh City, these two locations pair beautifully, and the time of day you shoot each one matters more than you might think.

An Garden, a European garden on Saigon's doorstep

An Garden is a European-inspired garden in Binh Duong, only about twenty kilometres from the centre of Ho Chi Minh City, which makes it one of the easiest escapes from the city for a couple shoot. Manicured hedges, rose beds, glasshouses and tree-lined paths give it the feel of the French countryside rather than southern Vietnam. For Thu and Tuyen it was the soft, romantic opening to the day.

Our tip: shoot here in the early morning. The light is at its gentlest just after sunrise, the garden is quiet, and the plants are at their most alive, fresh and full after the cool of the night. By late morning the sun climbs high and harsh and the greenery loses that glow, so the first hours are the ones worth chasing.

The Museum of Ho Chi Minh City, colonial Saigon in one building

From the garden we moved back into the city, to the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City on Ly Tu Trong Street. Here the building itself is the star. It is a grand neoclassical palace built between 1885 and 1890 to a design by the French architect Alfred Foulhoux, later known as Gia Long Palace. The sweeping double staircase, tall shuttered windows and old tiled floors give every frame a timeless, editorial feeling.

Our tip: save the museum for the afternoon. In the second half of the day the sun drops lower and streams in through the tall windows, throwing warm, directional light across the staircase and the interiors, which is exactly the look you want here. It is also noticeably quieter than the morning, when tour groups and other couples tend to arrive, so you have more room and more calm to work with the architecture.

Planning the day: one garden, one palace

The flow that worked for Thu and Tuyen is the one we would suggest to most couples shooting these two spots: start at An Garden early, break through the middle of the day to rest and change, then finish at the museum as the light softens in the afternoon. It keeps you in the best light at each location and steers you around both the midday heat and the crowds.

Two outfits suit this pairing nicely, something light and romantic for the garden, and something more structured and elegant for the palace. The drive between the two is comfortable, so you are never rushing from one to the other.

See the full story: View Thu and Tuyen's full An Garden and City Museum gallery →

Dreaming of your own pre-wedding in Saigon? Tell us about your day and we will help you plan the locations, the timing and the whole flow.