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Olive Photography

Toronto wedding & lifestyle photography

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Shelley & Dave’s Cozy Winter Engagement Session

December 28, 2013

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Shelley and Dave are the kind of couple you’d expect to find in a cool magazine or billboard ad – the kind of folks who look so hip and fun you just wanna spend time with them.
Well lucky me, I get to! This stylish duo is so sweet and such a pleasure to hang out with. Our winter engagement session at Toronto’s Amsterdam Brewery and Harbourfront Centre’s skating rink was so cozy and relaxed, and was such a lovely time despite the chill in the air.

We met up for some coffee to get some warmth in our veins before braving the cold, and we talked about their wedding and the classically beautiful watch Shelley gave to Dave as an engagement present after he proposed. Now they both have lasting mementos they get to see daily to remind them of this special time in their lives – I love that idea.

They chose to go skating for their engagement session for a special reason – keep scrolling to the end to learn why, and to read their love story!

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Here’s their story:
“Dave and I met on one of the first days of university in September 2003. Despite growing up in Ottawa and going to Carleton University, we had both decided to move into residence rather than living at home. We were on the same floor in Stormont Residence and once we met, we quickly became inseparable… as friends. We were both dating other people when we started university so our relationship was strictly platonic. Months went by and shortly after the Christmas break, we both found ourselves single and pretty much attached at the hip. Dave used the excuse of having cold hands several times just to have an excuse for us to hold hands. Since we were 18, we were “Boyfriend and Girlfriend” before ever really going on a date – unless you count the cafeteria in res, which we do not. Our first “real date” landed on Valentine’s Day and since we had just started dating and were on student budgets, we decided to do something low key (and inexpensive), but still fun and romantic. One of Ottawa’s best features in the winter is the Rideau Canal – it becomes the world’s longest skating rink at nearly 8km long. It starts at the Parliament buildings downtown and ends at Carleton. For our first date, we skated the length of the canal and then went to the ByTowne Cinema (an independent theatre) where they were showing a special screening of Love Actually. We moved to Toronto in 2008 and quickly fell in love with the city.  Five and a half years later, we still go skating whenever we can.”

Shelley Dave Engagement LR Smaller-16

Congratulations again, you guys.
Can’t wait to shoot your wedding on June 21st!

Categories - Blog, Engagement Tagged - coffee, engagement, love, photographer, photography, ring, skating, Toronto, Toronto wedding photographer, watch, winter

Stephanie & Brian – Engaged!

October 13, 2013


Note: *Totally* romantic, movie-worthy proposal story after the photos!

Stephanie and Brian wanted to do their engagement photos at a place that was significant to them (which I love to do!), so they chose the neighbourhood where they first met, in downtown Toronto where they had gone to college together before their undergrads.
We strolled around, weaving through the streets on what was an unbelievably beautiful, warm Fall day.  I admired Stephanie’s ability to strut totally comfortably in her gorgeous plum heels as though they were sneakers.
It was totally cute hearing the two of them talk about the different buildings they had classes in, discussing memories, and pointing out the ways the neighbourhood had changed since they moved on from their former stomping ground.
Stephanie noticed the new Starbucks and joked about how she would have definitely been there all the time if it had been there back in the day. (You might be able to tell from some of the photos that she’s kind of a Starbucks fan.)
I learned that Brian doesn’t drink coffee (*gasp!* – kidding), but he does enjoy tea. I’m enjoying a nice hot cup of tea as I write this post – so this one’s to you, Brian!

We had a lot of fun frolicking about the city, and I love that these photos celebrate both their past and their future.

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And now, Stephanie’s account of how Brian so romantically proposed to her (with photos provided by them). Guys, I can’t. It’s so good.

“Brian told me that he was going to Boston for work and that I should go down on the Friday to meet him and stay for the weekend. The Friday that I was supposed to leave was the day in February that we had a really big snow storm so all flights out were canceled on that Friday and on the Saturday too. So I was never able to fly out to meet Brian in Boston. Also, at the same time, Boston had an even bigger storm and Brian was snowed in the hotel the whole time he was there. Brian ended up proposing the following Friday in our kitchen. I came home from work that Friday and there was a mailed letter on the kitchen table addressed to me. I opened the letter and it said the following….

StephBrianProposal1

Behind the letter was the following picture…

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This was Brian proposing in the hotel in Boston where he was planning to propose all along! I found out though this that he never went there for work and he had only gone to Boston to propose! Poor guy was stuck in the hotel and snowed in for 5 days! I have yet to visit Boston!”
—-
How cute is that??
*Sigh* Ah, love.Can’t wait to photograph your wedding on April 12th, guys!

StephBrianLR-30

Categories - Blog, Engagement, Uncategorized Tagged - city, coffee, couple, cute, diamond, downtown, engagement, engagement ring, love, ring, starbucks, Toronto

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