Leslieville Engagement Archives

Toronto Beaches Engagement | Chiara & Steve

December 2, 2017

Epic Engagement Photos | Olive Photography Toronto

It started as a sweet date night at a pizzeria, and turned into a breathtaking show of nature. (Scroll down, you’ll see.)
//
What can I say about Chiara and Steve.They are one of the absolute sweetest, kindest couples I have ever photographed. They are both Italian, and they embody the warmth and hospitality one might associate with Italian culture. (As someone who is half Sicilian I’ve seen it first hand with my own family as well.) To start off their engagement session they wanted to go for dinner at one of their favourite places, Queen Margherita Pizza in Leslieville. They insisted that I join them, and holy canoli (heh, see what I did there?) all the food was INCREDIBLE. I’ll definitely be going back.We chatted over the meal and I occasionally snapped some photos when the light and moment were right. Then, before the sun went down we went to the beach.We hadn’t expected it to be so chilly and windy that evening, and right after we ended the session there was a crazy storm. But as we were shooting Mother Nature put on a light and cloud show for us – it was EPIC. Seriously. One moment the sky was clear and the next it was filled with rolling clouds and beautiful colours.Chiara and Steve weren’t phased by the cold – they just folded into each other so perfectly and felt cozy in each other’s arms while I snapped away. *sigh* – the evening was perfect.Here are some of my faves from their Leslieville/Beaches date day.

Queen Margherita Pizza Engagement Photos | Olive Photography Toronto

Queen Margherita Pizza Engagement | Olive Photography Toronto

Toronto Beaches Engagement Photos | Olive Photography

And here’s their love story!

Your Love Story: How did you meet?

Almost 10 years ago, during the summer after Steve graduated high school, we met through a mutual friend at a soccer game. We continued running into each other on a few other occasions until we went out with a group of friends who were trying to set us up. We instantly had a connection that continued to flourish as the years passed. 10 years sounds like such a long time, yet, for us, feels like no time at all has passed. We have been fortunate enough to meet each other at such an early age which has allowed us to grow up together, change together, and experience all things together. We are beyond excited to finally make it official and continue our never-ending love story!

Do you have a sweet proposal story?

Since we have been together for such a long time, we of course had talked about getting married and it had become an obvious certainty not only to us, but to our families and friends. Therefore, I always said that we wouldn’t be able to have a surprising proposal because I would always know it was coming if we did anything out of the ordinary. Little did I know, Steve was planning for this. In order to truly surprise me, he proposed while we were being the regular “us”, as we were spending an evening the way we often do; eating dinner, talking, and relaxing at home. We went to celebrate the rest of the evening with our wonderful families. The proposal was romantic, thoughtful, and perfect.

Thinking of getting in touch for you own photos? I’d love to hear from you!

Feel free to also follow my daily behind the scenes stories and frequent posts on Instagram!

Leslieville Fall Engagement | Giulia & John

October 6, 2017

Leslieville Fall Engagement Session
They wanted a Fall engagement session, and while Mother Nature had other plans for the leaves, she was sure shining some warm Fall light!
Giulia and John’s engagement session involved a casual stroll through their neck of the woods – the city’s East End.
We started chasing light in Leslieville, stopping to marvel at a mural in a garden centre (we even got within inches of a butterfly!), and checking out the new Broadview Hotel.
We then went to nearby Rooster Coffee, which is so dang cute. We loved that they have a crossword out for people waiting for their coffee to attempt!
Then across the street we went to Riverdale Park, which has a phenomenal view of the Toronto skyline.
It was a super lovely evening!

Thanks for a fantastic evening, Giulia & John!!

— Here’s their love story! —

John and I technically met when he was 11 and I was 10. John’s dad was my elementary school teacher for grades 4 and 5. He visited his dad’s class for a few weeks at the end of the school year and I had a crush on him all the way back then. He eventually became a student at the same elementary school and he definitely knew about my school girl crush. He and I went to different high schools and universities though so we didn’t reconnect until later, first just through a friend request in the early years of having Facebook.

To this day I can’t explain what possessed me to send John a Facebook message asking for advice on buying a laptop. I knew he worked at Future Shop but he and I were basically strangers. But am I ever glad glad I did, because that message was what first really put me on his radar. Almost a year later he tagged me in a post and sent me a message, and a week after that we went for coffee.

A foot of snow came down on the day we were supposed to meet at a Starbucks, but that didn’t stop either of us from showing up. Coffee turned into a dinner date when we couldn’t stop talking about movies, family stories and common interests. We both felt the connection right away, and one date quickly turned into multiple, and we both couldn’t be happier. 🙂

—
Enjoyed these Leslieville engagement photos? Julie & Gary also did their engagement session in the ‘hood, including a stop at Te Aro and a casual stroll. Date nights don’t have to be complicated to be lovely!

Leslieville Engagement Session | Julie & Gary

August 9, 2017

Julie and Gary decided to have a Leslieville engagement session because Julie used to work in the area and the two of them enjoy going there often.

We stopped by two of their favourite local spots, including Te Aro and Ed’s Real Scoop. Mmm, so much goodness!

They were originally nervous about getting their photo taken but they quickly opened up and had a really sweet date day that I got to capture.

Here are some of my faves from our evening, and you can also read their love story at the bottom of the post!

And here’s their story, from Julie & Gary themselves!

I met Gary in the fall of 2009 at our very early 8am Finance class. Owing to my *slight* obsession with Korean dramas, I naturally zeroed in on the m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶s̶s̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ best (!) looking Asian guy in class. I decided he wasn’t Korean drama standard-good looking enough to distract me from the wonderful world of present and future values so I passed (in today’s online dating terms I swiped left).

Fast forward to December of 2009 when I was stuck on a Finance question, I timidly approached him before our final exams at the far end table of the cafeteria to ask for his help. I was given a curt and dismissive answer with the trademark annoyed Gary frown. On that day, he was the one who swiped left.

Fast forward again to May 2011 when we both had to take the same Advanced Finance class (see a pattern here?) and he just so happened to be stuck on a project which I have the answer to. Since I was determined to be the bigger person after the snobbing episode two years before (!) I decided to help him out and gave him my BBM pin when he asked. Thus began a year of pooling resources to make it through the fourth year of school.

In the fall of 2011, several key things happened:

– I beat him in Advanced Accounting midterms, which I found out later caused some drama on his end,

– Somehow that led us to getting more and more chummy on BBM, talking about the most random things from puppies to farming equipment to serious life matters,

– I found out he was Christian (this was huuuge) and a decent guy underneath all that rough, serious, snobby edges,

– He fell in love with me (whether I fell first or he did first depends on who’s telling the story).

He asked me out on December 16, 2011, after feeding me Korean (!) bbq and at that we came full circle. And so thanks to BBM, Mr. E for that final finance project, and Big Daddy above who gave us opportunities for second chances despite swiping left, the rest, as they say, is history.

They’d be greatly astonished

to learn that for a long time

chance had been playing with them.

Not yet wholly ready

to transform into fate for them

it approached them, then backed off,

stood in their way,

and, suppressing a giggle,

jumped to the side.

There were signs and signals,

even if they couldn’t read them yet.

(Excerpt, “Love at First Sight” by Wislawa Szymborska, translated by Walter Whipple)

Gary’s Version

See Julie‘s version.

(He said he pleads the fifth).

—

Locations: Te Aro, Ed’s Real Scoop