Julia and Adam

I think what I adore most about Julia and Adam’s engagement shoot (captured by Stephen Govel) is how much fun the newly engaged couple had.  I love an engagement shoot that is full of silly faces, cracking up with laughter and generally hanging out together because that is after all what many a relationship is about!

Julia and Adam joined their photographer at sunrise in Manly for a truly beautiful engagement shoot.

Adam tells of how they met. “We met in a small mountain town in Alberta, Canada called Banff. As the Athletic Director for a private ice hockey academy, one of my roles was to cultivate our relationship with the community. As such, I was hanging around a lake with some friends where I ran into someone I knew that worked at the lululemon in Banff. I knew two things about lululemon: 1) they set a priority on building their relationship with the community as well; and 2) their stores were populated almost exclusively with fit, young and energetic women. The perfect match! I suggested to this friend that we should discuss a potential partnership between businesses and she suggested I come in and talk to their Community Manager, Julia Henley. When I finally did, I was immediately introduced to my future wife…though I didn’t know it then. I tried to play cat and mouse for a while but eventually jumped in and asked her on a date….a group date (don’t judge me). While that date proved awkward on more levels than this space allows, we eventually made a date for just the two of us and it took off from there.”

Adam says, “I love Julia because she makes me a better man. She is classically beautiful, inappropriately funny and fiercely loyal. She makes me laugh, she drives me crazy and she blows my mind. ”

Julia remarks, “I love Adam because he is an amazingly kind and loyal man who has the ability to make me laugh no matter how mad I am at him.”

“On one of our first dates we had intended to go to the Banff Hot Springs and enjoy the romance of the whole place. Unfortunately the hot springs were closed that night for repairs and we were forced to make alternate plans. We decided a nice home cooked dinner for two with some music would be very appropriate. As such we went to the grocery store to get supplies at which point, I reverted to my real self..a semi-professional 8 year old. I saw they had Mr. Bubble bubble-bath on sale and as I hadn’t seen this since I was a REAL 8 year old, I was drawn to it. I called Julia over to have a look and she grabbed it to investigate. As she uncapped the lid and placed the bottle’s spout close to her nose to test the scent I was overcome with what can only be explained as juvenile, male idiocy. I succumbed. I reached out and squeezed the bottle at the precise moment Julia took a healthy breath in.

Sadly she wasn’t greeted with a refreshing, springtime aroma, rather a globulous, soapy stream that blasted past her usual human defenses and proceeded immediately down her nasal passage and into the back of her throat where it settled. The scene following this error in judgment was one of pure horror and hilarity. As Julia coughed up soap bubbles and blue goop dripped from her nose (hilarious), I felt a wave of terror. I was pretty sure our date had ended just as quickly as it started (horror). To my surprise, Julia laughed (and coughed) her way back to normality only to punch me (hard) on the shoulder and call me an expletive with a huge smile on her face. I fell in love with her immediately. Though it would take me many, many more months to actually tell her.”

“I proposed to Julia in the same place we met, a lululemon store. Since we first met we have loved in many different places, sometimes together and sometimes apart. We are currently loving our life in Sydney, Australia and the common denominators have always been friends and lululemon. I decided to approach her closest friends (and a couple of my own) and see what they thought of a public proposal. They loved it. So did I. I waited until her store was closed at 6pm on a Friday (or so I thought). I asked her manager to get involved by coming in and scheduling a meeting with her late in the day otherwise she would have gone home. I had 3 of her best friends from North America on iPads via Skype being held by our friends here in Australia. With her in her office meeting with her manager, we all met in Martin Place in Sydney’s CBD. We marched down the street to her store and much to my surprise, they didn’t close at 6pm. With shoppers cruising around, I had all our friends form a line outside her office and then asked one of her staff to get her from the back. As she came out she first asked ‘is it someone’s birthday?’ and then I came out from behind a wall and took got down on one knee. Between fits of surprise, excitement and what I think was fear (for me), I managed not to cry and Julia managed to say yes. The rest, as they say, is history.”

“The best photos we’ve seen have really captured the personalities of the couple and we wanted to do the same. As we are generally laughing and doing silly things, we wanted our photos to say that. We also wanted it to represent where we are, here in Manly, NSW. Through much searching and reference checking we finally found our photographic God-send, Stephen Govel. His use of light, coloring, location and interesting and quirky shots was exactly what we were looking for. His work looked awesome and after meeting him, his personality spoke to us. It was an immediate match and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”