Tonya and Chris were the first couple to choose a #aeuropeanlovestory shoot from London. This was their first date day (without their kids) since moving to England so I felt privileged that they decided to spend a chunk of time with me walking through London for their photoshoot.
Chris and Tonya’s Story
Chris and I met a little over 9 years ago at a mutual friend’s house. We had seen each other before then, but hadn’t ever spoken. Once we did, we hit it off. That day we chatted and planned to go on a group date to the local amusement park. The following weekend, on the day of the group date every single person who was supposed to go with us cancelled for one reason or another. One of my friends even couldn’t go because she ran her car into her garage. Chris and I decided we would go anyway. Things couldn’t have gone better and we quickly fell in love. Just three short months after our first date, on September 5, 2006, he drove up to my college and proposed to me after one of my volleyball games. Just 6 short months after that on March 2, 2007 we were married in the Washington DC Latter-Day-Saint Temple. We lived in Hampton Roads Virginia for the first 8 years of our marriage, where we had our first born son and later a set of boy/girl twins. England is a relatively new chapter of our lives. We were just sent here earlier this year as an assignment from the USAF. We are excited to see where the rest of our love story takes us!
The Photoshoot
Tonya had specifically asked for a fun photoshoot and had sent me some photos for inspiration. I met Tonya and Chris at the park just outside Embankment Tube Station in London. This Victoria Embankment Gardens were ideal to begin our photoshoot as they were full of vibrant colours and who could resist a garden bed full of sunflowers.
After Embankment Park we moved to Waterloo bridge over the Thames River as we had a great view of Big Ben and the London Eye. Red double decker buses are iconic to London and so a photo with a bus was on the list of photos to do for the day.
The request for fun was shortly found when I saw this bus/yoghurt shop! Very appropriate for the day’s photo shoot.
Next was my favourite shot of the day. Tonya had requested a jumping shot and when I saw this red wall I knew we had the perfect location for this type of shot.
Now that they were warmed up it was time for some more romantic shots along the Thames River in an area know as Southbank.
