Railway Romance ~ A Stationside Engagement Shoot…

I was going to publish these photographs to Love My Dress next Monday, but, I'll be honest, I couldn't wait.  I adore these photographs.  Excuse me if I say, I bloody well love them in fact. 

Now, presumably, most of you visiting this site will be in a pre-wedded, newly engaged state of bliss. Right?  Well, we're all human. We all have tough times and no matter how marvellous everything else around us seems, there can be times when our relationships become strained and we have to work hard to get through and find the good times again.  Next time you might be feeling that way, look at these photographs, and remember the reason you fell in love in the first place.  

I just love how Photographer Shelly Mantovani of Toast of Leeds, has captured the chemistry between this couple – that magic ingredient we call love that can be so hard to describe, but that can be so beautifully translated through photography…

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Toast of Leeds

This is Rosie and Mike, and Rosie would like to share their love story…

"Mike and I first met back in 2005 at the FarmYard Rally (Biker rally), Mike was trying to offer me and my friend Mya (maid of honour) a beer from his bag, I kept refusing, but he was quite persistent. I was trying to pull and didn’t want him cramping my style! However, I was getting quite thirsty, and as he was putting so much effort in, I decided to take him up on his offer. We had a fantastic weekend together and then both went our separate ways.

Three and half years later, we bumped into each other on Facebook, and found out that we were both single after coming out of long relationships only a couple of weeks before. Mike drove 5 hours from Hampshire to Huddersfield to come and see me. We took off right from where we left off and have been head over heels for each other ever since…"

The Proposal…

"We went on holiday to Dubrovnik, Croatia August last year with a couple of friends. One evening we all decided to go out as couples, and waved goodbye to our friends at the city walls.  We wandered around the old town looking for somewhere to sit down for a meal. I found lots of restaurants that tickled my fancy, but Mike insisted that we kept walking and find somewhere else.

We soon arrived at a posh restaurant called Gil’s where Mike casually dragged me in. As I was about to say “we need a reservation for this place” Mike gave his name to the waitress who took us straight to our table in the open, overlooking the beautiful harbour…"

"The restaurant was so posh, they gave me a stall for my handbag!!! The meal and wine were fantastic. Mike convinced me that it was an early anniversary present as he going away to Afghanistan. After the meal we made our way down to the cocktail bar on the beach, had a couple of drinks, then went for a stroll by the sea. Mike then got down on one knee and proposed. I was so shocked that I forgot to say yes and left Mike kneeling there, waiting for an answer.

After fighting back the tears, I eventually nodded to Mike’s relief. The ring was beautiful. He had chosen the perfect ring and even got the size right. When we got back to the apartment, we celebrated with our friends, and a bottle of champagne, that Mike had smuggled into our suitcase."

The Shoot…

"We chose to do a vintage style shoot at the train station as this seemed quite apt as Mike had just returned from Afghanistan, so we wanted to capture the romance of a soldier returning from war, embracing his loved one.  Mike wore his uniform and I wore a vintage style polka dot dress, red shoes and my red coat. I gave the outfit a vintage look by styling my hair in victory rolls and wearing a fascinator I bought from Portobello Road Market for £10. I added a red belt, which I bought from the pound shop and some seemed stockings to finish off the look…"

"Shelly, the photographer from ‘Toast of Leeds’ asked us to bring some props to the shoot. My Mum donated some dying blue bells, which she tied up with a bit of ribbon and my Maid of honour provided the suitcases, which she was able to borrow from the props department at the college where she works. The items we brought along really added to the look and feel we were after.

The photos were taken on the platform of Huddersfield Train Station initially, then we moved to the outside of the station, then onto the Head of Steam Pub, which had lots of vintage signs inside.  As soon as we got our first glimpse of the photos from Shelly, we were thrilled. The photos were exactly what we wanted, romantic, but with a bit of a twist.

We are going to use the photos for our save the date cards and can’t wait for our Wedding day as we now know we have definitely made the right choice of photographer. To us, the photographs are one of the most important parts of the day as they will capture memories we can look back at for the rest of our lives."

Now aren't these just wonderful photographs?  I think next time you're with your loved one, you should give them a wonderful big hug and remember for a moment the reason you fell in love with them in the first place 🙂

Visit the Toast of Leeds website for details of these wonderful Wedding and Portrait Photographers.  You can also view more engagement shoots here.

Much love,

Annabel xXx

♥