love shoot: west end romance {megan & olly}

Happy Monday lovelies!!

We’re starting off this week a little differently.. I am absolutely thrilled to share a very special love story illustrated with images from one of my very favourite photographers,  Anneli Marinovich.  Megan and Olly’s engagement shoot, in the vibrant streets of London’s West End is a celebration of their time here in our beautiful city, and their unexpected love.  Megan, originally from the US, and Olly from Germany, met in ‘one in a billion’ circumstances, and less than a year later are planning their wedding!

Their tale is a true love story, and no better way to hear it than in Megan’s own words ~

Wednesday will mark the one-year anniversary of our first date. If you had told me one year ago that I would be writing the story of my relationship, engagement, and the beginnings of my wedding planning adventures, I would have laughed, then thanked you for having faith in me…and laughed again. In October 2012, I was finishing my Master’s degree in London, and a friend of mine asked if I needed some part-time work to earn a little cash. The event was a pop-up restaurant and art gallery in the Old Vic Tunnels underneath Waterloo station. Four chefs were invited to create a menu for the event- and Olly was one of them. He makes the most incredible sushi, and everyone was buzzing about it, so I was curious to see who this guy was. At first, I noticed how kind he was to the other chefs – if you’ve ever been in a kitchen (think ‘Restaurant Nightmares’), you’ll know this is not the norm, so I was quite impressed. I wanted to talk to him, but he was incredible busy and serious about his work. So, I asked if I could help plate up some sushi before service started and (luckily) because they were in a bind, he said yes. A few days later, we went out after work to get a bite to eat, and talked for hours. The event only lasted for three weeks, and he had to return to Germany. Two days later, he called me and told me he thought he was in love with me. Ever the realist, I told him he should wait to tell me that after we spent more time together and he really got to know me. He called me again two days later and said, “No, I thought about it- I’m in love with you. I’m sorry, I know it would be smarter to wait to say that to you, but I’m going to say it now because it’s true right now – I love you.” This is still what I love about him most to this day- with Olly, there is no being afraid of honesty; of expressing feelings. It’s all on the table.

Although we were technically “long-distance” (him in Frankfurt, myself in London), we normally never went more than one or two weeks without seeing each other. He had to work through Christmas, and I was going home to the States for three weeks, and that would be the longest we would be apart since we started dating. Two days before Christmas, he asked if it would be okay if he flew to Pittsburgh and stayed with my family for a week. You can imagine my answer…

I am the oldest of three girls, and, particularly considering my parents still have a 17 year-old at home, they are rather protective. You can imagine their hesitation when I told them I knew without a doubt I would marry this man. I told every one of them that I understood their concerns perfectly – I just asked that they wait until they met him, and then they could let me know what they thought. After he visited for a week, my parents both stood in the doorway with tears in their eyes as I drove him to the airport. My father, who is normally terribly quiet and diplomatic when it comes to his daughters’ boyfriends, was talking to our neighbour later that day. The neighbour said, “Boy, it seems like those two are getting serious- you might be planning a wedding soon.” My dad replied, “I’ll tell you what- if she doesn’t marry him, I’ll kill her, and marry him myself.” THAT was the real seal of approval.

By mid-January, we had both met each others’ parents and I was spending every second week in Frankfurt, which was no small feat considering I was writing my dissertation at the time. In March, we planned to spend Olly’s birthday weekend in Kitzbuehel, Austria, where a friend of Olly’s had built a new house and kindly offered to lend it to him for a few days. On Sunday, March 11th (Olly’s 29th birthday), he was acting particularly strange. When I asked him what he wanted to do, he replied that he definitely didn’t want to go skiing, but maybe we should take a walk on one of the mountain trails. I thought it was a great idea, but when we arrived at the base of the lift, he told me it was too foggy and we wouldn’t be able to see anything. We got back in the car and were driving around, and he told me to “look for a good place to take a walk”. We got out twice, and after about 10 minutes, he would stop and say, “This isn’t really so special, huh?”. I was massively confused, but I humoured him because it was his birthday. Finally, we went back to the house. Snow started to fall, so I lit some candles and laid down on the sofa. He said we should have a bottle of champagne. As I lied there with my eyes closed, he came over and gave me a long kiss. I smiled and said, “What are you doing?” He said, “Giving you a kiss…and asking you to marry me”. He had cut away part of a strawberry and stuck my ring inside. “It’s my birthday, so it would be a really great present if you would say yes,” he said. I was beyond surprised to the point that I realized I hadn’t said yes yet! It was truly the perfect day.

After spending the next months commuting to and from the continent, we decided that, after I finished my Master’s degree, we would go to the Bahamas for my sister’s wedding, spend a few days in New York, and I would then move to Frankfurt. He has worked years to establish his career, which, at the moment, is in Frankfurt. Seeing as how I am just beginning mine, it was certainly the best option for us.

On July 15th, after he spent three days in London meeting my friends and spending time my favourite places (I wanted to share those memories with him), I said goodbye to London. I cried so many times those last days- doing my favourite, everyday things for the last time; having a glass of Pinotage at Gordon’s Wine Bar, eating Laduree, taking a walk down Upper Street in Islington (my neighbourhood). I don’t think I’ll ever love any other city so much…but I love him more. In fact, I won’t try to explain all the reasons, because I could write forever. He is the most caring, compassionate, giving, selfless, honest person I’ve ever known. He has such a good heart, and everything he touches, says, and does reflects that. When the logical side of me points out I committed the rest of my life to someone I knew for less than five months, it’s quickly quieted by the fact that, practical though it may not have been, I know he wants every day to give me the best life a person can have. I love that we could not have had more different lives until the point when we met- it ensures we are always learning from each other (languages included). Even though I miss London like crazy, I love that we are making memories in different places, all over the world. When we come back to London, we’ll always talk about that amazing dinner we had at Viajante, our first off-work weekend when we stayed at the Gore Hotel, or riding the ferris-wheel at Winter Wonderland, along with so many other wonderful things we shared in my favourite city.

At first we were planning the wedding in Frankfurt with a projected date in October 2013, but, as we looked around, we just weren’t finding anything that we felt in our hearts was the right place for us. It’s quite tricky trying to decide these things with families on two continents – Olly is originally from Berlin, I from Pittsburgh, and we don’t want to have a wedding in either of those cities. So, we’re now embarking on the task of picking a location that will offer a nice break for all our guests. It will absolutely be about what we love, but it’s also important to us to give a great time to everyone who is travelling to be with us on our special day. Being a chef, he is adamant that the food is exquisite. Having worked in high-end events during my time in London, the reception décor, band, etc. are my main priorities. Luckily, we are both on the same page in that we want it to be classic and elegant- a church ceremony, and reception in a castle or country manor, some lovely gardens or a river nearby. We want it to last ‘til the wee hours of the morning, and want each guest to dance, have a full belly, and a glass of champagne in their hand until the sun comes up. Perhaps it will be in New York (Olly’s pick), or the UK, France, or Italy, or at a vineyard in Autumn (my favoured option)… right now, it is purely a question mark, so if there are any suggestions, please send them our way, because we are so lost!

Maybe I’m taking the planning too seriously, but it’s hard not to. It’s not just a party for me. For us, marriage is not a legal contract that can be broken under the right circumstances. It is a promise to each other, our families, the children we will someday have (if we are so lucky), and to God that we will love and care for this amazing gift of having each other every day for the rest of our lives. There was every reason in the world we should not have met – to say the chances were less than one in a billion would be overstating the odds. Whether it happened due to pure luck, fate, or God’s hand, I will never see it as anything short of a miracle that we found each other, and I will never stop being grateful for it. If that doesn’t deserve the most beautiful of celebrations, I don’t know what does.

As of March 2014, I’m delighted to welcome Megan as a Real Life Bride for 2014! Follow her planning story here