RACHAEL & FRANCESCA’S COLORFUL LONDON STREET COUPLE SHOOT

If you follow this blog regularly you know by now I’m a total sucker for urban scapes and love street art. It;s always an amazing backdrop for a couple shoot. These two gorgeous and totally badass women were beautifully photographed on streets of London by talented Jo of Joasis Photography. And Rachael tells us their story.

TELL US THE STORY OF HOW YOU MET 

Myself & Francesca met through our work as police officers in London. Believe it or not Francesca was my mentor for the TSG- riot police! We used to have to do circuits together at the beginning of the shift to keep fit for our physically demanding role. She used to wear these fairly short pink gym shorts, she certainly got my attention! We kept it professional for a short while but on a work night out Francesca finally plucked up the courage to kiss me, we’ve hardly spent a day apart since, although we do now both work in different departments in the Police so I no longer get to see those short shorts on a daily basis ;) 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

DO YOU HAVE AN ENGAGEMENT STORY?

Very early on in our relationship I knew she was the one and began planning my proposal, I collected bottles of wine and Prosecco that we had drank and put labels on them with the date we drank them and whether it was a special occasion or a just because bottle – there were a fair few “just because” weekend brunch bottles of Prosecco! After finding a cute little hideaway called “The Glade” which was a 2 person private glamping pod, I then contacted Ami from Lo and Behold Bespoke to decorate and style the woodland for me. I took Francesca to a spa for the day in the New Forest and on our return the whole area around the Glade was lined with the wine bottles I had collected with candles lit, leading up to a fire pit area that was beautifully decorated.

That’s where I very hurriedly popped the question (Francesca began asking questions as soon as she noticed the bottles were ours and I had to tell her to shut up basically so I could propose haha!). I’d had a little artwork framed that was “pebble art” it depicts me, in the form of some pebbles, holding out an engagement ring to Cesca, theres even a cute little pebble daschund as I couldn’t completely leave our fur baby out of my plan! So when she unwrapped this from the gift wrap I was down on one knee and just about managed to ask her to marry me before blubbing! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS COUPLE SHOOT?

One of our first proper dates was in Shoreditch East London and we still regularly go there for our date nights. We love to look at the graffiti and explore the markets and food halls before grabbing a cocktail in a speakeasy. We wanted to keep the shoot casual and just be ourselves as much as possible without dressing up too much because I was extremely nervous about being photographed and get awkward in front of the camera whereas Cesca is a true professional! Shoreditch was just the perfect environment for this fun shoot filled with PDA because we refuse to not be ourselves in public, if people don’t like to see us kissing or holding hands then quite frankly, they can just look the other way! We have just as much right to love in full and proud than anyone else 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR WEDDING PLANS

We love south east London! So of course we were keen to keep our venue in line with our personalities and things we enjoy doing normally. We always try to hang out with Hank our furry baby locally whether that be in Peckham Rye park or in one of the many amazing brunch cafes. Francesca initially came up with the idea of Peckham Springs as it’s edgy, urban, and more importantly has a street food shipping container! When we came for our first look around we could already see our vision for the day coming to life. We could see past the graffiti and realise it’s full potential. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

HOW DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER?

We spent hours online looking for a photographer that would inspire us! Then we would look at their Instagram pages to get a good gauge of style. Finally we narrowed it down to three potentials and met/skyped with all 3 but ultimately the decision was easy in the end. Within a few minutes of first meeting Jo in our local tapas bar because luckily for us she happens to live in the same town, we knew it was a perfect fit. Everything from Jo’s professionalism, personability and humor was exactly what we were looking for to ensure we would be totally comfortable have her take our picture. Her work speaks for itself.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Photography by one of our recommended photographers Joasis Photography – check out Jo’s website, instagram and listing in our Supplier Directory.

---