Summer engagement // Coal Harbour & English Bay // Vancouver, Canada

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A Coal Harbour engagement session made all the more special because it was with friends! 

There may only be a few times in one’s career when a person gets the chance to work with his or her friends. Not friends from the office, not friends you met in a work conference, not your former boss-turned-bestie, but your ACTUAL friends. The ones you knew from way back when and have no relation to your work industry whatsoever.

Of course, the initial response would be, “OMG, this is going to be sooo much fun!” But then later, you realize that it’s not all fun and games. There is actually a huge pressure that comes along with it.  

I found myself in this exact situation when I did the Coal Harbour engagement shoot for two of my close friends, Gino and Ria. Gino was basically my first friend when I moved to Vancouver seven years ago. It was through him that I met the other people who eventually became my good friends here in Vancouver.

It was not long before Gino and I both met Ria. And after hanging out a few times, I just knew there was something between the two of them. Our other friends and I even conspired and imagined scenarios of how to leave them alone together whenever there was a big gathering. We really rooted for them to become a couple.  

And obviously, they did! (yeah, the whole thing is a spoiler)

After almost six years of being together, Gino and Ria got engaged. I was so happy to be their photographer, but I also felt really pressured to do an amazing job for my friends. The couple decided to do their engagement photoshoot within the city of Vancouver, to pay homage to the place where the two first met.

The first stop: Jack Poole Plaza in Coal Harbor. Jack Poole Plaza is a wide open area that’s used for community gatherings and key events such as Canada Day and the New Year’s Eve celebration. The couple took a stroll in the Plaza and even shared a kiss under the Olympic Cauldron, one of the iconic symbols of downtown Vancouver.  

We then proceeded to take more photos by the Sea Wall and Stanley Park, where the couple posed sweetly under Gino’s favorite tree.

The last stop was at English Bay, because Ria wanted to have a few photos with the Macmillan Space Museum in the background. And yes, as you may have guessed, it was where they had their first date.

The photoshoot ended with all of us having smiles on our faces, laughing at our inside jokes, and enjoying the fruits of our labour.  As a Vancouver-based wedding photographer, and more importantly, their friend, nothing could make me happier than to document their Coal Harbour engagement session, in the city where their love story first came to life.