Fun and Romantic E-Session in London

There are thousands of men living in the New York City area, but Shadé found her Nigerian Prince in London, far from the Big Apple.  She and Ogonna’s love affair is a bit of a modern-day fairy tale; they met on OkCupid during her trip to London in 2011. While staying at her aunt’s house, she described the popular dating app to her cousins, who asked her to show them how it worked. Ogonna was the first person to show on her feed, she messaged him and they agreed to hangout when she made the trip back into the city. When they met, it was if they had known each other for years; things went so well they spent the rest of her visit spending time together. Two years and thousands of airline miles later, they are planning a destination wedding in London. They had two e-sessions, one in Liverpool and the other at the Tower Bridge in London. Their photographers, Photography Unknown (Liverpool) and Candid Creativity (London) helped showcase the love these two have for each other even with an ocean between them.

First encounter

While backpacking around Europe with my sister, we stopped in London for a week to stay with family. I was hoping to get swept off my feet by some British bloke, but my cousin was so much younger than me, she had nobody to hook me up with!

Jokingly, I asked her, “Don’t you guys have OkCupid in this country?!” She had no clue what I was talking about, so I pulled out the app on my phone (don’t judge me, lol), which was defaulted to show me my matches within a 50 mile radius. Well, lo and behold, not only did they have OkCupid in London, but the first match on the list was a cutie! “Send him a message!’ my cousin prodded. So, I did. I told him that I was visiting for the week and asked if he’d be interested in showing me around. The next day he wrote back, asking me out for drinks. We agreed to make it a double date and I brought my sister along.

From the moment we met, we hit it off, laughing and joking like old friends. I loved how thoughtful and attentive he was to my sister and I, and most of all, the way he took my hand when we were crossing a busy intersection. We agreed to meet again the next day at Buckingham Palace for some sightseeing. At the end of the day, he walked us to our train, but this time, I was leaving for good. We hugged, agreed to keep in touch, and I left, thinking I had probably just made a new Facebook friend. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Proposal

After nine months of four hour (and up!) daily Skype sessions and a few more trips back to London, Ogonna popped the question at our favorite Indian restaurant where we had our first one-on-one date when I first came back to visit him.

The engagement session…

We had two engagement sessions. The first was on Ogonna’s birthday at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool and in the park next door. The Liverpool Football Club is Ogonna’s favorite, so I booked a tour for us and our photographer, and they allowed us to take all the pictures we’d like. It was a birthday gift to remember, for sure! We scrambled around Liverpool that morning to find someone to personalize our jerseys for us. I think they came out alright :)

Our second session was a little more romantic and sentimental. Tower Bridge is the bridge we walked across on the night we met, sharing stories about ourselves and building our own little bridge. I hadn’t been back to the bridge since we met, so I found myself getting a little mushy as we recollected our first encounter and how far we’d come since.

Looking forward to…

I am looking forward to my father finally meeting my husband-to-be in person!

Vendors

• Photography Unknown (Liverpool)
• Candid Creativity (London)