Tracy and Hayden’s Elegant Engagement in Toronto

Tracy and Hayden started dating during their senior year of high school in 2010. Their romance was short lived and they decided to continue their relationship as friends before starting college on different continents. The time Tracy and Hayden spent apart only strengthened the love they have for one another. When they finally reunited they knew they were meant to be together as husband and wife.

Read all about Tracy and Hayden’s relationship, romantic proposal, and their multi-location engagement session in Toronto, Canada.

Bride & Groom-to-be: Tracy & Hayden
Occupations: Litigation Lawyer & Software Developer
Wedding Date: June 23, 2018
Wedding Ceremony: A private farmhouse in Ontario, Canada
Engagement Session Location:Hayden and Tracy’s backyard, the Estates at Sunnybrook, and Toronto’s historical Distillery District (all in Toronto, Canada)

Tell us about how you met and all about the proposal. We met in our last semester of high school, in 2010. Because we accepted positions at universities on different continents, we decided to break up ahead of the fall 2010 semester. Hayden pursued his software engineering and computer science majors in Ontario, while Tracy studied law for three years in the UK.

We spent quite a bit of our time apart as friends, which really helped us build a solid foundation for our relationship when we were finally both on the same soil again. Neither of us can really remember a prolonged period when we weren’t really in contact, as difficult as some of that time was.

Hayden proposed at the Estates at Sunnybrook, where we later took our casual engagement shots. We were out on a night drive after dinner, checking out some mansions in the area. It was a really cool night out because there was a pretty crazy thunderstorm in the distance, but the air where we were was still and it wasn’t raining. The Estates have these really old manor houses, and because it was so late the area was completely deserted. It was a really beautiful night.

Describe your engagement session. Our engagement session was cross-cultural (like we are), but we didn’t ascribe to any particular theme. We started with a few shots in our backyard, dressed in traditional (Ugandan) dress. Because we are generally quite casual, we wanted to make sure our photos depicted us as close to our natural state as possible. So the more formal traditional shots (which were a bit “pose-y”) were shot in our backyard.

We then dressed down and took our “western” photos at these beautiful estate gardens (Sunnybrook) just up the street from our house. Our photographer assured us that the photos would turn out, but because we spent a lot of the session goofing around, we were pretty sure we’d end up looking silly.

Closer to dusk, we finished our session in Toronto’s historical distillery district. We were lucky to have such a patient and talented photographer, who was happy to do three locations, and did the engagement shoot mainly to break the ice with us ahead of the wedding.

What did you do on your first date? We watched Death at a Funeral after dinner at a local chain restaurant.

What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple? Elaborate home dinner parties for two; followed by a comedy-movie night featuring unintentionally funny films.

How has wedding planning been so far? Because we are going full-scale DIY, we know most of the heavy lifting will come closer to the date. At first, Hayden didn’t know planning includes food-tasting; so he’s pretty stoked for that. Tracy is in the business of organization, so she’s also in her element.

Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day. Celebrating the day together, with our closest family and friends; and seeing if our home-made wine will actually turn out!

Vendors:
Photographer: Jessica Ruxton Photography
Traditional Outfits: Handmade by the talented seamstresses of Kampala, Uganda