Here comes part 2 of this elopement-like engagement session. If you've read part 1 of Jess and Jo's almost- elopement (click to see the post), you knew already that I'm attempting to make this story a screenplay but I'm really not the best screen writer. That's okay. We don't have to be perfect. It's the flaw that brings out the beauty. This is so true when it comes to planning a wedding. Many of my couples wanted to elope while others wanted to have an intimate destination wedding. They don't personally buy the idea of throwing a big fat wedding and only wanted the closest people in their live to celebrate this special day with. Many ended up having a sizeable wedding for their family. It's a noble idea that I respected, to embrace one's culture and to make the parents and often also the grandparents happy on this special occasion. I'm an agreeable rebel myself. I understand that sometimes there's a discrepancy between the things that we really wanted to do and the things that we've actually done. In that small space lives our traditions and values. It's the sparks created by the agreeable side of us and the rebellious side of us make us unique. Jess and Jo gave up their original idea of getting married in Normandie, France, a town that's a couple hours outside of Paris where Jo's family home was. Instead, they're getting married in Toronto, where they both called home now. Jess and Jo came up with this idea for their engagement session to elope to Paris Ontario. They really said to me to have an adventurous road trip to Paris and snapped some engagement pictures. But in my mind, I heard an intimate elopement to a place that has symbolic meanings to two people who're very much in love. In the first episode, Jess and Jo stopped by an American style diner in Brantford. That marked a cool intro of this elopement saga as Jo was the biggest movie fan and he always had this fascination with a very American looking scene that he would find himself in. Not to neglect the fact that Jess and Jo were two food lovers and that shared hotdog and milkshake really said something about their relationship. In part 2, we arrived in Paris. Paris Ontario is a small town 15 mins north of Brantford by the Grand River, in the county of Brant. It was voted "the Prettiest Little Town in Canada" by Harrowsmith Magazine. We explored downtown Paris by foot and had the most spontaneous engagement session. We all rebels at heart should treat an engagement session like an elopement wedding. It really is an intimate time shared by two lovers who're committing to each other. It doesn't matter what we call it and it doesn't matter where we were. It only matters who we're with. When we look into the eyes of the person we love, we see all the possibilities, we see our dreams and our purpose. A day in Paris with Jess and Jo was like that. It's subtly emotional to look back to. It didn't occur to me as clearly at the time. But in all these pictures, their love for each other was evidential. It's in their eyes. It's in their body, in their blood. It's in all the in-between moments and the unspoken words. It's nothing dramatic. It's just subtle and penetrating. This day in Paris Ontario reminds me of the movie Before Sunset, filmed in the other Paris. They're both intuitive and effortlessly beautiful. They're documentary of a day in life that's worth being remembered.
xx,
Ally
Please find vendor credits in part 1 of this sequel, Elope in Paris Ontario.
Click to see part 1 and part 3 of this local elopement story:
part 1 - Elope in Paris Ontario
part 3 - Eloped