Before we dive into Tony and Claire’s wedding day (coming up this afternoon!) it’s important to hear the love story where it all began. It’s the tale of two Americans who met in college, moved abroad and became engaged while living in Florence. Naturally, they asked KT Merry to photograph their e-session in the city that holds their hearts with their sweet pup, Louie along for the fun.
From KT… Two Americans who meet during their final year at Northwestern University followed their work to Italy and found themselves engaged and living abroad in one of the world’s most romantic cities – Florence. To document their love of travel and this adventurous time in their life we photographed Claire and Tony (and their darling lab, Louie!) in the their new home amisdt the history and busy culture that make Florence such a magical place. The birthplace of the Renaissance is the perfect place to begin a love story…
From the bride… Tony and I met in January 2012 during our senior year at Northwestern University. We were at one of the city’s trashiest college bars and I was inebriated beyond recollection and feeling bold. I introduced myself to Tony, who unbeknownst to me was the designated driver that evening, chatted his ear off and quizzed him on my name several times throughout our conversation. Later that night as Tony tried to end his night early as the designated driver, he asked if I wanted a ride back to Evanston, which I misinterpreted as him trying to make a pass and responded, “Um, no! But if you want, you can ask me for my number and maybe we can go out sometime…” Surprisingly, Tony took me up on the offer and asked me for my number. Tony texted two days later and asked to go to Peet’s Coffee on Sunday, where we had our first sober conversation and I decided he was “The One.” We had our first official date on Tuesday, our first kiss on Saturday, and the rest, as they say, is history! In December 2014 Tony and I were living in Florence, Italy and planning to visit my home in California over the holidays. Tony tried his hardest to keep the proposal a secret, but I spoiled the surprise when I “accidentally” stumbled across a text message about the engagement from his mother. However, Tony did surprise me when he popped the question on Christmas Eve in front of all of my family and planned a surprise engagement party with all of our friends and family. We knew we wanted to get married in Northern California, but we wanted our engagement photo session to document our time living abroad in Florence, Italy. Fortunately, our wedding photographer, KT Merry, was in Greece for a destination wedding and we were able to coordinate a destination engagement session several months prior to the big day.
We met with KT and her husband, Chad, bright and early at 6AM to avoid the crowds, catch the sunrise, and hit up some of our favorite spots in Florence. KT and Chad were both so professional, personable, and friendly and made our engagement session such a fun and relaxing experience.
We are so happy we decided to do an engagement session in Florence because it gave us an opportunity to document our time abroad with an amazing photographer in a city that has played a huge role in our relationship and will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Photography: KT Merry Photography