Words by Maureen Young
When Julie moved in, their weekends were spent shopping and turning the condo into a home and space that was uber comfortable and created together. It seemed perfect when we heard how Jon had created a romantic space in the patio of their home to propose, and we loved that they used 3 camera types (Blackberry, point & shoot & SLR) to capture the setting!  For their engagement session, we wanted to take Julie + Jon to Banff but Rina was too ill & we rescheduled for a bit of hometown sightseeing and contrasting urban life with country pleasures.
We started the day in downtown Edmonton where the blend of brick work, glass and green space was the perfect backdrop to show off their gorgeous finds from outlet shopping.
Jon’s got the sweet tooth in this relationship and Julie’s love of coffee resulted in a $1,000 addition to their kitchen – a top of the line espresso machine so she can enjoy coffee at home rather than Starbucks. It was a beautiful summer’s day so we enjoyed both their food love, coffee and cake, in an outdoor patio.
Julie + Jon like to surprise one another with simple things; Jon will leave Julie little notes when he goes away on work and Julie will send him an email late at night if she knows he’s up early the next morning to go away on work so he has something nice to read first thing. Jon enlisted the help of their mutual friend Billy, who they met through, to help him surprise Julie with the Tiffany sunglasses (spotted perched atop her head) she wanted. Julie was definitely surprised… when she saw the holiday snaps Billy posted on Facebook… including the sunglasses. Oops!
From an urban dining experience to a rustic one – we finished the day raspberry picking. If engineering doesn’t work out for Jon, you may find him spending his summers selling vanilla ice cream beside the raspberry farm – as we were picking raspberries (Anthony’s method was ‘one for the basket, two for me!) Jon said how awesome it would be to have vanilla ice cream to go with them. From personal experience, we also know that ice cream sandwiches also go perfectly with freshly picked raspberries ;).
From the raspberry fields we strayed to the canola fields next door & even though we were covered in bug spray the raspberries made us too delicious for the mosquitoes to resist :(Â Huge props to Julie + Jon for braving the bug bites for these sensational images!
In an Infused Studios first (yes, we’re having a lot of firsts this year!) we opted for a human tripod to get the shot. Rina perched on Anthony’s shoulders (hanging on for dear life while still getting over a cold & trying to avoid falling & breaking something! Well, mostly avoid breaking the camera…) to get a more aerial view. Did we mention Julie + Jon are both very tall people? And we hadn’t brought a ladder?
Julie + Jon,we had an awesome time hanging out with you guys! We can’t wait to shoot your wedding in this month & hope you guys have some sweet memories of raspberries (hope you found some vanilla ice cream to go with them Jon!).
Love. You. Always.
A+R
P.S. hope the bug bits weren’t too itchy!
We were told by local scuba divers that the Cenote was 30 meters deep, and to our surprise, Len chuckled that he does not know how to swim. =) Luckily, we brought many make-shift flotation devices with us to keep them from drinking too much water. Here’s Len and Rachelle looking like they are on an episode of Survivor treading through the underground caverns.
This is one of the most physically and mentally demanding shot we have ever pulled on our couples. No life-vests, frigid waters, underground current, can’t swim, while trying to look GQ with spiders crawling down Len’s arm from the tree roots. =) Behind the lens, we had to tread water while shooting with 10 pounds of unprotected camera equipment at the same time while triggering off-camera lighting to create the ambiance. 
The combination of cobblestone & Louboutin stilettos wasn’t going to stop Rachelle from dancing with Len either.
If that wasn’t hot enough, these two food lovers got a taste or Mexican street food, including authentic hot sauce, which was just a bit too hot to handle for them.
After warming up our tummies, Len and Rachelle hit the local street vendors to shop for gifts for family and friends back home. Rachelle didn’t think Len was much of a hat person, and we think Len agrees. =)
Keeping the heat on were street performers who paid tribute to the newly married couple with a fire show.
To cool off, Len + Rachelle played in the water at the end of the day. Â Len, ever the loveable goofball and Rachelle, ever in love with her goofball, has a quick smile and laugh for all of his antics.
