Ellie & Jon

 The historic Ripponlea in Melbourne has to be one of my favourite backdrops with so many incredible spaces to explore and what a location for engagement photos!

There is so much to explore and together with their photographer Kylee of Kytography , Ellie and Jon made the most of it for their engagement photographs! The pair married in New York in March.

Of how they met, Ellie recalls “My first memory of Jonathan was at a university ball. He was a major geek and I didn’t really think I would ever see or let alone talk to him again. However after the ball he started appearing everywhere I went, as if out of thin air – at the uni cafes, the uni libraries (both the main AND law libraries), the uni carpark, and even in my lectures!”

Jonathan remembers, “My first memory of Ellie was seeing her asleep on the couch at the same university ball. How could I resist such grace? I was infatuated with her and naturally as I was studying law I started to do my due diligence on her. ”

Ellie remarks, “Jonathan is very patient, kind, generous and helpful. He is nice not only to me but to everyone else.”

Jonathan notes, “Ellie is a very loyal person. Show her genuine kindness and you will have made a friend for life. Going hand in hand with this is her very determined, driven and stylish sense of self. When she sets her mind to something she’ll make it happen, all whilst carrying herself with a sense of fashionable style and grace.”

Their proposal story goes a little something like this. “About a year ago Jonathan and Ellie decided to take a last minute 6 week trip to Europe. Towards the end of the holiday Jonathan and Ellie actually took a ‘sidetrip’ to New York City. Ellie had always wanted to go to NYC. The trip was organized last minute and Ellie had no idea that Jonathan was going to propose.

But Jonathan had a plan. First, he fabricated a story whereby he casually started mentioning that his friend was in town. After a few days, this then turned into the friend wanting to take the both of them out to lunch, and that he would send his ‘driver’ to pick them up in his stretch limo. Riding around in a limo in NYC was always one of Ellie’s fantasies as she is a closet lover of the teen drama TV show ‘Gossip Girl’.

However, Hurricane Irene had actually just rolled through New York City and had left behind some torrential rain for the day that this ‘lunch’ was supposed to take place. Jonathan’s months of planning was now in ruin, as the carefully selected Rockefeller Center rooftop garden where he planned to propose had now become a rooftop swimming pool. Jonathan madly tried to stop the plan he had put in motion and cancelled everything. He was largely successful, but couldn’t cancel the stretch limo that he had ordered. Craftily, Jonathan instructed the driver to pretend that the friend sent his apologies and that he could not make the lunch.”

“As an apology Jonathan and Ellie could use his driver as they pleased, so they ended up driving around NYC for 2 hours just for the fun of it! Jonathan eventually managed to reschedule his planned surprise. He stuck with his story of his friend wanting to have lunch, but Ellie was so annoyed at the previous cancelled lunch that she refused to go. Improvising, Jonathan told Ellie that his friend had booked a ‘private tour’ of the Rockefeller Center for them. That managed to get her out the door.

All trip long she had wanted to visit the Top of The Rock but Jonathan always managed to come up with an excuse. As they arrived at the Rockefeller Center they were greeted at a private entrance, and were shown to a private lift to the rooftop garden. When they stepped out, Ellie said “Errrr, what is this? This ain’t the Rockefeller center! We need to go to level 38 not level 8! We must be in the wrong place!” Jonathan calmly but firmly ushered Ellie out on to the rooftop and in to the beautiful sunshine. It was then and there that Jonathan knelt down on his knee and said some magical words that only he will ever know, as Ellie was so stunned that she couldn’t hear a thing.

When she recovered of course said yes, but when she regained her senses she said ‘but I really wanted to go to the 38th floor!” ”