Amy & Brandon

Amy and Brandon are one of many, many couples whose wedding plans are up in the air due to COVID. To commemorate the rollercoaster of a year they’ve had as an engaged couple, they put together this DIY COVID themed shoot! We love the humour of it and hope it gives you a laugh as we usher out this super strange year. Below, Amy shares her and Brandon’s love story, then tells us how this quirky styled shoot came together and why.

Brandon and I met way back in high school in 2012. We went to different schools but ended up in the same Debutante Ball group as Brandon’s girlfriend at the time asked him to come and participate in our school’s ball as her partner. We actually ended up separated from our partners in the official Deb photograph and ended up right next to each other. We reconnected again in 2016 even though I was living an hour and a half away. After many weekends driving back and forward to each others towns, I eventually decided to move back to my hometown where Brandon lived and we moved in together after only three months of dating. I knew that moving in together so soon could make or break us, and luckily it was the smoothest transition ever.

I really feel like we have more differences than similarities, which works perfectly for us. I am a total introvert and Brandon is the complete opposite. He helps me come out of my shell while I help him stay grounded and focused. I always joke that we NEVER would have been friends in school given how different we both are, but as a couple it works so well for us.

When it came time to get engaged, I foiled my own proposal. Brandon had planned a weekend away and was being very secretive about it all. We had already discussed getting engaged and he clearly said this weekend was NOT IT. I had previously joked that he wasn’t really the planning type and this just seemed like his way of proving me wrong about that. We drove to Woodlands Rainforest Retreat in Narbethong, and for some reason, even as we walked into this stunning secluded cabin with rose petals everywhere, I still didn’t click onto what was about to happen. It had been a long drive and I had a lot of coffee, so right as Brandon was about to go down on one knee, I shrieked “I need to pee” and ran to the bathroom. Poor thing had to kneel down outside the bathroom door and wait for me to come out.

In November of 2019, I purchased a Mia Solano dress off the rack which I intended to wear for our wedding. A few months later I actually won a big wedding competition which included a brand new Madi Lane dress. I ordered the Madi Lane dress and so I had the original dress as a spare.

Since the competition win left me with two wedding dresses and our wedding plans are a little up in the air, my groom and I decided to have a fun COVID style shoot with my first dress to try to make light of the rollercoaster year we have had as an engaged couple! We decided to have a local photographer Alicia Flegeltaub do the honours. I knew she had a good sense of humor so when I hit her up with my idea she was so excited to shoot it for us.

We did the shoot in my grandmother’s backyard as she has such a lovely garden. We’re in the process of building our first home and our current house has absolutely no backyard.

I wanted to use the photos on a potential ‘change the date’ or virtual wedding invitation – and because I loved my original wedding dress so much that I wanted to get some photos in it, even if they are silly ones! We exaggerated all the elements of the year, such as the panic buying of toilet paper and wearing face masks. I really wanted the photos to look really ridiculous and over the top, for humour’s sake and also to ensure nobody who saw the photos thought they were real wedding photos! Although I did get a few very confused “congrats” texts when they went up on social media.

I have had many a nightmare that these photos are exactly what our real wedding will look like, so it seemed fitting. I love to document times in my life and wanted to have a record of how we felt during 2020 – even though we are insanely fortunate that COVID has not cancelled our wedding in January 2021.

Our photos have been published in our local newspaper and have really helped me deal with some of the stress that comes with waiting to see what is going to happen with our real wedding in January 2021!

 

Ms Floral: Good on you both for having such a fantastic sense of humour about this! We have all our fingers and toes crossed for you and your 2021 wedding!