It was at university that today’s lovers met one another. Hope, starting her study at the University of Wollongong, where it just happened Tosin was studying for his Master’s degree The pair’s paths crossed when Tosin, who played badminton most weekends with friends, returned to the court after a few weeks absence. “I hadn’t played for a while having moved up to Sydney but came down one faithful Saturday and met her for the first time” he remembers. “She was new to the game so we got to talking while I gave her some pointers. After four amazing years as a couple, she now has my last name.”

And today? We get to share their engagement session, a cloudy, rainy Sydney day providing the backdrop for Sydney’s famous Rocks district to really sparkle thanks to these two. “Hope and I have a lot of memories in Sydney where we’ve both lived for several years,” explains Tosin, who together with Hope, decided to have Bailey & Finch Productions join them for a day wandering around the streets.

It makes sense that Sydney provided the backdrop for this session because it was also Sydney that provided the perfect setting for Tosin to ask Hope to mary him. “Her sisters came to Sydney for the first time to visit and amongst other places, we visited the Royal Botanic Garden” he remembers. “Hope and I were posing for a picture where she was facing away from me. I got down on one knee with the ring and she knew something was off when her sisters started screaming. Needless to say, she was surprised and said ‘Yes’ even though the ring didn’t quite fit.”

 

On what Tosin adores about Hope, he shares “I noticed very early in our relationship how easy it was to be myself around her. She’s seen the best and worst of me but has never left my side. Hope is God-fearing, kind and very easy to talk to but it was her effortless beauty that caught my attention at first.”

The stories are always our favourite part of an engagement session, and these two have plenty! “We went camping on the central coast once and there was an activity called Leap of Faith. It involved climbing onto and jumping off a platform about 10 metres high. There were safety harnesses so it wasn’t dangerous. The whole process takes roughly 15 minutes but it became clear how bad Hope’s fear of heights was when she spent close to an hour ‘almost’ jumping off. It wasn’t so funny for her at the time but I had a good laugh knowing it was perfectly safe. She ended up leaping but clearly did not have as much fun as I did ;)”