As a couple who loves fashion – for some time, we’d been getting excited about our engagement shoot! While we had initially thought about doing it in Paris, we decided as London is our home, where we met, and where we see our future, we wanted to be able to capture this moment and look back on it knowing the setting was meaningful to us.
THE SETTING
We were so blessed to have the Royal Lancaster Hotel gift us a suite to do the shoot in for the day. It’s one of London’s 5* hotels, situated next to the gorgeous Hyde Park! From the suite you could also see this incredible view of London so it made the whole experience so relaxing in what we knew would be a busy day. I think this engagement shoot was another hallmark in reminding us we’re now getting so close to the big day!
THE LOOKS
As we shoot so often for our blog, we knew we wanted this shoot to be different and for each look to represent something about us as a couple.
The Power Suit Look
We work so much together – whether it be on our businesses, on our blog, on our book and so on. We have different skills and giftings but similar passions so working together although a learning experience (ha for both of us in different ways!) is key to us as a couple. We trust each other, see each other as equals, lean on each other for support and respect what each of us brings to the table so we wanted to capture that in this look. And of course for ladies, suits are so in fashion at the moment!
All Black
When we first got together, a key difference was definitely in our attitude towards colours when it comes to style. Lol for anyone who knows Ayo, he is pretty much always in black if not dark colours whereas Ruth is a lover of all things bright and cheerful! This look represented the idea of us becoming one, becoming united and we can’t lie was definitely inspired by Beyonce and Jay Z!
Passion
We’ve always said that we wanted a passionate marriage full of love where we never take each other for granted so you know we had to bring some of that to the shoot! For Ruth who doesn’t normally where such form-fitting stuff, it was a chance to step out and we loved how our photographer captured the iconic reds in London to match.
United by the same goal
Now if you’ve read our love story, you’ll know that Manchester United is a key part of our story and how we got talking. Obviously now for real we are becoming The Afolabis, there was no better way to capture that! And it represented how we are united and focused on the same values and goals in life.
Creating something special
Now for this look, we had to drive to another location which was the idea of our photographer. Ayo actually plays the piano so it made perfect sense and captured the idea that we love to create magic individually and together. We wanted something that felt iconic and timeless and this might be our favourite look of the shoot!
STYLE FOR THE WEDDING
As Nigerians, style is such a big part of our culture and will make up a huge part of our excitement of the celebrations and something we are taking extra care about!
For Ayo: I’m looking forward to all the outfits to be honest… I just want to look fly for all! I’ve been to see both of the designers – the designer of my traditional and the designer for my suit. As Nigerians we take the style so seriously (lol too seriously sometimes). And we love any excuse for a party and want to look good doing so.
For Ruth: Now that I’ve found my white wedding dress, I’ve felt a lot more excited about everything as I feel like I’m really a bride! For my traditional as well, getting ready for it has made me understand more about my culture so I can’t wait to embrace and celebrate that.
Hope you guys enjoyed hearing more about this shoot and we can’t wait to show you the next stage of the journey!
Love,
Ayo and Ruth
