Deep in Parry Sound's winter woods for Emmie and Brad's snowy engagement session

Gorgeous snow-draped trees lined our path as we trudged through the knee-deep white stuff deep in the woods of Parry Sound's back woods for Emmie and Brad's engagement session. It was one of those trade-off days... super beautiful, but f'n cold! These two are caretakers of the local snowmobile club and trails so we had easy access to the trails right from their backyard.

When the finger and toe numbness got to be a little much, we took a hot-bevy-break to warm up and check out Christmas-crazed Emmie's newly decorated home. Once the fingers and toes were thawed, we soldiered down to the lake where their upcoming backyard wedding would eventually take place.

Let's hear how these two came to be below...

HOW DID THEY MEET: Honestly? Tinder.

WHAT DO THEY REMEMBER ABOUT THEIR FIRST DATE:

Emmie: Haha poor Brad---half the neighbourhood was there, my mom tried force-feeding him KFC. It’s really a wonder he stuck around.

Brad: I remember getting a heads up text while I was on my way out to Emmie’s house that she had a couple of people over. When I showed up and entered the house I was bombarded by her family and friends with questions. After a bit we went down to the lake, sat on the dock and had a very nice conversation. We ended up staying down there for hours watching the sunset and ended the night with a nice kiss to top everything off.

Parry Sound winter engagement photography

WHEN THEY KNEW:

Emmie: I always knew. He is my other half. I did give him a hard time, but I knew.

Brad: Emmie and I hit things off very quickly with our common interests and how well her family and I got along and worked so well together, but you don't really know a person until you live with them in my opinion. We worked together along with the help of her family to renovate a house and to our surprise we agreed on almost every decision of the renovation and worked very well together. When Emmie and I moved in together things just kept getting better and our relationship grew stronger. It was at this point I knew she was the girl I was going to marry one day and just had to wait for the perfect moment to do so.

THE PROPOSAL, HOW DID IT GO DOWN:

We were on a cruise ship docked in Santorini, Greece. We were watching the sunset over Oia from the front of the boat. I was busy taking in every last minute of the sunset, when I turned aroundBrad had disappeared. I thought it was weird, but turned back around and kept watching the sunset. All of a sudden he put his arms around me from behind and said ‘Emmie-Lee Bowman, I couldn’t think of a more beautiful place to ask a beautiful girl to marry me’, and he got down on one knee. We had quite the audience! Turns out he had went to ask a man that we had met on the boat if he would videotape it.He had asked my Dad for his blessing before we left Canada, and we had bets on whether Dad would have told my mom. I thought for sure he wouldn’t have been able to keep the secret. But he did. My Mom is still mad at Brad that he didn’t ask her too haha.

ONE THING THEY LOVE ABOUT ONE ANOTHER:

Emmie: I love our life together. We have so much in common and we enjoy doing things together—everything from snowmobiling, to travelling, to gardening, to putting so many Christmas Lights on your house you can see the glow from a mile away—life is way more fun when you have someone to enjoy it with. He is also the kindest person you will ever meet.

Brad: I Love how we have so many common interests and work so well together but give make sure to give ourselves time to do our own things. We spend our time together working in the shop, playing board games or out on the trails enjoying a nice relaxing ride just to list a few. We also know the importance of personal time and be sure to leave time aside to do our own thing.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE PERSONAL TOUCHES YOU'RE PUTTING ON THEIR WEDDING:

Everything about our wedding is personal. Every song, every choice has some sort of sentimental value. First of all we’re getting married on my parents beach and then the reception is in our back yard, so that in itself is personal. Every piece of décor I have either personally built/created or collected. Our wedding has become a part time job for me, but I only plan to do it once! We have a few surprises up our sleeve to make it even more personal, but you’ll have to wait until September!

BESIDES GETTING MARRIED, WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ON THEIR WEDDING DAY:Emmie: The father-daughter dance. Ever since I was a little girl I have dreamed of that dance. I’ve always loved dancing with Daddy, and I can’t wait for this one! We also have some surprises planned, so I can’t wait to see those come together, and of course my vision and hard work coming together and having everyone I love in one place. But mostly I can’t wait to be Mrs. Bradley Zdriluk.

Brad: We are both very family oriented and like to spend time with family and friends. I am very excited to be able to call Emmie my wife and to have everyone together for a big celebration. We are having a backyard style wedding and will have a bunch of games set up and will have a rocking dance floor, I'm looking forward to a great party and making memories that we will never forget.