Vancouver Cozy In-Home Couples Session // Lorenza + Ilenia

Last year I did a very special in-home session with two amazing women, Lorenza and Ilenia.  These two are from Italy but moved to Canada to live in a place more accepting of LGBTQ+ couples. I actually met Lorenza on Instagram and asked her if they would want to shoot with me sometime and we set up a session in their new apartment.  These two were so natural in front of the camera, so obviously in love, that it made the session flow so smoothly. We’ve become friends since the shoot, in fact, they had my husband and I over for dinner and cooked us authentic Italian pasta and risotto! 

I had them write a little bit about their relationship and their move to Canada and this is some of what they said:

"Our story has been accompanied then by the decision that we made together to not hide our relationship. The visibility, the sincerity and simplicity have always been essential to us. It wasn’t always easy to stay true to our principles especially in a state like Italy where LGBT rights aren’t guaranteed and public opinion is still very closed-minded.

Our dreams aren’t so different from many young couples in love. We dream of finding a job that we like, to marry and grow old together and have one, two or even three children. All this in a state where our love and our family is protected and where homophobia is only a bad thing that once existed.

In order to follow our dreams, we decided to move to Canada in March 2017. Even if we tried our best, we felt Italy too much tight to us. Now we live in Vancouver and we’re happy as never before. We always hold hands when we walk together, we kiss no matter who can see us and we go on adventures together on our days off. We found our personal Garden of Eden. And this is all I wish to all. Find your personal path and follow it. No matter how hard it is, just follow your heart and everything will be fine."

You can read the rest of their story on Dancing With Her.