Hi, I’m Alexa!

I’m 100% Londoner (says so myself) but I grew up in a small (like, very very small) town in West Romania. I’m the oldest of 7, so as you can imagine I was the ‘second’ mum to my siblings (to the point that 2 of them called me “nana”). Helping my mum bringing up 6 little ones (while being a child myself) is no small task (yes dad was around too but a woman’s task is a woman’s task). I admit I did dream many times in the future where I didn’t need to change nappies or spend half a day washing dishes, a day I didn’t have to do any chores but be FREE! That day was when I moved to a bigger city to go to university. I was 19! I still remember how miserable I felt when my mum left me there! I cried! Being in a loud big family wasn’t that bad after all.

I did adjust to solo life don’t worry! I finally graduated in Journalism 4 years later! My forever dream was to be a newscaster so first thing I did after i graduated was to do an interview with a national TV station. I didn’t get the job, they told me my speech was awesome but my hair was awful, true story (or more like a lame excuse for the boss to actually give the job to his niece) so I ended up getting an admin job in a company I didn’t enjoy one bit. It only lasted for 6 months when I decided I’d pop over to London and check out how’s life around there (my sister was living here already so I had a place to go to).

That’s how I ended up in London in August 2009! Where my life was about to take a 180 degree turn and I didn’t even know it!

    I met Matt 3 weeks later and we’ve been together ever since!

You might wonder how I ended up doing photography and travelling the world! Well, here it goes! Beside being a great photographer, graphic designer, Matt is also a drummer. On weekends he used to travel the world with different bands and play drums. One day before going on a trip he challenged me on a project, to pick up his camera, go out and capture ‘life’ while he was away. I learnt that I actually loved it and discovered a new passion I didn’t know I had. After learning to use that machine (camera that is) he took me with him on his first wedding shoot, then on the second, then on the 3rd until I realised I had 2 years worth of portfolio. He pushed me on booking my first wedding on my own, which I did and thats how it all started. Now we travel the world photographing weddings and little over two years ago I decided it would be awesome to document our travels too so thats how Sizzling-Paradise (@sizzling_paradise) was brought to life! Feeling so blessed I now get to create travelling content all around the world adding a little fashion and lifestyle on the way! 

Im so grateful we get to do what we love! I pinch myself everyday!