AGGARWAL
AGGELOPOULOS
AGNEW
AGOSTINHO
AGGARWAL m@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2005-06-11 published
Rupa AGGARWAL and Mario
VELOCCI
By Judith TENENBAUM,
Saturday,
June 11, 2005, Page M6
When
Mario
Giulio
VELOCCI encountered a damsel in distress, his
chivalry included the bonus of a business opportunity.
It was 1: 30 a.m., and Rupa
AGGARWAL was standing on Yonge Street
crying, having just had an argument with her boyfriend at the time.
Mr. VELOCCI tapped her on the shoulder and handed her his card.
"You are much too pretty to be crying," he said, "You should
be modelling because you are beautiful."
Ms. AGGARWAL, a University of Western Ontario graduate who was
then studying occupational therapy, contemplated whether his
approach was professional or propositional. "I sat on his card
about three months, did some research and found out he was legitimate,"
she says.
During his student years, an enterprising Mr.
VELOCCI had modelled
and worked as a wardrobe stylist to put himself through York
University and a master's program at the University of Toronto.
He had planned to become a teacher, but jobs were scarce when
he graduated in 1997, so he launched his own niche business,
VELOCCI
Model and
Talent
Management. "Most of my Friends were
of ethnic origin and couldn't find representation as models or
actors," he says, recalling how he promoted their talent to clients.
Consequently, he encouraged Ms.
AGGARWAL's part-time modelling
career, and over the next four years they partied at glamorous
industry events as Friends, and set each other up on dates. But
Friends joked that they should consider going out themselves.
Love comes when you are not looking, and one evening over an
innocuous dinner the pair wondered what it would be like if they
married. The genie was out of the bottle, and Ms.
AGGARWAL returned
home that evening "feeling weird about Mario."
After another awkward movie evening, she showed up at his office
and said, "I need to talk." When she confided her feelings for
Mr. VELOCCI, he in shock jettisoned what he was eating. Discombobulated,
he waited 2½ months before inviting her out to chat -- and confess
his adulation.
"Our relationship was gradual, because we were making the transition
from Friendship to relationship, and both took it slowly for
the first year," she remembers with a laugh. "We didn't know
exactly how to proceed.
"It's a little strange because all of a sudden you're kissing your best friend."
Cultural differences posed a further challenge. She was of East
Indian Hindu heritage and he of Italian Catholic, but obstacles
paled next to the possibilities. Her parents, advocates of arranged
marriage, were reluctant to accept Mr.
VELOCCI as a serious suitor
as a stream of eligible Hindu candidates were in pursuit. Finally,
he implored, "Please slow down. We're in a relationship -- no
more prospective suitors!"
At her first luncheon with his family, gnocchi with meatballs
was on the menu. At the time, Ms.
AGGARWAL was a vegan (not convinced
by dogma, but by dyspepsia from a downtown eatery). "I was horrified,
not being able to eat at a family function, thinking what am I going to do?"
Happily, now all foods beckon to her -- by choice, not compromise, she insists.
On their second dating anniversary, his gift was a diamond pendant.
Decrying her mother's dubious comment -- "It's a far reach from
the neck to the ring [finger]" -- Ms.
AGGARWAL insisted that
Mr. VELOCCI would make his move when he was ready.
When she gave him The Idiot's Guide to Hinduism on another occasion,
he countered with a promise of a book on Catholicism when he
proposed. And after four years of dating, one evening in June,
2004, on the night before her 29th birthday, he offered a card,
the book and the ring on bended knee.
"She burst out crying, and all emotional, gave me this hug, didn't
even see the ring. And I asked, 'Does that mean you are going
to marry me?' " he recalls.
The couple satisfied their disparate family cultures with a ceremony
for each. On May 14 at Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church, Rev.
Thomas MOORE wed the pair in a Catholic ceremony. One hundred
and sixty attendees, mainly from Mr.
VELOCCI's side, were given
gifts purchased by the bride in India, and she conversed in limited
Italian at their Renaissance Parque Dining, Banquet and Convention
Centre reception in Concord.
A Hindu ceremony and reception was held on May 22 at the Greek
Canadian Community Centre in London, Ontario, where Pandit Rajinder
MOHLA officiated before 250 guests, largely from the bride's
side. The couple in Hindu garb distributed Italian bomboniere.
The newlyweds' careers now largely focus on their modelling and
fashion-related businesses, including television appearances.
Ms. AGGARWAL appears on Shop Toronto as an on-air reporter and
Mr. VELOCCI, 32, can be seen as a fashion consultant on Toronto
Living and Style by Jury. "We complement each other," he says,
"I am the schmoozer and can work a room in less than an hour.
Rupa gets into intellectual discourse.
"She is social. My job is to maximize contacts."
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AGGELOPOULOS m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-01-22 published
AGGELOPOULOS,
Gus and Helen - Happy 40th Anniversary
January 24, 2005
With love and best wishes from your family and Friends.
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AGNEW m@ca.on.grey_county.artemesia.flesherton.the_flesherton_advance 2006-09-13 published
HEI /
AGNEW -- Wedding Announcement
Sarah HEI and Karl
AGNEW were united in marriage on August 12,
2006 in Woodstock, Ontario. Sarah is the daughter of Cliff and
Kathy HEI of Woodstock and Karl Is the
son of Don and Mary Ellen+
AGNEW of Hopeville.
Sarah and Karl will start their married life together teaching English in South Korea.
Page 12
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AGOSTINHO m@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2003-07-26 published
Manuel and Maria
AGOSTINHO,
Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad.
Love Manuel and Sue, Elizabeth, Allan and Raymond.
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