Alana Maria Forsyth, daughter of Lori and Brian Forsyth and younger sister to Kalen, grew up in Peterborough, Ontario.

In her elementary school years, Alana enjoyed spending time in her grandmother’s garden taking photos of flowers, bees and snails. At home, when she wasn’t begging her parents for a dog, she could be found drawing in her bedroom. Alana took competitive dance classes in hip hop, ballet, jazz, modern and musical theatre, affording her the opportunity to travel across Ontario for competitions.

The photography and design seed was planted in high school when she chose to take Communications Technology. Here she learned more about photography, as well as photoshop and screen printing. In grade 12, she was the Yearbook club photographer/designer, designing multiple pages for the yearbook. 

By the way, in Grade 11, she auditioned for the school musical Peter Pan and landed the iconic role of…Pirate #23!

Upon graduating, Alana was on the Honour Roll and received the Christian Award, the Co-op Award, and the Excellence Award, which is “given to the student demonstrating excellence by always working to their full potential.” 

Alana then went on to attend Durham College for Graphic Design. The 3-year program ignited her passion for design. For the final semester, she landed an internship at Flare magazine, a Canadian fashion magazine. Also, faculty at Durham College chose her design among her peers in the 2016 graduating class for the year end Design Show in Toronto.

After graduation, Alana worked at various design studios utilizing her graphic design skills. Wanting to further her education, she went to York University for a certificate in Digital Marketing. Now she’s utilizing all of her “creative itches” by working full time at Sklar Peppler furniture doing digital marketing, graphic design and photography.

Alana started the company Alana Maria Photography in 2019 where she specializes in Wedding and Lifestyle photography.

Alana was recently hired by Durham College -  School of Media, Art & Design (MAD) as an instructor to teach the “Photography and Illustration” course. She begins at Durham College in the fall of 2022.
As if this isn’t enough to fill her days, Alana is also a freelance artist in Photography, Graphic Design, Marketing, and Consulting. Alana is currently on the Board of Directors for the Lindsay DBIA.

Between juggling full-time work, running her own company, and doing freelance work, she finds time for non-screen related activities like hiking, knitting, gardening, cooking and baking.

Austin and Alana met in their first semester of their 2nd year at Durham College (2015) where they started out as friends. They started dating by 2nd semester.

The first time they were paired up for a project, they only ended up getting a C, a rare occurrence for Alana and Austin.  They attribute that to the fact that the two of them kept talking about all the things they had in common, instead of actually working. They talked about being raised in a Canadian/Italian household, growing up in a Catholic School system, their love for live music, design, and an online sketch show called “Jake and Amir.” 

A month after dating,  Austin invited Alana to go watch a live hockey game with him. This wasn’t just any hockey game, though. It was an Oshawa Senators vs Barrie Colts game, and Austin’s cousin was playing for the Barrie Colts at this time. This was the game where Alana met most of Austin's family and that was it!  She fell in love with his family. He was stuck with her forever. 

Austin met Alana’s parents and brother for dinner one night in Oshawa and there was absolutely no going back. Alana’s parents could see that Austin was a good person who was kind, authentic, and had a great personality. Most of all, they loved his heart. He wasn’t timid around Kalen. He addressed Kalen by name and hugged him. A simple gesture that meant so much because many people don’t acknowledge Kalen’s presence, let alone hug him. That was the moment Alana knew for a fact that he was the one for her - almost 7 years ago. 

Alana & Austin Get Engaged

In 2019 Austin and Alana got engaged! Austin planned the most perfect proposal. A random Friday in the summer, Alana came home from work to find something tucked in Bella’s (Alana’s family dog) collar. There, Alana found a handwritten note…addressed to Alana…from Austin. In this letter he wrote about his love for her, ending his letter with the world's most exciting question - “Will You Marry Me?” While Alana was reading this letter, Austin came out from around the corner, looking extra dapper. He got down on one knee and pulled out the most beautiful ring. Obviously, she said yes and burst into tears. After she calmed down, she found out all of her favourite people were in on this surprise.  Alana and Austin walked outside to the deck to find Alana’s parents and brother waiting to congratulate them! 5 minutes passed and Austin’s parents, brother, and sister-in-law Jessica arrived with gifts and balloons. Food was ordered, and Alana and Austin’s immediate families were celebrating this momentous occasion together! A merging of two wonderful families. 

What a perfect Friday.

Their Home

In August of 2019, Alana and Austin found the home of their dreams; a simple side-split, sitting on three quarters of an acre at the top of Lake Scugog. It had a huge fenced-in backyard, a large woodshop at the back of the property and a perfect sized back deck with a tranquil waterfall and pond for entertaining family and friends. The house had not been listed, but Alana and Austin knew it was coming up for sale. They approached the owner and negotiated the home cost and move-in dates. Sold!

In July 2020 they moved in and immediately went to work on renovating. Alana and Austin had one year to make their dreams come to life. They planned the kitchen 100 times over. They searched high and low for the best way to display Austin’s records, and planning layouts for the best home office/makeup/studio ever. By the move-in date, everything was sorted and it was all hands on deck. Rock, Debi, Lori, Brian, Anthony, Jessica, Aidan, Joe (Austin's Cousin), Gaspare (Alana’s Grandfather), and more helped bring Alana and Austin’s vision to life. 

Their Fur Baby

Today, Austin and Alana have an adorable one and a half year-old puppy named Ripley, and 4 chickens - Henrietta, Chicquira, Mc(chicken), and Mary Brown. They also have a pond full of goldfish. Together, Austin and Alana also have a home full of houseplants and a lush veggie garden out back. They continue to dream about home additions, garden revamps and greenhouses. In their free time, they enjoy going camping with friends, hiking, and discovering new local trails, restaurants and of course, wineries.