Exclusive: Meet Meghan Markle's favourite photographer

While Alexi Lubomirski has been selected as the official photographer for the royal wedding, there's always been another snapper who Meghan Markle has been a big fan of.

New York-based Eljay Aguillo may not have the high-profile resume of Polish Lubomirski - who also took Harry and Meghan's engagement photos - but he's been held in high respect by Meghan long before her royal life began.

Speaking exclusively to Be, Eljay explains how theSuits actress stumbled upon his work back in 2013 after she saw his Instagram account, Why I Love New York City, which now has an impressive following of more than 70,000.

It was like the true workings of a princess back then, as Meghan changed Eljay's life overnight when she began posting New York images and tagging him on Instagram, before inviting him onto the Canadian set of legal drama Suits.

"So what happened was she tagged me in one of her posts. She was landing in JFK and I gained like 8,000 followers in a straight 24 hours," Eljay tells Be.

Eljay's Instagram account encourages people to share photos of New York City along with an inspiring caption showing their appreciation for the city.

"She was my one of my first big celebrity followers," Eljay explains.

"And then a year later she tagged me again with a hotel shot. She posted one of New York City again and I was like, 'Oh my gosh this is crazy'."

Fast forward a couple of months, and Eljay received an email officially inviting him onto the Toronto set of Suits.

"I don’t know who actually invited me and why but I think it was somehow through Meghan Markle because she’s the one who followed me and I have a connection with her so they flew me out to Toronto," reveals Ejlay.

"I was the only influencer to come and get a New York City feel for the premiere because it’s filmed in Toronto."

After doing "a whole interview series with each of the cast members", the best was left till last when Meghan came over and immediately recognised him.

"She was saying hi to basically everyone she knew from LA and all the newscasters and interviewers and then when she came to me, she was like you’re ‘Why I Love New York City’ and I was like, 'Yeah that’s me'," says Eljay.

"She was very welcoming. She gave me a hug, like a really tight hug," the photographer explains.

"Like if you don’t know someone they’ll give you a brush hug, they wouldn’t really put their arms around you, but she gave me a really tight squeeze and we had a conversation about life and stuff."

Eljay says the charismatic and compassionate Meghan the world has grown to love in recent months is exactly who she is.

"Right when you start talking to her, she already sounds interesting," he says.

"She's a pretty fun person to be around and she’d make you feel like you’re already part of her life so it’s pretty cool."

"She talked about how she enjoyed my work, enjoyed my photography and how she’s always feeling like she can always come to my page. She said she just really likes to come to New York but she never has the chance because she basically lives in Canada filming most of the year."

"It aso made me feel that I was doing my job to this page, because this page is actually about my life. I started this page because of my wife and knowing that one of our mutual shows that we love so much and the actress we always talked about loves it, totally set the mood for the rest of our life."

Meghan happily posed for Eljay as he snapped away on set, and while he modestly says, 'I wasn’t even a good photographer then', he's thrilled that Meghan still 'loved it'.

The Suits star continued to be in touch with Eljay via Instagram, but "then two years later after that we found out about the whole royalty thing," says Eljay.

"And then she deactivated her account."

While Meghan now prepares to tie the knot wih Prince Harry on May 19, Eljay says he'll "always be thankful" for the connection they shared.

"Knowing that Meghan Markle knows the love story between my wife and I gives a whole new meaning to ‘Why I Love New York City’."

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