A Proposal Along the Rocky Big Sur Coast
To give you proper context, I feel like I need to backup a few years to 2018.
George and I became gym friends. I was heartbroken at the time, and we both bonded over our love of photography. We started hanging out, going out and shooting 3-4 times a week, trying different editing styles, hanging out with other photographers, and exploring Big Sur, San Francisco, and other cities together since we just wanted to shoot and post on our Instagrams. I've never shot more than I did that year.
I purchased my first ever Canon 1DX and a couple of Sigma lenses, and we'd just go out and have fun. Look for cool backgrounds, try trendy shots we saw online, and play around with different editing styles. It was one of the few things that lifted my mood and got me excited during a really rough time. I also attribute a huge portion of my growth as a photographer to this friendship and the time we went out shooting. The best way to go out and learn photography is to go out and shoot, shoot, shoot! The more you do it, the more comfortable you get, the more things you try, the more you challenge yourself, the more you grow.
As the years passed, we grew in our own businesses, George fell in love, they moved out of the area, and we obviously no longer got to go on our spontaneous photoshoots together, but we were running our own businesses and traveling the world.
Then, I got the text.
George was planning a trip back up to Big Sur and wanted to propose to Maris! We immediately hopped on a call and started coordinating. He had thought through everything and had a plan, I just needed to get on board with his vision.
When one of your good friends asks you to capture such an important and meaningful and exciting moment in their life, that's such a huge honor!
Here's where we got to the tricky part...I know Maris. Maris knows me. I couldn't just do what I normally do during Proposals, I actually had to disguise myself a little. Try to hide in a place where there isn't much to hide behind. This meant I had to do my best to blend in and not be recognizable. I know Maris follows my account so she's seen the majority of the clothes that I normally wear to sessions. So I setup a whole disguise to just look like another random person out enjoying Big Sur. (No I'm not going to give away my disguise in case any of my other friends ask me to capture their proposal 😉 I gotta keep some tricks up my sleeve!)
I was in position and waiting. I kept my eyes peeled, getting ready to "act normal" once they arrived at the spot. Finally, I clocked them! They were on their way. I was watching them from my peripherals as they casually walked the path that they've walked a million times. Once they got to the proposal spot, George and I made a quick eye contact, he got the ring out of his gear bag (he brought it just to make it look like they were going to take photos which is why they were dressed so cute) and we were both ready.
Maris thought they were just visiting one of their favorite places together and would possibly take some cute travel photos (their travel content is amazing by the way!), so George played into that... They were being all cutesy and stuff. Enjoying the view, kissing, taking a few selfies... Then George grabbed Maris' hands, looked her in the eyes, said some sweet, loving words to her, then got down on one knee and popped the question. Obviously, she said YES! I mean, just look at how excited she is! And him too!! I've never seen George cry in my entire life and he was wiping tears from his face (he's very happy that he was facing the ocean and I couldn't get any straight-on shots of him crying lol).
Congrats on your next big adventure together, George + Maris!! 💍
Scroll down to see some sneak peeks from George + Maris' Moody Big Sur Beach Proposal!
Another post coming soon from their Mini Engagement Session that followed 🥰
Moody Coastal Big Sur Proposal
