
Life’s a beach with the age-old friends to lovers to soulmates. Makes my inner romantic sing every time! I just knew Peter and Nyssa were going to be an absolute joy to photograph for their romantic Big Sur California engagement. That beautiful California coastline and their story? Perfection!
I met Peter and Nyssa through one of my other couples, Nikki and Marco. See their Classic Monterey wedding here. My couples are the sweetest, and I was so excited to photograph their friends!

The Story of How They Met
“I met Peter in college sophomore year 2011, he was actually dating one of my friends at the time. We found out our families both lived in the Monterey area and during the holidays would party with each other and the friendship became our foundation. Peter had a crush on me and tried to make a move on me during a holiday break at my parents’ house and then again during another home visit, but I friend-zoned him. Pete and I remained friends over the years, catching up once in a while. We would joke about if we were still single in our 30’s, we would get married and have kids together. 10 years later, I slid into Peter’s DMs to comment about him being out to dinner with my first boyfriend from high school. And the rest was history.” – Nyssa
Aren’t they just the SWEETEST? How they met is the stuff of novels and love songs. Talk about modern romance! I mean, how could you NOT fall in love when your lover makes it so easy to?


How He Proposed in Big Sur
“It was April 20th and I wanted to take Nyssa to Big Sur (Rocky Point) for dinner… She had no idea! I made a reservation for 6:30 PM so we could watch the sunset (and get some great photos from Amandarose). I was so nervous about being on time and making sure that I was in the perfect spot when we were done with dinner that I rushed Nyssa through and was super out of character for me. We finally made it out to the “rocky point” where I was shaking nervously and got down on my knee so ask Nyssa to marry me.” – Peter





They have such a sweet proposal story, and that made these engagement session pictures even more special. When we first arrived it was cloudy, misty, and foggy. But when we began to take pictures, the sun began to peek through the clouds! And although it is usually a very crowded area, there was no one there. It was as if these pictures were meant to be!






“Same Page, Same Wave”
“We have a thing that we say, ‘same page, same wave’. (We actually got matching waves tattooed on each other when we were in Dublin, Ireland). It’s basically because we are always on the same beat, together… whatever it is we are doing or feeling. Same wave for life…” – Peter






You’re lying to yourself if you say this isn’t the dreamiest thing ever! It just made taking their romantic Big Sur engagement photos at Pfeiffer Beach even more special to me. That mind-reading, unspoken connection between best friends is all the proof I need of lover’s telepathy! I saw it in every picture- the way they light up each other’s world, the sincerity, passion, and depth of their relationship… Pinch me!


I would love to photograph your next engagement session! Contact me here.
comments +