These super cute Torrey Pines engagement photos are literally some of my all-time favorite photos. We took them at Sunset Seat in Del Mar, which is just about a mile north of Torrey Pines State Beach.

Okay, back story. In mid 2019, I was working at Common Grounds in Carlsbad and met the sweetest man named Jeff! He ended up booking me on Christmas Eve for a family session. Now, I try to never work on Christmas Eve, but… I made an exception. Anyway, Jeff and his wife had two daughters and a son, and one of his daughters brought along her long-time boyfriend, Travis.

Fast forward nearly a year, I get a phone call from a random number. Just like I never shoot on Christmas Eve, I NEVER answer random numbers. But I did. And it was Travis! He was going to propose to Ellie on Christmas Eve and needed a photographer and some help planning, which is where I came in.

Once we decided on this epic location right near Torrey Pines, we started coming up with a proposal plan. If you’re a hiring a photographer for a surprise proposal, you’ve got to some up with a way to either pull it off without your partner knowing, or have the photographer hide and have a queue for when you’re about to pop the question. SO I ended up suggesting to Travis that he should tell Ellie’s family to pretend they were going to do another family photoshoot with me, and Ellie and Travis were going to drive separately. When they arrived, Ellie recognized me and we started chatting and I pretended to barely remember Travis, even though we’d been in contact quite a bit over the last few weeks… Secretly of course. Since the rest of their family was “running late”, I suggested we head over to the cliffs to take some cute photos of just the two of them. I told Travis during our planning calls that basically I’d shoot them for about 5-10 minutes and when I gave them the queue to stand face to face and hold hands, that’s when he’d pop the question!!!

As you can see, it all worked out perfectly, Ellie was SO freaking surprised, she had NOOOO idea. It was precious. They were both so smitten and I was so honored to be able to document this huge milestone for them.

10/10 recommend this Torrey Pines spot for engagement sessions and proposals, it has so much to offer! There are plenty of the super neat Torrey Pines trees, epic cliffs, stunning ocean views, and plenty of privacy.

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