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In Santa Barbara, California, just a little ways out of the way, there’s a hike called Lizard’s Mouth. I initially learned of this place because there is some rock climbing in the area, and I’ve ventured here before with a few friends. Since my very first visit to Santa Barbara, I sort of fell in love with the place! I’m not entirely sure what it was–maybe the warm Southern California sun was just what my Oregonian soul needed. But more so, I just enjoyed the general vibe of the area. It was relaxed and fun, but easy to find places that were pleasing to the artistic eye.

Nothing excites me more than an email or Instagram DM from someone who is excited to plan a proposal for their special person. It’s usually a fun mix of nerves, excitement, overwhelming love, a little bit of chaos and a lot of relief once the deed is done.

CJ and Jill’s proposal was everything I love about proposals. CJ reached out on IG about planning a proposal in La Jolla. He loved the look of the cliffs, and the romantic warmth of the sun at sunset. We found this really pretty and quiet place overlooking La Jolla, which was great because we had been worried about the beach not being a very intimate locatio–so this seemed like the perfect compromise.

One of Oregon’s best features is it’s gorgeous coast line, which makes it the perfect place to have an Oregon coast proposal. Even when it’s foggy and cold, that just adds to the PNW-esque feel and drama. These two had the most perfect beach proposal with their best friends present—it couldn’t have turned out any more perfect.

A comprehensive list of the dos and donts for proposing to your special person. Follow these tips to help you pull off the perfect marriage proposal.

When Joey contacted me about surprising his girlfriend Molli with a proposal, I knew it was going to be a good one. I could just tell from the email how excited Joey was to propose and loved seeing how much thought and effort he was putting into it. Our original plan to shoot in Forest Park on the Redwood Deck didn’t pan out due to availability, I think it worked out in our favor, as the waterfall we ended up choosing was beautiful and the stop we made by Mt Hood at the end of the session was perfect at sunset.

Choosing to have an adventure engagement session or an elopement doesn’t mean you have to be an avid or experienced hiker or lover of long strenuous hikes! There are a lot of stunning locations all around the PNW that are actually quite iconic and require little to light amounts of hiking. Win win!

That being said, there are also other epic locations that do require some hard work, and if you want to know about those, get in touch! I do a lot of hikes, but haven’t done many sessions in these locations

We made our way down to a spot I had scouted out before they arrived. I was looking for a spot that would be well lit with no harsh sunlight, and somewhere where I had a lot of room to run around and move quickly as the proposal went down. Jason and I had messaged earlier making a plan about how we would do it. Basically I told him I would put Kaila is a very specific pose where he’s standing behind her and she will face me and I would encourage her to just do a few modely things for “an artsy shot”. Then we would go down on one knee and I would ask her to turn around.

It totally worked.