Show us a location, more romantic than a beach during a golden sunset. Oh, go ahead. We’ll wait.

Amy and Jack sure couldn’t, the pair choosing the beach, a favourite beach in fact, to commemorate their engagement with photographer Matt Ashton Photography. “We love the beach. It is such a beautiful landscape, and Seven Mile Beach in Gerroa is significant to us in so many ways. When we mentioned a sunset beach shoot, Matt was on board with the concept straight away!!”

The pair, who admit their engagement session felt more like an afternoon on the beach than a photography session, have a story years in the making. The pair, have known each other most of their lives! Amy telling “Jack and I were family friends from a very young age. My Aunty was best friends with his Mum since they were in school! They would have annual camping trips, and I decided to go one. I remember meeting when we were 8, but our Mum’s say we have known each other since we were babies.

Jack said he had a little 8-year-old crush on me, but I thought he was a funny, class clown kind of kid. Fast forward a few years, I would run into him at basketball or oztag, but no real interaction until we went camping when we were 15. We had both grown up a lot, and in my opinion, Jack “sprouted” haha. It was New Year’s Eve, and we went for a walk to the beach to watch the 10 pm fireworks. We were holding hands, both sooo nervous, and eventually, he pulled me in and kissed me. Five months later, started dating. Next month we will celebrate 9 years together.”

This proposal story? Oh it’s a good one! Amy recollecting “We were going camping with our families, where we first met. I had been (not so subtly) dropping hints for months. I even introduced him to a jeweller (who he ended up getting to make the ring).
The day we arrived at camping, it was the 30th December, and I felt like he would propose on New Year’s Eve because it would be the date and location of where we first kissed.

We had just finished setting up our campsite, we were hanging out with family, and then everyone was having a rest. Jack asked me if I would go for a walk with him to do a “surf check”. At this point, I was taking every opportunity to go for a beach stroll, hoping something would come out of it. We were walking and talking about our future, and how special our relationship was, how we met. It was a very special walk.”

“We walked for so long until we walked past a dune, and Jack asked “Is that the dune where we first kissed” to which I replied “Nah, I think it’s a bit further up”, just to tease him a bit, can’t help myself.

When we walked up to the next dune, Jack said “This must be it! I remember because it was so beautiful. So beautiful, I wrote a poem about it. ” Then he pulled out a piece of paper, with his voice shaky, he read it to me. He was choking back the tears, his voice trembling, stuttering. It was the sweetest thing I have ever experienced. He was so nervous but so excited. The first letter of every line of the poem spelt “will you marry me”, with the body of the poem filled with beautiful metaphors and similes that perfectly represented our time together.

Who knew he was this romantic?! I do now!! And now I know he is capable of writing such beautiful words, guess who is writing their own vows!”

“After he finished reading the poem, he got down on one knee and went to pull out the ring box. Before he pulled it out, I said “YES”, but then quickly stopped myself halfway because he hadn’t even finished proposing, and didn’t want to seem too keen… after 8 years together…
He pulled out this box with a BEAUTIFUL ring inside. I said YES OMG YES!! and he was so happy. He cried, I was in shock, it was amazing. We sat down in the dune and reflected how amazing our life is, and looked out at the dunes perfectly framing the ocean. It was beautiful.

Jack was looking around him, and I said “What are you doing?” and he said, “Oh, Mum was meant to film it and I don’t know where she is!” His Mum went to the wrong dune. We got up, walked around to see her, and reenact some engagement shots. It was so lovely.

We went back to camp, and my Mum and Sister’s had driven down, and we all drank Champagne together with our friends and family, it was the best day of our life so far.”

These two love their life together and promise not to take their days too seriously. “We are a pretty goofy couple in general” admits the pair. “We are always having a laugh. I think that’s important in relationships, to never take things too seriously, and if you find yourself laughing so much your stomach hurts, that’s when you know you’ve got a keeper.”

On Jack, Amy shares “I love Jack’s energy. He is always doing something, always wanting to learn something new, and always driven to be the best he can be for me, himself and our future.”

“I love how big Amy’s heart is” shares Jack. “She is one of the most caring and compassionate people I have ever come across. She always has time for people even if she has a million things going on. She will be a great Mum one day.”