We have always been about choosing an engagement session (and mind you a wedding) that is truly reflective of who you are and what you love. If you hate the beach, you don’t need to take your engagement photos there, if you’re happiest at home – turns out that could be the perfect spot, and if you spend your weekends living up life and rock climbing? Then that may just be the most personal way to capture your story. And it is exactly that that Gabby and Daum decided upon for their engagement shoot.

“We realized early in the conversation we wanted to do something special for our engagement photos” explains Daum, who alongside Gabby chose Climb-fit Macquarie as the perfect spot. “We wanted something that involved us being in the moment, something that would tell our story. A big part of our story revolved around climbing. Our earliest dates were at a climbing gym where we bonded and connected. We did some research and really liked the idea of doing a night shoot at a climbing gym and filling up the space with fairy lights.”

And who better to capture their magic idea than photographer CJ Picture. “We knew we wanted to work with Jeff and his team after our initial conversation. Our conversation involved sharing stories about each other and our vision for what we were looking for. He was great at building rapport and really empowered us to be creative.

On the photoshoot day, he and his team gave us clear instructions and guidance which gave us the confidence to be ourselves and embrace the moment. He was great at visioning what we could do with the space and often experiment with different poses.”

It was dating platform Bumble that lead these two to meet, remembers Daum. “Gabby made the first move. Our conversations started off fairly regular like her interests in gardening, and plants and quickly escalated to insects and beetles. Through these conversations, we felt very comfortable talking to each other about any topic. I was drawn to her bold personality and made the second move of asking her out on a date.”

Big shoutout and praise to Gabby and Daum’s favourite climbing spot. “Sarah (owner of the Climbfit Macquarie) was wonderful and helped make our vision a reality. She organised staff members, tools and opened the gym to us after hours to take the photos. Huge thanks to Sarah, Sam and William!”

“There are many things that made our relationship work” notes Daum.”I think it boils down to communication and sharing life philosophy – embracing the challenge that life has to offer, and being open to all the opportunities that come our way.”

This is a couple who share a lot of laughs together. “We’re proud owners of a 5-year-old border collie named Ghost. One time, we thought it’d be a great idea to take him canoeing with us. In the beginning everything seemed fine, we were able to put him on the canoe, and was able to paddle a distance. When we came to rest to enjoy the scenery and hydrate, he decided to jump out and swim to the land. We were both in panic whilst laughing at the fact that he was regretting his decision. We worked together to chase after him and bring him back on board. We were not planning on getting wet that day.”