Chris & Nikki- Surf's Up on Love

Chris and Nikki shares a common interests for everything. They are both passionate about the environment, the beach, and surfing! What can I say, looks like these two are in for a lifetime of fun adventures together.

The couple’s photographer Callie Reisling tells all about how this engagement shoot came to be and shares with us a little about how these two surfer lovers met – Chris and Nikki are a wonderful couple residing in the San Diego area. They have been together around 7 years and their chemistry sure shows their affection for each other! Chris is currently one of 10 musicians who has a permit to play at Balboa Park and enjoys going rock climbing! Nikki is such a free spirit and loves yoga. She is so incredibly sweet and her gorgeous laugh is contagious! They have worked as surf instructors and they crave big waves! They do their best to help the environment by helping clean up the beaches! Chris and Nikki are both very passionate about surfing and the ocean…. so when they told me that, I immediately thought of doing a surf session on the beach in San Diego. We wanted to stick with the characteristic Southern California beach style with a backdrop of beautiful cliffs and a very secluded area. Sunset Cliffs was a fabulous location for it! The beach is accessed by climbing down the cliffs… even having to use a rope at some points. It was totally worth the climb. There was only one other person on the entire beach. We had a fantastic time working with Chris and Nikki! This session is something that I have had on my photoshoot bucket list since I started my business about 5 years ago. Everything was so fitting for Chris and Nikki’s personalities! And I personally love the ocean and surfing so much. They say that you photograph the things that you love the most in the best way!

How lucky are we to have the Bride, herself, tell us how she and Chris came across paths and fell in love with each other –

We met in highschool. I was a senior and he was a junior. My friend had recently been hanging out with these guys that I had never met before and told me they were pretty rad to talk with and told interesting stories. During lunch she said “come with me and I’ll introduce you to them.” So we walked over to their spot in the far corner of the lunch quad and sat with them. Thier wasn’t much of an introduction, rather we walked in on one of their stories. It was Chris doing the talking. He went on and on about how he was up late watching an infomercial on these “crazy skateboards” that you could “catch mad air on.” He had long dreadlocks at the time and a blue hoodie that he wore religiously. It would help to cover the dreds that his teachers would always give him a hard time about. Anyway the bell rang and our lives continued separately. But there was something about this kid that intrigued me, that seperated him from the rest. I had to get to know him. It wasn’t until a few months later when my friend decided to throw a party and I had to make sure he was there! I found him sitting outside of one of his classrooms during passing period and told him about the party and how he should go. After a few hours of being at the party and not seeing him, I had given up on the idea of him coming at all. But then, I saw him! He had come! I was so nervous I didn’t know what to do! He came up to me and said hi and we began to talk and what seemed like a short amount of time, was the entire night. He leaned in and kissed me good bye and I watched him slowly drive off. After that night we were inseparable. It was raining the next day and we had both set out to find each other during lunch. We were both drenched from the droplets of rain after searching all lunch, we found each other and he gave me the warmest hug. I knew he was a keeper. After we would always see each other in the halls and say “wanna hang out after school” almost everyday. Although he never officially asked me to be his “girlfriend” so we never really have a set date to celebrate how long we’ve been together, we just celebrate everyday to share the strong bond and love we have for one another.
And almost 9 years later, there we were, out in the ocean after a long surf. He paddeled over to me with a huge grin on his face, as if he had caught the best wave of his life, I asked “did you catch a good one?” He responded “yes! 9 years ago, I caught the best one out there. You!” And then he pulled something sparkling out of his wet suit pocket, it was a ring! And as we sat side by side on our surfboards in the ocean blue, he proposed! I wouldn’t have had it any other way! He would be mine and I would be his forever! A day I will never forget!