How did we get here, to this sunny day over the Baltic Sea?

Once upon a time, an adventuresome woman named Nerissa decided to take a job opportunity halfway across the world in Copenhagen, Denmark. There, not too long after arriving, she met a kind and caring soul named Andreas. They met the usual way, for the kids these days--online. Nerissa was intrigued by Andreas's self-reported education of 'math PhD', and inquired, 'what kind of 'math' did you study, exactly?'

This was the beginning of one of many conversations that they had over the coming weeks. This eventually led to the above first photo together, on a street corner in Copenhagen, after a nice dinner to celebrate Nerissa turning in her thesis. A few months later, they took their first trip together to Vienna, Austria. Below is a picture taken at the Art History Museum (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien).

The weather that weekend--now termed the 2024 Central European Floods--was so bad that they did not get to see much of the city architecture. Luckily, the hotel they stayed at was very centrally located, and access to museums and good restaurants was still possible. They enjoyed travelling together so much that they agreed to visit Vienna again at a later date. Later that year, Nerissa also took Andreas on a grand California trip to celebrate New Years and meet some of her family and friends.

After months of ferrying Nerissa around Copenhagen, Andreas was happy to be driven around a bit himself for a change.

Joshua Tree was a very special trip for them. Amid the hikes and quality time with friends, Andreas proclaimed his love for Nerissa in front of all her friends on New Year's Eve, simultaneously pleasing and embarrassing her.

Nerissa also played tour guide and showed Andreas a second gem of a national park: Yosemite.

After the California trip, Andreas graciously helped Nerissa ferry more of her personal items back to Copenhagen.

Nerissa and Andreas kept the pace of travel, and over the course of a year, managed to go to the U.S. four times, Vienna twice, and Germany once, and Sweden more than 10 times together. Whenever possible, they would bring Nerissa's furry friend, Bruno Furrnando--he too had stolen Andreas's heart.

Bruno even managed to make it to the spa hotel trips.

Naturally, Bruno prefers to fly private.

They finally made it back to Vienna to celebrate Andreas' birthday. This time they managed to really enjoy the beautiful city, and they got to enjoy the timeless music, live at a local concert.

Andreas had plans to propose to Nerissa, and while he was eager to do so, planning was necessary. Andreas and Nerissa planned to do a weekend trip in June of 2025, and Andreas promissed to fly Nerissa and Bruno to a nice place for a romantic getaway. Now flying is not fun if the weather is bad, and in order to optimize for the best and safest experience, Andreas booked hotels in all directions leading up to the trip. Ultimately the the winner was Binz in northern Germany. Andreas packed the engagement ring, lots of treats for Bruno, and other essentials for the trip.

On the way, taking in the sites, Nerissa found out what the destination was, once they passed Bornholm island south of Sweden.

Beautiful flight, clear blue skies, and Bruno completely passed out.

They arrived late, to the hotel, a stones throw from the beach. Music was playing in the background, as if there was a party somewhere.

They got settled at the hotel suite, and Bruno approved of the accomodations.

The music playing in the background sounded like it was coming from the beach. Nerissa and Andreas were surprised by the event, and decided to go check it out.

The event at the beach was a yearly music event PierSession. Naturally, they opted for joining in the festivities. The following day was spent hiking and exploring the island. In the middle of a forest, they found a castle, that apart from being a museum, had a nice outdoor lunch restaurant.

It was during this hike that Andreas decided to propose to Nerissa.

When passing a location overlooking the sandy beach coastline of the eastern part of the island, Andreas decided that this would be the spot.

Nerissa said yes! On the flight home Andreas mused, "if you had not said YES after this, I don't think you would ever have said yes".