This afternoon we've off to the seaside for an engagement shoot amongst the beach huts.

Lucy and Carl are lucky enough to live in lovely Bournemouth and take romantic strolls along the beach most weekends.

There's something so wonderful about the winter light at the seaside and Nick Rutter has captured it beautifully.

In the depths of a truly dark and stormy Winter - particularly so for the South Coast - Lucy and Carl were fortunate enough to have a calm day for their engagement shoot.

These images are full of fun and personality and if these are the engagement shoot images, I bet Lucy and Carl can't wait for Nick Rutter to capture their wedding day!

Lucy The Bride: Carl and I got engaged after we had been together for 8 years. I had planned a weekend trip to Rome to use up annual leave, at the time Carl was working away in Birmingham. He chose my engagement ring all by himself it took him four trips to the infamous jewellery quarter in Birmingham before he plucked up the courage to choose my ring!

He was planning to propose to me at dinner but after our first day out in Rome he got too nervous. Back at our lovely rustic Italian hotel room I quizzed him on why he had started acting very odd....and when I came back he had a ring in his hand and stumbled through a beautiful proposal!

Not so romantically...we met in 2004 at a Thai boxing club where we trained weekly. We started dating in May 2005 & have never looked back since.

As we have lived in various places over past 8 years we always love the sea and now live in Bournemouth. We both love to walk along the beach at weekends especially as Carl is away during the week it gives us some nice time together. So it was the only place we wanted our engagement shoot. And during this bad weather we were sooo lucky to get such a lovely sunny morning!

I love the shots especially as I feel they show off our personality. We had a fantastic time, Nick made us feel so relaxed and at ease. We can't wait for April to come!

We are getting married at the beautiful and unique Sandbanks (Poole) based wedding venue, The Italian Villa nestled in the beautiful grounds of Compton Acres.