i see what youre saying, but i still would say take just a few pictures and let your memory take the rest of them.
i have a friend who was just in Jamaica and he posted an album on facebook with waay too many pictures imo. He had a video of himself zip-lining through the jungle while narrating. If im zip-lining through the jungle i want to zip-line through the fucking jungle, and look around, and have a good time. not worry about my camera.
Im not against nostalgia because its always fun to remember good times, but if you take too many pictures you wont have any more good times to look back on, because theyll all be brought down by you concentrating more on your camera.
in regards to your story, i think the act of taking pictures on a fun trip with your gf has some value in itself. so in that way its okay i think.