Beach, Calla Lilies, and Golden Hour


When I tell you this session was a literal bright spot in a year filled with rain and gloom, I mean it!


Stephanie + Kyle came up from Southern California to have their Engagement Session in beautiful Big Sur, California. We totally lucked out with gorgeous, light cloud coverage, the calla lilies in full bloom, and even a warm golden sunset to finish the day. Cuddling in the sand, splashing in the ocean, wading through water and mud to reach some gorgeous views of calla lilies, a champagne shower, and dancing into the sunset, their Engagement Session was everything and more!


When I do my Engagement Sessions, I love to cater them to each of my couples. So if you're fun and wild, let's do that. If you're cute and lovey-dovey, let's do that. If you're sweet and demure, let's do that. If you're freaking weird, let's do that! If you're all of it, then hell, let's do that!!


As you can see, Stephanie + Kyle are all of the above. As far as "weird" goes, they didn't second guess me suggesting we go barefoot and trudge through knee-deep mud to get to Calla Lily Valley for just a handful of photos. With good attitudes, smiles on their faces, and determined attitudes, we pushed through this experience together and holy moly their photos! So gorgeous!


One of my favorite things about Engagement Sessions is that it's one-on-one time with my couples. It's a chance for me to get to know them, their personalities, their love languages, the way they express their love to each other, their comfortability with PDA and expression. It also helps them get to know me, my posing style and direction, and is a safe space for them to communicate with me any insecurities and preferred angles. Getting to work together during the Engagement Session makes their wedding day run so much smoother. It helps my couples go into their wedding day with more confidence in front of the camera because they know they look good being their true selves. It helps them get into poses a lot quicker when we're doing their Couple's Portraits. And it also helps them know themselves better so they can self-correct if something doesn't feel right or they know something doesn't photograph to their liking.


So I always love when couples listen to me when I tell them to book your Engagement Session with your Wedding Photographer, and even more so, when they follow all of my prep suggestions! Stephanie + Kyle did this to a T. Especially if you're doing a destination wedding and are doing your Engagement Photos in that same area, planning all of your wedding trials for your Engagement Session is so helpful! Whether its hair, makeup, spray tan, manicure, etc, planning them for your Engagement Session will give you a full glam look for your photos so you don't have to do it yourself, it will show you how your look will translate in photos, and it gives you an opportunity to have a fun date night afterwards because why waste all of that makeup?! So grateful that Stephanie has chosen the amazing team at Muah Makeup and Hair and they were able to accommodate her trial for their Engagement Session because WOW! 😍


Scroll down to see some sneak peeks from Stephanie + Kyle's Big Sur Beach Engagement Session!

Santa Cruz Engagement Session

JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session
JeLau Photography Garrapata Beach Big Sur California Engagement Session