Leo Carrillo State Beach Engagement Photography - Malibu, CA | Justina & Ryan

JUSTINA + RYAN

Location: Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu, CA

Date: 09.16.2020

Wedding & Engagement Photographer: Mike Federis Photography

So exciting when you connect with old friends back in the day. Justina is a good friend all the way from high school. Her sister referred me and I didn’t even realize she was engaged. Luckily, she didn’t have a wedding photographer yet. Once I contacted her and chatted about our lives and her upcoming wedding plans, she gave me the green light and it was a go.

We immediately started discussing plans for an engagement session. I always encourage my couples to have an engagement session with me. The engagement session is a great time to meet the couples face to face and get to experience my work flow. In addition, we can also chat about any questions or concerns they may have on the wedding day. Ultimately, this helps the couple become comfortable in front of the camera since I will be with the couple for 6 to 8 hours on a wedding day.

Justina and Ryan actually met at a coffee shop, which is absolutely adorable. I love how coffee connects people together. What is even more interesting, Justina and Ryan lives on a boat at the Oxnard Harbor. This gave me the perfect idea to photograph them on the boat and maybe even take a trip to Channel Islands. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it due to the inclement weather.

We decided to just go with a beach session at Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu. This is one of the best engagement locations in Malibu. My top 2 reasons for choosing this location is less crowds and parking availability. Weekends do get busy, but there is usually plenty of parking available on PCH compared to the other Malibu beaches.

Justina and Ryan are so easy to work with, I love their positive attitude and easy going vibes. They were absolutely down for anything. There was a couple times they got splashed by a fairly large waves, but they were so cool about.

Check out their engagement photos below! Thank you again Ryan and Justina, so looking forward to your wedding in 2021.