Cliffside fall El Matador Beach proposal with romantic picnic

“Steph reached out to me after finding me in Equally Wed’s vendor directory in October and excitedly told me she was planning to propose to her girlfriend Bre. She had reviewed my website and did a little Internet stalking and knew that I was the person she wanted to capture the surprise.

We talked on the phone for almost an hour as I listened to Step share details about how she came to the big decision to propose and how much it meant to her to have it photographed. We agreed on a date and got the nitty-gritty parts out of the way so we could start planning the big day.

Steph wanted to propose on El Matador Beach in Malibu, California, which happens to be my favorite Greater Los Angeles area beach. We brought in Kim Ebeling of Ebeling Events to do a picnic setup, complete with flowers from Kreative Hands and celebratory champagne.

On proposal day, Kim and I arrived an hour early to set up and patiently waited for Steph and Bre to arrive. I was sitting in the bushes when they walked up and began snapping away, before having to run out of the bushes to actually capture the complete moment.

Once Bre said, ‘Yes’ to Steph’s big question, Steph pointed to me and said, “I even got it all on camera!” Bre was so surprised and happy that she just started to cry and hugged Steph tight.

I backed off and let them settle into their new reality before we went into engagement photos. It was seriously like hanging out with friends on the beach and we got some amazing moments for Steph and Bre to look back on.

What made this even more special is that less than a week after receiving their engagement gallery, Steph and Bre reached out to schedule a family session so they could have pictures with their boys.” —from the photographer, Crystal Lilly Photography