Sunrise Beach Engagement

My Work

I had the privilege of photographing Natalia and Brian recently for their beautiful east coast sunrise beach engagement photos. From the golden glow of the sunrise to their contagious laughter, this engagement shoot was one for the books!

Natalia and Brian first met each other in middle school and became instant besties – all throughout high school as well. During senior year was when they developed an actual crush on one another before finally finding out the feeling was mutual between both of them. Since then, they’ve survived 4 years of long distance, are dual-military, legally got married in 2020, and are now planning their big wedding to celebrate with their family and friends next year!

Natalia and I have also followed each other on Instagram for a couple of years now. I was SO excited when Natalia reached out to me about me wanting to do her and Brian’s engagement photos after following her life for the past few years (in the least creepy way haha). I love getting to meet people in real life after following their life on social media!

The Engagement Location: Wrightsville Beach

Natalia and Brian are from a beautiful island called Saipan, so getting engagement pictures taken at the beach were a must to pay homage of where they’re from. The closest beach to where they live is in Wilmington, North Carolina so we met up there to take their engagement pictures at sunrise.

This particular location at Wrightsville Beach has paid parking, but it’s free to park before 9am from May through the end of October. These pictures were taken at the end of October, just a week before Daylights Savings, so sunrise was at 7:15am which meant a bit of a later start than any other time of the year. So it all worked out that we got a beautiful sunrise at a later time while still getting free parking.

The best lighting at Wrightsville Beach is either sunrise in the morning or at sunset in then evening. Personally, I’m always a sucker for a sunrise beach engagement session since that means an emptier beach (no matter what time of year) and the sun and most vibrant colors in the sky right over the ocean. On the opposite side, sunset might be a little busier depending on the time of the year (although at the end of October, I think we would have been fine doing a sunset beach session) and the most vibrant sky colors are away from the ocean over the sand dunes. Luckily, Natalia and Brian chose sunrise and boyyyy were did we luck out with the most golden sunrise!!!

Review About a Sunrise Beach Session

This is what Natalia had to say about her photos “Emily’s photography portfolio and aesthetic captured my attention, I just knew that my husband and I had to work with her. She captured our love, laughter, and happiness so beautifully. She made us feel comfortable and the session felt effortless, which I was worried about since we’ve never had professional photos taken before. She’s magical, please please work with her! You won’t be disappointed!”