Beach Engagement in Margate

Patrick + Julia

We headed down the shore earlier this week for Patrick and Julia’s beach engagement in Margate, New Jersey. This was our first time in Margate. It was a beautiful little beach town. Julia’s grandparents own a house down here and she grew up coming to Margate. What better place to shoot her engagement session than here!? What we didn’t anticipate was just how insane the wind was going to be. Only thing we can do in situations like that is embrace it.

That’s exactly what they did and I think the photos turned out beautifully, despite hair flying everywhere. It’s at least created a memory they’ll never forget. We shot with them until the sun was completely gone. We were able to find a nice little spot for sunset along the water as we used up every last moment of sunlight. Some of the photos below are in our normal editing style, but there are some others that we felt just fit a bit more of a moody vibe. So you’ll get the rare chance to see a mix of some editing styles. Both styles look amazing, but we just couldn’t decide which style we liked better.

Julia and Josiah went to high school together. This is the third shoot in the last two weeks where we’ve photographed someone from Perkiomen Valley. The first being Grace + Vince’s engagement from two weeks ago, and then Joe + Desiree’s wedding from this past weekend. Julia and Josiah shared a lot of classes together. She was always so fun to be around and when she reached out about her wedding, we were really excited to get the chance to spend some more time with Julia and Patrick, and get the chance to celebrate with them at their wedding.

Q: How’d the proposal go down? Tell us the whole story.

Pat and I got engaged on April 17th, 2021. He told me that we were meeting a few of his friends for brunch in Long Branch, NJ. When we arrived in Long Branch, he parked on a street by the beach and told me that his friends were walking on the beach and that we had some time before brunch to walk to meet them. I told Pat that I didn’t want to walk on the beach because it was cold, windy, I was in heels, and I had to go to the bathroom.

To get me on the beach, Pat just kept walking towards it knowing that I didn’t know where we were or what he was going to do. Meanwhile I was furious – it was windy, cold, and I just wanted to go to the bathroom but little did I know Pat had set up our family to be watching from the boardwalk and for a family friend to take pictures of our special moment down by the water.

Once we got closer to the water and the photographer, Pat said “I have an important question to ask you.” Unfortunately it still didn’t click for me and I replied that we could talk about important things later because I wanted to get off of the beach, but he got down on one knee and popped the question. I think I replied with “I’m sorry for being so mean about the beach!!!” After the proposal we went to brunch with our families and then went back to Pat’s parents house where he had set up a surprise engagement party for me with all of our closest friends and family. It was the best day!

Q: What’s been your favorite part about being engaged?

Planning the wedding! We are having so much fun planning the best party for all of our closest family and friends. The little things are so important to us.

Q: Do you have any advice for other couples planning their weddings?

First is to go with your gut. If you have a good feeling about something or someone trust your instincts and book it! Evaluating too many options can be confusing and makes the planning stressful when it doesn’t need to be. Second, talk to your partner about what’s important to them on their big day. What’s important to you might not even be on their radar and vice versa, so it’s great to be aware of those wants/needs early in the planning.

To Patrick + Julia:

We had such an awesome time with you guys at your engagement session! You both crushed it! Thanks for putting up with the wind. I know that was tough, but you guys embraced it and made the best of it and I think the photos turned out beautifully! We can’t wait for the wedding, too! We’re working on the rest of your engagement photos, but until then, we hope you enjoy this sneak peek from your beach engagement in Margate, New Jersey!

View more engagement sessions here!