A Malibu Beach Elopement at Sunset

Sophie and Daniel had talked about a big wedding for two years and slowly, quietly, stopped wanting it. What they kept coming back to was something simple, the ocean, each other, and nothing else to manage. They called me in March and we had a date locked in by the end of the week.

We arrived at Zuma Beach an hour before sunset. The tide was coming in and the light was doing that thing the Southern California coast does in the late afternoon, soft, blue-silver, completely flat and beautiful. Sophie walked straight into the water without hesitating. Her dress billowed around her in the surf and she didn't care at all. That's when I knew the day was going to be exactly right.

Zuma Beach is one of the most quietly beautiful elopement locations in Malibu, wide open, facing west, and blessed with long stretches of empty sand in the early evening when the day crowds have gone. If you're considering a beach elopement in Los Angeles, this is where I'd send you first.