This was a styled shoot...
MountainWeddingTog
joined 1 year ago
If the sky is blown out they probably shot it backlit and bright on purpose, it sounds like you're describing the "bright and airy" style. In that case the RAW files aren't going to help, the highlights were most likely blown to start with. This is kind of on whoever booked the photographer for not looking at her style beforehand. Download the high res jpeg files and do a sky swap in Photoshop, it's fairly easy but won't correct the look of the beach. Or post it to the r/PhotoshopRequest and see if someone will hook you up. Most pros won't give you RAWs, if they do they're likely to charge for it.
There are a ton of different ways you can show them your portfolio without it being on social media...
Honestly sounds like it's fake and you're on your way to an overpayment scam.