About this vendor
Hi There!
We're thrilled that you've found your way to us here at Bokeh Lane Photography!
We're Jose & Nicole, and we are Bokeh Lane Photography (BOH-kay, :]), and we couldn't be having more fun photographing your life events. We want your pictures to reflect who you are as a person, so we joke around and make your session as enjoyable as possible. We encourage you to put your own touch and being huge dog people we always encourage everyone to bring your sweet dogs along (we don't discriminate, all animals & ideas are welcome)!
We didn’t think we would end up running Bokeh Lane Photography together, but here we are, and we are so happy that you’re going to be part of it!
- Nicole & Jose
Details
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Bridal Portraits
- Engagement
- Trash The Dress
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Photo
- Printed Enlargements
- Printed Proofs
- Same-Day Edits
- Second Shooter Available
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
4.3
out of 5.024 reviews
In a nutshell:
Beautiful photos, terrible at running a reliable business. It's been 10 months since the wedding, and until recently (due to my giving up) we still have not receive...
d all services that were described in the contract. And broken promise after broken promise, we were always given some kind of excuse. We tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but they continued to fail to deliver and communicate.
Full context:
We began our discussions with Nicole & Jose in the midst of the pandemic over Zoom. Nicole & Jose (initially) were personable and informative. They gave us full attention and answered all of our questions and concerns. The red flags started early on, but we overlooked them as they were still meeting their commitments.
The first red flag was when we received a confirmation text from Jose confirming our engagement session for the wrong weekend. When we replied to correct the date, it took at least a day to hear back. On the correct day, they traveled quite a ways for our engagement shoot and things went smoothly.
When the shoot was complete, we were told we'd get our pictures within 6 to 8 weeks. More than 8 weeks passed and we had not heard a single word from Jose & Nicole regarding our photos. I tried to be patient as I knew there was a surge in weddings as the pandemic was slowing down at the time.
I tried reaching out to them via their messaging portal. When that failed, I tried via text. Most of the time, we went unanswered unless we made a phone call. We eventually got the pictures a few weeks past the original promised date, along with an excuse.
When it came to receiving our wedding pictures, the contract states you'd receive them within 4 to 6 weeks. I waited at least 8 weeks to reach out to them, and we didn't receive them until after at least 10 weeks, along with more excuses. Again, I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and figured they were probably swamped.
For our patience, they offered us a free canvas photo. We chose a photo and we never received it.
Because of their inability to communicate and/or poor response time, I only gave them TWO photos to retouch. One was to open the eyes of one of our groomsmen because for some reason there was only one serious photo with our bridal party. And the other was to retouch some hair flyaways. The bridal party picture was retouched, however, the other picture was not noticeably retouched.
When it came to choose pictures for our album, we asked to include the whole bridal party photo. For whatever reason, the original draft came with the photo of the groomsmen's eyes closed.
After waiting months of not hearing from Nicole or Jose about the album, we reached out numerous times about the status. Most of the time not hearing back. If we did get a hold of them, it was another excuse. Finally, after THREE months since the first album was supposedly ordered, they agreed to reorder the album and I demanded that they send us a confirmation e-mail and tracking number. I was promised numerous times that they would and I have never received that information, nor the album after 10 (TEN) months.
At this point, I've given up dealing with them. Their lack of professionalism is just an awful experience to deal with. I'd advise you to look for another vendor that can provide you with both beautiful pictures and better customer service, though I can't imagine the latter would be hard to find.
We are a wedding venue and had the pleasure of working with Jose & Nicole. Our clients got so many gorgeous wedding pictures and romantic evening photos in our greenhouse and Engli...
sh garden. We loved them so much we hired them for our family Christmas photos and heads shots! They are our favorite photos of our family yet! We can't wait to hire or work with them again for they are on our preferred vendor list!
Patricia Glaeser
Faith Like a Mustard Seed Farm
They are amazing at their job. We were drawn to talk with them from their work and photos and hired them due to their personality. They embraced our quirkiness and my husband’s lov...
e of Star Wars. They also understood difficult family dynamics; they were equipped to deal with any awkwardness in families and make sure we got the photos we wanted. Some photographers seemed uncomfortable with the idea family members were awkward around each other; but, they knew exactly what to do.
They are so personable and they both are very fun people. The bridal party commented about how it felt like they were just friends that were around for the ride (one of my bridesmaids even thought my husband and I had known them before). It helped so much because my husband and I hate posing for photos and think it is so cheesy, but they made it so it felt natural and we could just be silly. On the day of the event, they were on top of everything. Suggesting shots, incorporating our quirky likes and personalities. They figured out how to incorporate my husband’s lightsabers into photos. As for the bridal shots, I had comments from people about how they made me look like a model (and I am far from actually being one).
Another thing that cannot be overlooked is that we postponed due to Covid and they made sure to be as flexible as possible. They knew it was a hard decision and were supportive as possible.
The only small issue was communication during the long period after our engagement photos till our wedding. However, this was only minor (so it is really just a nit-picky thing). In the delay between the engagement shoot and the walk through, it took a bit of time time to get a response; however, they were on top of everything the month before the event; they were responding to texts and emails in only hours. And honestly, it is likely because they are so fabulous and make sure that they pay complete attention to the wedding and event they are working. Month of, I felt like we were their only clients. I also bring this up because people seem to complain about waiting more than a couple days for a response, and honestly, it is because they are prioritizing those wedding in crunch time and need the support. When you are in the final month of planning, you want someone to be answering all the issues quickly and not being distracted by anyone else.
The day of the wedding we had some complications and last minute changes. They didn’t miss a beat. They were able to accommodate all my issues and were able to make suggestions about every and any work around. They wanted to make sure my photos were as perfect as possible and to make sure I had all the photos possible to remember the day. There was no way they could have made things get better. Jose was even able to get my husband a sneak-peek photo the day after, so we would have something to share. You shouldn’t hesitate to book them.
Please let this review serve as a warning for anyone considering hiring these photographers. Their lack of communication throughout has been entirely unprofessional, and it has re...
ached the point where we are being completely ignored. Jose and Nicole had offered a partial refund during our final conversations, but are now ignoring our attempts to get in touch.
During our initial conversations, Jose and Nicole were extremely personable and very responsive. We enjoyed our conversations and liked their work, so we decided to book them for our engagement shoot and wedding. After signing the contract, however, the lack of communication became very concerning.
The week of the engagement shoot, we reached out to them to be sure we were all set. We were unable to get ahold of them for several days despite emails, texts, and phone calls. We had already made payment and started to think we had been scammed. Finally, we heard back from them and confirmed the shoot. The engagement photo session went well, so we were willing to look past the communication issues and assumed all would be well for our wedding.
Fast forward to the summer of 2020. We were scheduled to get married in July of 2020, during the pandemic. A couple weeks before the wedding, Jose and Nicole informed us they were not going to do detail shots and were uncomfortable taking group photos of the wedding party getting ready. They said they didn’t even want to enter the pavilion (open air) during the reception to take photos of our first dance. We were extremely disappointed, but understood this was a difficult situation due to the pandemic. We just figured this must be standard protocol from photographers during COVID.
Three days before our wedding, we get a phone call from the photographers indicating that there may have been a possible exposure to COVID. While they said they were still willing to do the wedding, we could sense their hesitation. After they explained all of the restrictions on what they would do, including staying distant at all times, it was clear they would not be able to provide the services we had hoped for. In addition, we had both older and pregnant guests coming to the wedding, and we did not want to put anyone at risk. The decision was made that they would not shoot our wedding. Jose and Nicole said they could not find a replacement photographer, but were willing to discuss a partial refund after the wedding.
My wife and I spent the next day contacting various photographers. We found many who were willing to do our wedding even on such short notice with little to no restrictions. We picked a new photographer who was able to provide the services we desired.
In the months following the wedding, we have contacted Jose and Nicole several times to discuss the partial refund they had promised. We were initially told that they did not have the money at that time, but could discuss again in a few months. Several months passed and we contacted them again. Our last several emails and texts have gone completely ignored, and it is safe to say at this point that we have been ghosted by them.
After being able to work with Jose and Nicole a few times for weddings I was coordinating, I can whole heartedly and without hesitation say they are an amazing team to work with an...
d are incredibly talented at what they do! Both Jose and Nicole are so easy going, easy to work with and are super attentive to what my couples need. They work with confidence and professionalism and have consistently impressed me with the job that they do. They are on my short list of vendors I recommend to all of my couples and am always excited when we get to work together again! 5 stars all day!
My initial experience was beyond incredible with Jose and Nicole. I truly felt like I had made lifelong friends because they were friendly and goofy and hilarious and we clicked so...
well. Then COVID came and everything changed.
Two weeks before our March wedding - we were allowed to have a less than 100 person wedding at our venue, and Jose and Nicole weren’t going to touch anything or anyone or do detail shots. I understood, and said no big deal. One week before our wedding - we blink and are forced to have a 12 person immediate family only wedding on our family property, and our photographers are refusing to come at all or discuss refunds for an Act of God/Impossibility, which their contract clearly stated was a refundable cancellation. Yes, we could have postponed, but we had already been engaged for 3 years and were due to move to Tennessee one month after our wedding. We never wanted to come back to Virginia again.
I understand it was an uncertain time, but it was the nastiness that came with the discussion of cancellation that took me by surprise and honestly crushed me.
I was willing to overlook the delayed responses and cancellation of our engagement photos because i liked them SO MUCH as people, but this crossed the line.
On the upside, we were able to do a chargeback on our credit card, so we did get our money back, thank god.
I’m sure your photos will be lovely if you book Bokeh Lane, but I needed to share my heartbreaking experience.
We cannot thank Jose and Nicole enough for being a part of our proposal at Longwood Gardens! We highly recommend them! They were extremely professional, personable, and put us at e...
ase. They sent us our photos right away -- it's so nice to have these beautiful photos to look back on from such a special moment in our lives. Thank you both for everything!
Nicole and Jose of Bokeh Lane Photography are simply wonderful! So energetic and creative! They shot our engagement session and are slated to shoot our wedding whenever COVID allow...
s for that (by the way, they have been extremely flexible around that). We wanted a photographer that has a great eye for candid shots and heard about these two from a friend who had their engagement and wedding shot by them. My friend’s pictures were beautiful, so I reached out to Nicole and Jose. They helped us with every step of the process, even with picking out outfits before the shoot. They’re kind and professional and just so easy to work with. I am not used to being in front of the camera, whereas my fiance is a natural in front of the camera. I told them that up front and they made sure to make me feel comfortable while just letting my fiance be himself, and the pictures came out so great! They are highly responsive as far as communication goes and prices are extremely reasonable for such high quality work. Highly highly recommend!
Nicole, Jose, and Adam are just an amazing team. They made us continually feel comfortable and natural throughout the engagement photo session and really listened to our vision fo...
r our wedding photos. Lovely people and such talented photographers.
They captured our relationship beautifully and would recommend 100%!!
We hired Jose and Nicole to do maternity and newborn photos for us. They did a fantastic job and I was blown away by the maternity photos. Jose made the photo shoot fun and easy. H...
e really took his time ensuring all the poses and settings were just right. Our newborn session was canceled due to COVID-19 but Jose offered to reschedule to do a family shoot once this mess is all over. I can’t wait to continue to work with Bokeh Lane in the future for all of our family photo needs.
We hired Jose and Nicole to photograph my brothers wedding. The were both so kind, helpful, and went above and beyond to make sure the bride and groom felt comfortable on their spe...
cial day. The photographs turned out amazing!! I recommended this company to my friends who are getting married next year as well!
I paid for 2 photographers for 8 hours for my son's wedding as a wedding gift. $1900. But due to COVID19, the wedding venue and vendors cancelled their wedding. The bride and groom...
ARE NOT THE ONES WHO CANCELLED. The bride and groom decided to keep their wedding date and chose to get married at the brides parents house. Bokeh Lane Photography did not feel comfortable photographing the wedding at the bride's parents house due to social distancing. Bokeh Lane Photography refused to give a refund or partial refund. We believe that COVID19 falls under "the act of God" part of the contract but the photographers disagree. I am so disappointed in the treatment that the bride and groom received. The bride is a wedding coordinator and has recommended this photography company to many clients and to do this to her is very disappointing. This is a trying time for alot of people. Not the time to screw people over!
Jose and Nicole did our nikkah photos and they did absolutely amazing! They were very respectful of our mosque and wanted to abide by our traditions. They really respected my famil...
ies privacy during the special moments and let everyone do their own thing to catch beautiful candid moments. They were so fun to work with and they were so sweet. I highly highly recommend for future events.
The team behind Bokeh Lane Photography are rock stars, and I am so glad we hired them for our October wedding.
Jose & Nicole are the masterminds at Bokeh Lane, and were such a joy...
to work with. They set up a meeting with my husband and I for the four of us to get to know each other and discuss the wedding, and I'm so glad they did! As soon as we started to talk and get to know each other I knew we had found the best team for us.
Both Nicole & Jose were available for questions, texts, emails, and phone calls throughout the entire process. They worked with my husband and I the day of our wedding to make sure we had pictures with our very large, and worked very hard to keep us on track with our timeline. Both of them are incredibly talented and creative, and easy to work with. The four of us worked together to get shots we wanted into the time line and they tirelessly answered the same 3 questions I seem to always have. They are committed to making sure the bride and groom feel comfortable and knowledgeable about the day's plans, and I personally really appreciated that!
This team is amazing. They both exude happiness, confidence, and creativity, and are some of the friendliest people you will meet. Booking them as our photographers was an easy choice, and one I'm glad we made! I will go back to Bokeh Lane for future photorgraphy needs, and I'm so pleased to have met and both Jose & Nicole.
My husband and I just renewed our wedding vows and had our children in our wedding party. It was so much fun, but it was so fantastic because of Bokeh Lane. It could have been to...
tally crazy having a 6, 4 and 2 year old as best man, flower girl and ring boy, but Jose and Nicole were great with the kids and us. They made us feel so comfortable. They are so sweet and kind. At our reception, they were amazing; they took so many shots and totally blended in with the crowd. They set up a few shots and just asked us to quickly pop into the “set” they had created and than we went right back to the party. Some of the photos are so cool they look like we went to a movie set to take them. We have since had them do a family photo shoot and a couple of photo shoots four our small businesses. They have been so professional at all of these events. If I could give 10 stars, I would!
Bokeh Lane are an excellent choice for wedding photographers. Jose and Nicole are professional, personable, care as much about the success of the wedding as you do, and, most impor...
tantly, take great photos. We did our engagement photos with them which was key for us to get a sense of each other during a photo shoot. They communicated with us as frequently as needed and were very responsive. When they attended our venue walkthrough they were looking for ways to make the photos wonderful for us and also pointed out ways to improve our ceremony and reception based on their experiences. During the wedding day, they did the right amount of taking photos but not getting in the way – whether during the getting ready or the ceremony.
Wonderful duo! Jose and Nicole were attentive and readily available, which made our wedding a success! I highly recommend. I absolutely love the photographs from my wedding!
We had Bokeh Lane Photography take pictures at both our Civil Ceremony and Religious Ceremony. We found them to be very accommodating, flexible and professional throughout the plan...
ning process and on our wedding days. Their prices were affordable and they made sure to stunningly capture many precious moments before, during and after our ceremonies. If you are looking for a genuine photographer that makes the planning process and day-of beautiful chaos a little bit easier, Bokeh Lane Photography is for you!
Hello everyone,
My husband and I were looking for a photographer in VA to do our five year anniversary shoot. We happen to come across Bokeh Lane on Groupon, to be completely hon...
est we were a little hesitant because we have had some interesting experiences with purchases with Groupon but this one took us by surprise. I sent an email to Nicole and she was very prompt with getting back to us, after going back and forth with some dates we finally scheduled a shoot for August 6th. Nicole worked me to find a photoshoot location that would be different and unique to meet our needs. On the day of our shoot, we ran a little late and the location closed due to it being a Sunday but that didn't stop her from finding another great location. We ended up at Meridian Hill Park in DC, I have never been there before but I’m so happy we did, the park is beautiful for photos and would definitely recommended it anyone who wants a beautiful location. There we met Jose who was taking our pictures with Nicole. I'm a little shy when it comes to being in front of the camera but both of them made us feel so comfortable. They also suggested doing part of our shoot in our neighborhood which I thought was great (this way we would have memories from our temp home) and also included our dog Chase in the shoot. Now when I say they were great with our Chase, I mean they were GREAT! They captured the most amazing shots of him. Now the reason why I mentioned the date of our shoot is because our anniversary was on August 10th, as a surprise for us, they had all of our photos ready for us in 4 days, I can't begin to express how happy I am with them and the pictures. To my husband and I going through the pictures looked like they were telling a story about us, it made me cry just looking at the pictures, that's how great they were.
If you are looking for a photographer, don't look any further, we highly recommend Nicole and Jose, they are very personable and make you feel like you're part of their family.
-Kanika Kumar
Bokeh Lane Photography is in a league of their own. Jose & Nicole are some of the most genuine & kind people with a seriousl creative eye. We are D.C. transplants, but we wanted ph...
otos from where we met in NYC. When we brought this up to them they were more than happy to travel up to New York to take some photos of us; so of course we opted to do this instead of our engagement session! I am so happy that we did this because we ended up getting shots some spectacular shots with incredible city views! I recommend Bokeh Lane Photography everyone I know because I know they will not disappoint!
If there was anything we did right for our wedding day it was hiring Jose and Nicole. From the beginning, they were very acoomodating, helpfull and all around a very warm, fun and ...
friendly couple to be around. We met a few times before the wedding to do a walkthrough at the venue and to put together the timeline so when our wedding day finally arrived we felt like our close friends were taking our photos. They captured the true energy of the evening and my husband and I look very natural in all of our photos. We gained a valuable friendship and we will be using them again for all of our major life events!
From the moment we spoke with Jose & Nicole we knew we wanted them to photograph our wedding! Their photos are amazing, but what really set them apart was them. We ended up not mee...
ting them until the day before the wedding, when we did a venue walk through, and it was like being with old friends. They made sure to understand our vision for the day and made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera to the point that I forgot they were there.
Everyone tells you to slow down and take in your wedding day, but on the day of it flies by in a blink. Jose & Nicole were able to capture our wedding in a way that showed genuine emotions and captured us for who we are. I can not explain how happy we are with their service and the photos of our wedding. I will be using them in the future for all my future needs and hopefully sooner than later!
I cannot begin to say enough nice things about Jose, Nicole and their great service. My (now) husband hired Jose in December of 2015 to capture our proposal. Since then Jose and Ni...
cole have take our engagement photos and most recently our wedding in April. They are a fantastic duo and capture the most incredible moments that you would not imagine. The entire day from getting ready photos, leaving for the ceremony, to the end of our reception they were there and did not miss a moment. During our reception we did not even notice them. They capture all moments while not interfering with anything taking place almost becoming invisible. haha My husband I LOVE all of our photos and are having a hard time choosing our favorites. We look forward to many many more photos sessions with them throughout the years to come. Jose and Nicole are very professional, courteous, responsive and in a way become family. Thank you for everything!
Jose and Nicole are an incredible team to work with and they were so much fun to have with us on our wedding day. Throughout the entire process they were able to accommodate our ne...
eds and wants from the features included in our wedding package to figuring out what our photography style was, as we have never had professional photos done before. They made sure we were totally comfortable in front of the camera and you can tell in our photos just how much fun we were having! We will be using them for everything in the future, they truly are great!
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