About this vendor
Hello profile peruser! If you're here, you're looking for a wedding photographer. And you've probably looked at a few websites and are starting to see commonly-used photography words in your dreams!
"Authentic...natural light...timeless...light and airy...candid...dark and moody...wildly in love..."
Not gonna lie, I'm going to use some of those words because they are good words. But when I think about describing my work, style and experience with clients, I want to root it in how you FEEL.
There's nervous awkwardness when you're in front of the camera for the first time (every client I work with says, "We're not models!"). There's the excitement when slipping onto your dress, or putting on your custom-made socks. There's the exaltation you feel when walking down the aisle with your NEW (!!!) spouse. There's the tears when your dad toasts the newlyweds, the laughter when your grandma brings the photobooth props on the wedding floor, the sweet closeness you feel when dancing to your first song.
The question for you is how do you want that captured? If you want to work with a photographer that's emotion-centered, that helps to take the awkwardness out of photos, that streamlines your day so it's stress-free, that edits in a timeless way so you feel your memories instead of cringing at obvious editing, all while dropping Zoolander and Stepbrothers and Talladega Nights references...well, I might very well be YOUR wedding photographer.
In my decade-plus experience as a Southern California wedding photographer, I’ve photographed over 200 weddings. I often say the most important asset you're hiring on a wedding day is experience. I may have photographed at a venue 20 times, but YOUR wedding day will be unique, from the weather, to time of year, to how you choose to decorate your venue, and the timeline we put together that prioritizes your needs! The experience of working in rain or shine, summer or winter, 2 person elopement or 300 guest wedding, means I approach each day with the perfect marriage (sorry couldn't pass that up) of your priorities and the skills to make the hundreds of quick decisions on a wedding day to get you the very best memories in your photos.
I would love to learn more about your wedding day - contact me to get in touch!
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Photo Shoot Types
- Engagement
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Second Shooter Available
- Wedding Albums
Photo & Video Styles
- Documentary
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Wedding
Awards and Affiliations
2-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2024.2013.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.031 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 8
My husband and I both agree that choosing Courtney to photograph our wedding was THE best decision we made. The pictures turned out absolutely stunning, and Courtney and Brian (as ...
second shooter) did an indescribably good job capturing every little detail and then some. You can tell that Courtney has been doing this for years, and has developed a skilled eye for both staged and candid photos.
We had Courtney shoot both our engagement and wedding and from day one working with her was an absolute breeze. She made us both feel at ease in front of the camera, which is a feat for our personalities. Her bubbly demeanor, excitement, and encouragement kept us smiling and laughing both days. On top of that, Courtney has a great timeless editing style, and as a result we’re sure that our photos will hold up for decades to come.
We’re so glad that we found her and can’t recommend her highly enough.
Courtney was THE BEST! From getting to know us as a couple, taking our must-have shots, keeping us on schedule, and being the best hype woman there is! She made our wedding day SO ...
much fun and we love reliving our wedding day with her beautiful work. Our pictures are everything and more! She did an incredible job capturing every emotion of the day - the joy, laughter, fun, and (happy) tears! Hire her!
Courtney was an absolute dream to work with for our wedding! From the very beginning, she exuded professionalism, creativity, and a genuine passion for her craft that was truly inf...
ectious.
Courtney's attention to detail was impeccable, and she captured every moment with an artistic flair that made our wedding photos look like they were straight out of a fairy tale. Her ability to find the perfect lighting and angles was astounding, and she made us look and feel like movie stars on our big day.
One of the things that struck us most about Courtney was her ability to blend into the background when necessary, ensuring that she captured all those candid, emotional moments without us even realizing she was there. Yet, when we needed her guidance for posed photos, she stepped up with patience and creativity, making us feel comfortable and confident.
Not only is Courtney an incredible photographer, but she's also a wonderful person. Her warm and friendly demeanor put us at ease, and she went above and beyond to accommodate our requests and preferences. She listened to our vision and made it a reality, exceeding our expectations in every way.
The final photo album she delivered was a work of art. Each image was a masterpiece, and we couldn't stop reliving our special day through her lens. We've received countless compliments from family and friends, all of whom were as impressed as we were with Courtney's talent.
If you're looking for a wedding photographer who will not only capture your day but elevate it to a whole new level of beauty, Courtney is the one. She is a true artist, a professional, and a joy to work with. We can't recommend her enough, and we are forever grateful for the stunning memories she has provided us.
Thank you, Courtney, for making our wedding day unforgettable!
Courtney was amazing!!! My husband and I enjoyed taking photos with her throughout the day. The photos we received are so beautiful and really capture the day. We are extremely hap...
py that we went with Courtney!
Courtney is an absolute must for your wedding. She helped shoot our June wedding at the California Botanical Garden and absolutely captured the spirit of our day. We had family fly...
ing in internationally and really wanted photos not just of us, but of our family and guests. Boy, Courtney nailed it. Our photos are so warm and full of life. She has an amazing eye and worked with us during our couple photos as well. We both get a little uncomfortable in front of a camera, but she made us feel at ease and kept us laughing through the photographs (which made some amazing photos too!). Her communication ahead of the day was very professional and timely. She made sure to ask questions that I hadn't even thought of, and it helped the day go so smoothly. I highly recommend Courtney as your wedding photographer! Just do it! You will be so happy with the experience and the results! xoxo Thank you, Courtney!
Courtney was amazing for our engagement photos and our wedding! Very professional, very helpful, and very sweet. Her assistant was amazing as well!
Highly recommend her!!
Courtney was amazing. Professional, organized, creative and a real pleasure to work with. I was so impressed and beyond happy with all our photos. She gave us sneak peaks on our ho...
neymoon that had us in tears. She is honestly reasonably priced for what you you get I found her to be midrange on her price point. I loved all my images and I’m not a very photogenic person at all. I was pleasantly surprised. We have so many beautiful shots they look unreal and I don’t mean photoshop I mean my good side in perfect lighting. Without a doubt she was the best decision we made throughout the whole wedding process. She’s responsive and so thoughtful. If you want one less thing to stress about book her now, she knows what she’s doing. She was also so helpful when I was having a fainting spell she quickly pivoted to do other photos while I rested for a bit. Our wedding and photos were recently featured in the paper. That’s how beautiful they came out.
I've used Courtney for 5 years now. She's done my engagement, wedding and now 2 maternity sessions. She makes taking pictures so easy and makes you feel comfortable. She is super f...
ast at getting photos back to you. I've always gotten them earlier than the time frame she gives. They are amazing quality. Definitely recommend her!
I like words, so here's a few about Courtney!
Stellar, incredible, stupendous, spectacular, and everything I've ever dreamed of!
Off the bat, I'm was a very type A bride and Co...
urtney impressed me from the very first consultation we had, I felt like I was talking to a friend, rather than a vendor.
I can be a bit of a control freak and she handled every question, critique, email, worry, etc. with grace and ease. My husband and I can also be a bit awkward behind the camera and Courtney and her INCREDIBLE team made us shine! She captured some of the most beautiful moments while wrangling my giant wedding party, family and so much more.
My husband and I loved every minute of working with her and I'm SO SO thankful for our incredible photos from that special day.
I cherish them even more now since my grandfather passed away a few months after our wedding.
I'd use her again in a heartbeat and you should too! If you're on the fence, DO ITTTT!
I couldn't be happier! I'll definitely be keeping Courtney in my contacts for future life events, BEST CHOICE EVER!!!!
Courtney was so awesome to work with and our wedding pictures came out amazing! She knows all the best angles and how to work with any light in the best way. I always feel awkward ...
taking pictures, but Courtney made us feel so comfortable and helped guide us through the different poses. Would highly recommend Courtney to any couple!
You won't regret hiring Courtney!
My Husband and I used Courtney for our engagement and wedding photos. Not only was she a dream to work with the pictures were wonderful! Courtney...
was fun and made us feel so comfortable at all times. Sometimes engagement/wedding photos can feel awkward if you're not a professional, but she always made us feel comfortable and it kept it light and fun. If I had to do it again would hire Courtney in a heart beat!
BOOK HER NOW.
Courtney was absolutely phenomenal. Everything was so smooth and she made us feel so comfortable when taking our wedding photos. Because of COVID, we decided to have...
a court wedding back in dec 2020. There was a lot of back and forth on my end because I wasn’t sure if we wanted her to come with us to the court or just have a photoshoot the next day. But she was extremely accommodating and gave us really helpful recommendations for what would look best for our photos. So we decided to just do the next day so we could have ample time as the sun set. We ended up doing a 1.5 hour photoshoot with Courtney.
From start to finish she worked so hard and was super encouraging during it all. I personally feel really awkward and uncomfortable taking photos but she made it fun and I absolutely love love love the photos. I showed them to all my friends and I already have a friend that just got engaged asking for Courtney’s contact info because she too loved how my photos turned out.
We also used her for our family photos in summer of 2021 and she was once again so excellent. Really knew how to engage a big family including kids. We shot photos at a small beach in Laguna and the photos came out amazing. I made a big canvas and gifted it to my in-laws. They absolutely loved it.
I would 100% recommend Courtney for not just wedding photos but for any event/family photos.
Highly recommend!
We were lucky enough to be introduced to Courtney through our caterer, but once we met her we never looked back. We had an easy consultation in which Courtney ma...
de us feel comfortable with the process and timeline and each interaction we had was smooth and stress-free. Going into the event we knew exactly what to expect and we felt confident that our event would be captured.
Our wedding day went off without a hitch. We felt like Courtney and the team was prepared, kind, and thorough. We loved her prompts for posing for photos and felt like an old friend was taking our photo. We left the wedding thinking how great Courtney was.
Then we saw our photos and were absolutely blown away by how perfect they were. She really captured my beautiful wife and even me who generally doesn't like to take photos.
With Courtney, the whole process was easy and streamlined. The wedding was fun and easy. And the photos fantastic. We both highly recommend Courtney and next time we need a professional photographer or someone to show us how to giggle laugh we know who to call.
Courtney was our wedding photographer and she's the absolute best! She is so professional, personable, and talented. She was recommended to us by our venue, and we were impressed b...
y her portfolio and timeless style. As soon as we met Courtney, we knew she was the obvious choice. Her pricing is transparent and fair, and she is so nice and helpful! She did our engagement shoot and then our wedding with her assistant, who was also great. Courtney has built a strong reputation for herself as a professional in the industry, as our other vendors told us how easy she is to work with. Her communication with us leading up to and after our wedding was superb and we LOVE the photos she captured!
What can we say about Courtney!?! We really lucked out by finding her! I was in the midst of researching photographers in the Temecula area, when a Facebook Ad popped up for Courtn...
ey McManaway Photography. Intrigued by the ad, I decided to click on it to see what she had to offer. I was immediately impressed by her home page with tons of candid shots of previous weddings she had done and as I explored her website more, I decided to contact her to see if she would be a good fit for us, and man, was she ever! Not only is Courtney very personable, but she has a great sense of humor, is very upbeat, has a positive personality, and is EXTREMELY organized! (As a very stressful bride, this took a big weight off of my shoulders!) Prior to the wedding day she had us fill out a questionnaire in regards to our family dynamics, specifics of our wedding ceremony, if we were doing a first look prior to the ceremony, and having an outline of specific family and friend pictures that we wanted the day of our wedding. This really allowed us to think about exactly what we wanted prior to the big day rather than worrying if we got all the specific family and friend pictures that we wanted the day of. I could not have been happier with how the photography went the day of the wedding as well. Courtney and her photographers were very punctual (ex: taking "getting" ready pictures, putting on the dress, etc.) and worked extremely well with the timeline our wedding coordinator had planned for our big day (we ran on time!). As we were taking pictures, Courtney and her photographers really knew how to guide us and tell us exactly what to do and how to pose, which at the time, seems silly, but when we finally got our pictures, we were blown away! She was able to capture so many emotions of our wedding, from to happy tears, to laughter, to the drunken shenanigans on the dance floor (and did they get some great shots of the reception!). We couldn't be happier with the outcome of our pictures and have gotten so many compliments on them. If you have the opportunity to book her for your big day, do it! It is worth every penny!
Courtney captured our Palm Springs wedding perfectly- the photos showed our beautiful blended family to perfection. We love the finished product.
Courtney and her crew were awesome during our entire wedding! She captured amazing moments and photos that we will be able to cherish forever. She was very personable and fun to wo...
rk with. Her prices are also very reasonable. I would totally recommend hiring her for you’re wedding events!!
Courtney is absolutely amazing! She was able to capture my husband and I in the most beautiful way. Her personality meshed so well with us and the photos of the day turned out wond...
erful! She is worth every penny! Highly recommend!
Courtney was recommended to us by Cheryl at the chapel of orange and after reading all the good reviews on multiple platforms we decided to choose her for our engagement pictures w...
ith the prospect of shooting our wedding as well. Courtney made everything so simple from booking an appointment to actually receiving our photos. Her bubbly personality made the session so much fun. She caters to her clients desires and limitations. We received our pictures is an efficient manner without lack of quality. She was also very affordable. We can’t wait for her to shoot our wedding in July!
I run a popular all inclusive wedding venue in Orange county and utilize Courtney's photography services regularly for a number of our couples. She is one of only a chosen few top...
notch, five star photographers that we use as her skills are definitely "first rate". Courtney is professional and very easy to work with. Couples love her. Her photography captures such amazing images and her editing skills which let's face it are as important as shooting the photos are second to none. I highly recommend Courtney!
Courtney photographed our wedding, and I can't recommend her enough. She was completely professional and maintained a great attitude even in incredible heat (I think it was 104 deg...
rees that day!). She was completely responsive and reachable leading up to the wedding. We got our final images less than a month after our wedding and they are lovely. Courtney is the best. Highly, highly recommended!
I do not have enough nice things to say about Courtney she was absolutely amazing. We met with her and from the first moment we clicked. After the meeting we were like Courtney i...
s our photographer. We "tested" her out by having her do our engagement shoot and the photos came out perfectly.
The day of the ceremony Courtney and her second shooter John arrived promptly and dressed professionally. She captured our moments and got the pictures we requested, we couldn't be happier. If you need a photographer we definitely recommend Courtney.
Courtney was amazing - Kevin and I were so pleased with her work, quality, timeliness, professionalism, and overall everything about her. You can tell she truly cares about her cli...
ents. I dealt with many vendors while planning our wedding and there isn't a single vendor that I would recommend more than Courtney! We used her for both our engagement photos and wedding day and our photos came out fantastic!
Courtney is the ultimate professional with an amazing eye for the photos that will truly tell the story of your wedding. Near strangers have teared up looking at our photos becaus...
e she captured such amazing emotion from myself, my husband and our families and friends. This is obviously due to her photography skill and great use of natural light, but also has so much to do with how well she interacts with/connects with/manages people.
My husband had had virtually no professional photos taken of him before our e-pics, and Courtney did such a great job making him feel comfortable and getting him to be affectionate and simply "normal" with me. She also was a total wizard at editing for those photos, since it was during that 100-degree heat wave, I know my clothes were soaked with sweat, and you would never know it to look at the final photos.
But where Courtney really shone is at our wedding. From the second she and her wonderful assistant, John, stepped into our getting ready rooms, she made sure she got all of the photos she wanted and that we wanted (thanks to the super-detailed questionnaire we filled out before the big day), and she got the photos in a way that was both efficient and unobtrusive. I loved looking at all of the detail shots later, and the family portraits were as smooth as a dream, but my favorites are the photos she took of myself and my groom for our first look before the ceremony. I'm tearing up now as I think about how she gave us just enough direction to get us in the right places then just let us be us, and we totally forgot about the cameras. But the photos of that raw emotion and the absolutely stunning light she captured are phenomenal.
Photography as strong as Courtney's typically comes with a much higher price tag and not nearly as much flexibility. We have been so happy with all of the pictures we have seen, and getting our album a few days ago sealed our belief that she is just amazing. I recommend her without a second of hesitation, and believe any couple would be lucky to have her capture their day.
I did a lot of research into photographers since your photos are the only things that last past the wedding day. I liked Courtney the first time I met her and felt liked we clicked...
. She offers a great package for a great price. Most photographers started at like 5 hours and will charge a lot for additional hours, and others say all day but really mean 8 hours. Starting she offers two photographers for 9 hours. She is really nice and very talented. She also did our engagement session and I have gotten so many compliments about our pictures. Definitely feel like I made the right choice in going with Courtney. I love my pictures!
From the moment we met with Courtney we knew she was a perfect fit! It's important to feel comfortable around your wedding photographer and with Courtney that was never a problem! ...
She made our engagement pictures so much fun and really cares about making sure you are comfortable and happy with the results. She was even willing to brave mountain lions up in oak glen for us! On our wedding day she was so professional and on top of things. We really could not be happier with our wedding photos. They really bring us back to that day and capture the moments beautifully. Just the other day our next door neighbor said that our wedding pictures were some of the most beautiful pictures he's ever seen. I can't help but agree! :) Thank you Courtney for doing an amazing job!!
To say that she exceeded our expectations would be an understatement... we were ESTATIC with our pictures!!!
Aside from being a great photographer, she was punctual, organized (...
wedding time-line, photo list), prepared (with a back-up plan in case of camera mal-function) and enjoyable to be around which is a very important quality for your wedding photographer.
Courtney has a very good eye for what will photograph well, and has a very modern perspective which we really liked. She went above and beyond in designing the photo-album, with my many revision request (this is my neurosis). The end result was beautiful and these pictures will take us back to the joy of our wedding day for years to come. Even the packaging of the photo-album was very special.
If I could do it all again, I would DEFINITELY, without any hesistation, use Courtney again, and unfortunately, I can't say that for all of my wedding vendors.
Courtney was recommended by a friend of mine and we were so grateful that she was. From the first meeting, Courtney was so sweet and made us feel at ease. She keeps in contact with...
you throughout the months before the wedding, so you feel like you are able to establish a relationship. That relationship definitely paid off on the day of the wedding! She is so professional and organized. She makes the day go by so smoothly and makes you feel so comfortable so that every picture she takes makes you look your best! She is also able to choose settings and backgrounds that compliment your personal style. She captures every detail of the wedding allowing you to relive the moment. Her photos are excellent! I couldn't have asked for a better photographer! Highly recommend!!
I am so happy with Courtney! From the moment that I met with her, I knew she was different from the rest photographers I had interviewed! She has a great personality and made me fe...
el confident when I viewed her work. One of the things I loved when we booked her is her proffesionalism and how organized she is! she had us fill out a questionnaire online of names from the bridal party and the people we wanted to take formal photos with...everything was in order so that the day of the wedding she was prepared..this gave me piece of mind! On the day of the wedding she was punctual, managed my bridal party and it was one shot after another! she was great! My husband and I were in awe when we received our CD with images! we got them all edited in less than a month!! The presentation is beautiful, the CD case is so nice and when we looked at the photos we couldn't believe how beautiful they are!! she captured all the special moments and every little detail from the flowers to the martini I was drinking :)
We are so happy and blessed we found her!
We booked DJ Luis for our wedding reception through The Event Consultants and he was absolutely amazing!!! He played all music I enjoyed, even without me giving him very much dire...
ction. I felt like he could read my mind. I would definitely recommend him!
Working with Courtney was the best! She is very Detailed and great at what she does. She makes everyone laugh and feel comfortable!! I would highley recommend her for wedding, or a...
ny photos!! I will be using her again. Her work speaks for itself. Amazing!!
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