About this vendor
Hola, I'm Hellena! I am so happy to have you here. A little about me; I am a SoCal Native and moved to the bay area in 2015. My heart will always be in SoCal but home is the bay!
When capturing your story, I strive to make the session fun and relaxed. As your photographer my role is not only to deliver your images but to capture YOU!
When I am not a photographer, I am a full-time advocate for gender-based violence and an abolisher of mass incarceration of black and brown folks. I am a fur mama, Centro Americana 100%, hot Cheetos with Limon lover, wife and recently became a mama of a sweet little human.
I can't wait to make magic happen together!
Details
Business Attributes
- Hispanic or Latinx-owned Business
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Boudoir
- Bridal Portraits
- Day After Session
- Engagement
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Same-Day Edits
- Second Shooter Available
- Social Media Sharing
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Documentary
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- Wedding
Awards and Affiliations
3-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2026.2023.2022.
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 5.034 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Stop searching for photographers - Hellena is your girl.
My husband and I decided to get married and plan our wedding in 6 months. We were in a time crunch but wanted to get it ri...
ght! Looking for photographers on wedding wire, IG, the knot was easy but a lot of them felt too “cookie cutter” and basic. I found Hellena on IG under the tag “Latinaphotographer”. Although she was all the way in California, I knew I had to contact her and see what she was like. INSTANTLY, we clicked. Our FaceTime call was like talking to an old friend - dishing about wedding planning and our culture. She reassured me during the call that she would be our advocate: making sure we stayed on schedule, that we were focused on looking/feeling our best, that we got pictures of everything and with everyone we hoped to. Our follow up planning call was seamless: reviewing and revising our timeline (she gave great suggestions based on her experience), and must haves photo list.
Hellena was so down to come to Chicago (granted our wedding was far from the city lol), and she braved the Midwest January winter weather like a champ! The moment we met on wedding day, she put my husband and I at ease. Hellena has this presence about her that makes you feel so comfortable. She is down to earth, smiley, charismatic, and effortlessly cool. She went above and beyond to ensure my husband and I had were enjoying the experience by checking in on us, bringing us drinks so we stayed hydrated, laughing with us. She even helped with bustling my dress! Hellena also has an eye for talent because the second shooter she brought along had amazing shots of my husband and his groomsmen.
We recently received our gallery and we couldn’t be happier. Her photographs make us want to relive the day all over again. We loved all our portraits, candids, first dance and decor photos. She has made it difficult to decide which photos we need to frame for our living room because they are ALL SO AMAZING. We can’t wait to share our gallery with our close friends and family.
Overall, Hellena was a highlight of our wedding day. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are located, take a chance on her. I’m so glad we took a chance on this beautiful human being and phenomenal photographer. She is making all Latinos proud with her work and character. Gracias Hellena for capturing the happiest and most magical day of our lives.
Book Her! Book Hellena right now. If you do, not only will you receive stunning photos, but she will make your event Magical. Her resume should be, photographer, family wrangler, s...
chedule keeper, flower pinner, veil placer and most important your personal hype woman.
Hellena went above and beyond and made the experience of my wedding so much easier and as stress-free as a wedding can be for a DIY bride. There was a million things going on and her constant support and guidance made me feel like I was with a friend. With her directing me, not only did I feel comfortable in front of the camera, but was so happy with the results. I love our photos and am so thankful we made the investment in hiring Hellena. We are so happy with our choice and can't wait to book with her again for all of our life events in the future.
I literally could not recommend her enough!
So y'all - Hellena went above and beyond for our wedding, from the pre-planning to the actual day. A true professional, with a beautiful eye for the right shot, Hellena worked hard...
to make our vision come alive and my wife and I couldn't be happier with the final results. Hellena is smooth, flexible (and stands her ground when she needs to, in a good way). Incredibly talented, centers community, and displayed an intuitive sense day of wedding on how best to make the day all that it deserved. I would wholeheartedly recommend Hellena. She is great. Truly.
It was a pleasure to have Hellena as our photographer on our special day. She was so great to us and everyone to get the best shots & we are obsessed with the results !!!!
Not only were Hellena’s photos absolutely stunning works of ART, but she is kind, on top of it, experienced, and professional—she really helped take care of us before, at, and afte...
r our wedding. Her communication with us? Excellent.
We booked with Hellena before we’d gotten a wedding coordinator so, in our initial consultation with her she went above and beyond and gut checked our initial (often wrong) notions of how weddings happen and gave us invaluable practical advice that we could take into our planning sessions which made us feel confident and prepared!! So grateful and excited for our anniversary shoot!!
I cannot emphasize how wonderful and talented Hellena is, how happy I am with our photos, and how lucky I feel that we booked with her for our wedding day! From the get-go I could ...
tell that she was the right person for us - down to earth, enthusiastic, easy to talk to, and kind enough to work with our budget and schedule. Hellena was on top of everything, making sure beforehand what kind of shots/vibe we’d like, and on our wedding day she had everything under control, going above and beyond for a stress-free and fun experience. As someone who is shy in front of the camera, she made my husband and I so comfortable, capturing exactly what I was hoping for and beyond! When i received the gallery, I was absolutely blown away. If you’re looking for a talented wedding photographer who will pay attention to the little things, please please book with Hellena! Thank you so much again!
Hellena was a joy to work with. She’s communicative and easy to collaborate with. She effortlessly moves between director mode if you need that extra guidance or is also so recepti...
ve to your input for something that feels personal too.
We had a small ceremony with limited time at SF City Hall, and Hellena knew the ins and outs to make the best use of the time. Thank you for a wonderful experience for us and our family!
Hellena is incredible and is essential for any wedding (or event)!
We intentionally searched for a wedding photographer with experience working with BIPOC and LGBTQ+ couples. Fro...
m our initial introductory call over Zoom, we felt an immediate connection with Hellena - and were confident she'd be able to capture the moments most meaningful to us.
In the months and weeks leading up to the wedding, Hellena provided recommendations and suggestions for how we could best structure our day, and was a critical voice in helping us finalize our day-of wedding schedule.
The day of the event, she seamlessly became an organic part of our broader wedding party. She helped to ensure we stuck to our schedule, gave firm yet kind direction when coordinating all of the necessary photos, and immediately put us at ease.
She created a sweet video reel for us and all of the photos she took were amazing. Her eye for timing, for serendipitous moments, and for special must-have shots was impeccable. We were very emotional when we looked through our wedding photos for the first time.
I genuinely cannot share enough praise for Hellena.
I truly cannot say enough good things about my experience with Helena for my wedding!
If you want:
Beautiful and thoughtful photos
Cinematic moments
A charismatic and welcoming ...
photographer
A stress free photographer experience
Attention to detail
You will get all of that and MORE with Helena. Truly book her asap, I hope to
Hire her for future family events that’s how great of an experience we had 🩷
Prepare to be blown away by Hellena. She is the most dedicated, hard-working, hilarious, creative soul. She pours herself into your experience and is absolutely next level. Althoug...
h we have only had the immense pleasure of her capturing our engagement photos and our engagement party photos, she will also be our wedding photographer and I already know it will be everything we have ever wanted. If you’re looking for an honest, high quality, down-to-earth, sweet photographer, call her immediately. Worth every penny and more. We love her so much.
We had the great pleasure of working with Hellena during our wedding reception. She was professional and had an infectious joyous energy that was wonderful to be around - not to me...
ntion amazing photos, as well!
Hellena shot our wedding and reception this summer. She was an incredible person to work with! She is very responsive, communicative, kind, very reasonably priced, professional an...
d keeps her clients' best interest in mind during the whole process. She took amazing shots of our wedding ceremony and celebration. We could not have hired a better person to work with and would 100% recommend her!
We worked with Hellena last April for our city hall wedding and had such a fantastic experience! Hellena was great at making us feel comfortable in front of the camera and posing u...
s. She was great company to have on our special day and even drove us around. And the pictures turned out soo amazing! Highly highly recommend!!
We worked with Hellena in May 2023 for our 150-person wedding in Oakland, CA and we couldn’t have been more pleased with our experience or the final photos. We only had positive in...
teractions in booking, planning, and the actual day (responsive, proactive, professional, and kind). Finding someone that we felt comfortable with was important to us as we knew they would be with us getting ready, with our families, and there for our private vows before the ceremony – we felt completely at ease and taken care of with Hellena – she captured beautiful moments and helped us keep up with our timeline, while also giving us space and privacy. From our group bridal party shots, to portraits, to candid dance floor moments, she caught everything. She’s a wonderful human, and we can’t recommend her enough.
If you want a supportive, loving, down-to-earth, ultimate hype woman, you need Hellena as your photographer for your big day, or any other day!
When we went into the process of lo...
oking for a photographer for our wedding, we wanted to find someone who could capture the looks we wanted but also keep the fun, party vibes our wedding was planned to be.
From the first time she responded to our emails to the first time we spoke with her, we knew that she was the perfect photographer for us. Clear communication the whole time, willing to work with our schedule, super supportive of our personal lives. She even helped us find our videographer (@crossmyheartfilms).
One of the biggest things that will stick with me was on our wedding day, she was there to fix my wife’s wedding dress more often than the MOH. Now that’s not a knock on our MOH —she was a fantastic MOH and an even better person — but an example of how much Hellena cares for you on your day, and how much of a perfectionist she is to capture the perfect shot as well.
Lastly, her work! It’s simply amazing! It completely exemplifies the modern style of photography we wanted; focusing on natural light while catching those super important organic and candid shots. We knew we wanted Hellena based on her IG posts alone.
We are so happy that we went with Hellena — a person who genuinely cares. In the videos I have of the dance floor, Hellena was right in the middle of it, smiling ear to ear while taking pictures of everyone. You can literally feel the love from her IG posts of her couples. We are so lucky and blessed that she was able to make it work with us.
——
PS - we typed up the majority of this review on our honeymoon before we received our wedding gallery, so all of this is how we feel about Hellena strictly based on our interactions with her and a few sneaks.
How fitting that on our final day, we received our full gallery and good lord, she did not have to go as hard as she did! What a perfect way to relive the day and cherish those moments for the rest of our lives. We are eternally grateful and so blessed to have the honor of working with Hellena. She will 1000% be our photographer for every occasion that comes up in the future.
Hire her! Hellena is so talented, warm, and level-headed -- exactly what we needed on our very important and expensive (:P) day. Our chief concern was fitting it all in to a quick ...
8-hour rental with a million family permutations -- and she worked to strategize with us to make the most of it. On the day of, she took charge and made actionable suggestions which as a Type A bride who wanted to not GAF that day i LOVED. Numerous guests, unprompted, told me how much they loved her attitude -- that she'd step in and help take group selfies. And the photos! Warm, sweet, real: out in the garden mid-afternoon, at golden hour, on the dance floor, and in the dark church where the ceremony was held. She went above and beyond: when a guest had a medical incident, she was the one who called 911. Anyway, I could go on and on. Photos were so important to me and I'm so happy we worked with Hellena!
Hellena, GRACIAS POR TODO! Not only are her skills behind the camera incredible, she's also one of the nicest people we've met! We literally cried when we were going though our w...
edding photos. She captured the energy and you can see the love and care she took to get every important moment. She captured all the wedding decor/details, candid pictures of our friends and family, and the most angelic pictures of us. We couldn't have asked for a better person to trust on our big day. Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.
Hellena is absolutely amazing— she is so talented!! She photographed my husband and my 30 person wedding and every time I look at the photos I feel all of the joy and coziness of t...
hat day. We had such a fun time taking couples shots at Mt Tam, and Hellena made us feel so comfortable; at the same time she took lovely candid shots of our ceremony and celebration. Our family and friends cannot stop talking about how well she captured our day. Highly highly highly recommend working with her!!
We worked with Hellena (and second shooter, Jamie) for our wedding in the Bay Area and it was an amazing experience! This was a bit of a destination wedding for us, but we were abl...
e to meet with her and walk around the venue together well before the wedding to plan. Leading up to the wedding, we checked in 1-2 times to review the timeline and photo list (and she gave us some excellent suggestions on both). On the wedding day, Hellena was punctual and an extremely calming and comforting presence. She made sure our needs as a couple were met (including making sure we were hydrated and well-fed) throughout the day. We received sneak peeks about a week after the wedding, and expect to get the rest in the next couple of weeks. Hellena is courteous, warm and very talented. She made our wedding extra special!
I am in love with Hellena and her work, nobody could have captured my wedding better. She has an amazing eye, and will bring the beauty out of anything. She has the most genuine so...
ul and even though I had never met her before, I felt like a close friends was standing by my side the whole day.
Hellena is AMAZING! I instantly clicked with Hellena and knew she was the photography for us with her pure authenticity, down to earth nature, and incredible talent. She captured t...
he most beautiful pictures of my family and I prior to our wedding, and completely blew me away during our big day. She is such a hard worker, and even went up and down what felt like a million steps to capture some last minute shots us on the beach. Inclusive, reliable, flexible, professional, kind, and produces the best shots! What more could anyone ask for!
In short, Hellena is a phenomenal human AND artist. Period. INCREDIBLY talented. Super warm vibe. Easy to work with. LGBTQ friendly (and experienced). I'd HIGHLY recommend her for ...
any type of photography you may need and would book her again in a heartbeat.
You should book her too...ASAP.
When it came to sourcing vendors for our wedding, we didn't really know much other than that we wanted to support LGBTQ / POC / woman-owned businesses/vendors wherever possible.
After a fairly extensive and exhaustive search, we finally stumbled upon the website of the brilliant & talented #BOSSLatina, Ms. Hellena Cedeno.
We immediately knew. She was the one.
Between her photojournalistic style, uncanny ability to capture raw emotion, fine attention to detail, and unique point of view as an artist...she was everything we had hoped for (and more).
Not only that, she made us feel incredible comfortable, confident, and supported throughout the entire process - from our initial zoom call to last call on the dance floor.
Hellena - we can not thank you enough for being such an incredible partner (and friend) throughout the entire experience.
And girl. The final product...**gaygasp** Soooo gooooodddd 💃🏻😍🤗
#eastbayphotographer
#gayweddingphotographer
#supportwoc
#latinasmallbusiness
Hellena was absolutely fantastic! From our first call she made us feel so comfortable and was on top of everything. On the day of the wedding, Hellena was an absolute pro and made...
everyone feel fabulous in front of the camera. She was so easy going and made the day extra wonderful with her photography skills and warm personality . She sent us our gallery so quickly and perfectly captured the joy of our day. We can’t recommend her enough!
I cannot more highly recommend Hellena as a wedding photographer. From the first meeting I knew she was the right choice. She has been the perfect mix of professional and persona...
ble. I knew she would fit right in with our families. As an added bonus, on the day of, she jumped right into the role of coordinator, without even being asked. She kept us on schedule, helped us anticipate what would be needed in each moment, and liaised with our families and vendors. I was very impressed with her ability to learn our family and friends’ names throughout the event and she put us all at ease as we took both posed and candid photos. Her communication has been excellent, prompt and thorough. We recently got our photos back (two weeks after the wedding!) and I could not be happier with the results. She is very skilled and captured our beautiful little moments perfectly!
So attentive, approachable, easy to work with and VERY professional!!! Hellena’s photos really captured the emotion of the day. I would recommend her to ANYONE looking for a fant...
astic photographer who delivers a personal touch.
Working with Hellena was an absolute dream! What could have been a complicated stressful part of wedding was made so incredibly simple and wonderful.
Before our event we setup a ...
meet and greet via zoom with Hellena where we covered some basics of what the day would entail and got to know each a bit. From the get go we knew she would be a great fit us. She is bubbly, fun with a great attitude, armed with a wide array of experience and professionalism! Hellena was also easily reach via email, text, or Instagram.
Fast forward to the day of our wedding…she showed up early and was ready to begin photographing as we both got ready. We fit quite a bit in a four span; first looks, ceremony, both bridal parties, and reception photos and more!
The best part of working with Hellena was her flexibility! She was willing to capture photos of anyone and anything we wanted on the fly while also adding in your professional opinion without being overbearing or taking full control of our photo sessions.
By the end of our wedding we were all laughing so much! We didn’t just get a wedding photographer, but someone we can now call friend!
She did AAAAMAZING! Hellena made my husband and I feel super comfortable during our special day. She was super helpful and flexible. All photos were delivered in a timely manner, a...
ccessible, and great quality.
Hellena is not only a wonderful photographer but also an amazing person. She captured so many wonderful moments for us to be able to enjoy for the rest of our lives. I absolutely l...
oved working with Hellena and I am so incredibly happy I found her! She was very responsive to my texts and understanding of my situation - my father is terminally ill and we had to make special accommodations, in order to have him share the day with us, which Hellena was more than willing to help me with and I was still able to get some photos with my father (that was very important to me). Hopefully one day soon we’ll be able to hire her for a maturity shoot - fingers crossed! 🥰
We hired Hellena to photograph our COVID wedding during the height of the pandemic lockdowns (May 2020). She was professional, prompt, flexible, and provided us our beautiful photo...
s very soon after our big day. Her pricing was also very reasonable. Would recommend!
My husband and I first met Hellena to do our engagement photos 3 years ago. She is so kind, warm, and personable she helped us feel comfortable right away. We spent the entire sess...
ion laughing. Walking back to the car and without even seeing the finished product we knew we wanted her do our wedding, thats how good she is. Since then she's quickly become our family photographer, doing our wedding, pregnancy announcements, maternity, and soon our first family photos.
Couldn't recommend her more highly.
Hellena is the absolute best! She went above and beyond to photograph our last minute elopement. We are so grateful to have found her and will cherish her beautiful photos for a li...
fetime. She is extremely professional, responsive, creative, and we just cannot thank her enough!
My now-husband and I decided to work with Hellena to photograph our wedding, and we are so thrilled that we did. She was remarkable to work with, and her photographs are amazing! W...
e HIGHLY recommend her. From the very beginning, Hellena was responsive, professional, and incredibly sweet. Even though she and I live on opposite sides of the state, Hellena was communicative and responsive, making sure that she understood our desires and concerns for our wedding day and that we were on the same page. She more-than delivered on all of her promises and took all of the photos we wanted, and they turned out beautifully. This is despite the fact that she had to work with our two large families, toddlers running around, older members with mobility difficulties, and family members running very late. All the while, she was friendly, thoughtful, and helpful. She thought of things we wouldn't have and made suggestions that turned out fantastically. She even helped me move some boxes that the caterer had left lying around! Ultimately, she was wonderful, and I would absolutely work with her again.
Hellena was amazing to work with, and I cannot say enough great things about her. Our photos were stunning, we had an excellent time, and she was fun and engaging for our shoot. We...
had never met her before our wedding day, and she made us feel comfortable and heard. I would hire her again in a heartbeat! Best decision!
Hellena is just the best!
Found her here in Thumbtack when my now husband and I were looking for a photographer for our wedding day. From our very first conversation, I already k...
new that it would be such a breeze to work with her! She has a very warm, gracious and fun personality which is just what you need for a photographer. She made everyone feel comfortable taking pics especially when we requested to have a huge photo with everyone in our guest list. She absolutely captured the best moments of the most special and happiest day of our lives! The pictures came out perfect and every time we look at them, it’s like we were back in that very same moment. We will definitely be having Hellena as our photographer for all our future events! Thanks for such an awesome experience, Hellena! :)
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