Kirsten Zarek Photography

storms on the day of our outdoor wedding in Tahoe. Kirsten stayed with my husband and the groomsmen during the initial get ready sessions and he couldn't have sung her praises any more. Kirsten emulates such positive and good energy which is quintessential to life and especially to a wedding day. My husband and I are awkward in front of the camera and Kirsten really helped us be more natural by cracking jokes and being silly. We also had 3 flower girls under 3 years old and she efforted hard to get them to all smile and laugh for a photo, which is not an easy task. She was even my unofficial veil fixer as she was the only one who knew how to properly place it on my head! Even though we didn't have her as our primary photographer I'm so confident that she would've produced such incredible images for us. Her portfolio on instagram speaks for itself. I'd highly recommend her to anyone looking for a wedding, engagement, couples, family, or just because photographer! Thank you so much Kirsten!

for our welcome party, and then all day for our wedding. Not only does she take fantastic pictures and make you feel way less awkward in front of the camera, she is SO nice and so fun. She went above and beyond on everything, and all of our guests commented on how much they loved meeting her and getting pictures. We are so pleased with how all of our photos have turned out and how incredibly fast she has gotten our photos back to us. We feel so lucky to have Kirsten capture these special moments, and as others have mentioned, the lighting is perfection. If you're on the fence, book her services ASAP! You won't regret it.

ined we are very awkward in front of the camera. Her direction and wonderful prompts captured our best smiles and unique styles without looking forced. She went above and beyond to learn about our wedding location before hand to study the lighting and spots for creative photos. Kirsten is truly a professional and master at her craft. Looking at the photos she seemed to be every where capturing the most beautiful moments between our guests. We will cherish her work for the rest of our lives.

too expensive--then we found Kirsten. Her style matched our vision and her pricing was VERY reasonable for the services she provided. We hopped on a phone call with her to chat with her, get to know what her approach was, etc. We knew within the first couple of minutes that she was the right one for us! She was bubbly and personable, but also professional and organized. She had a clear vision and approach for how to execute our wedding photography. We felt very confident the she knew what she was doing and was on top of her game, which was very reassuring when some of our other vendors were less reliable. Although she is located in Reno, NV, our wedding was in Baltimore, and she was willing to travel, no issues at all! She also photographed our rehearsal dinner the night before, and coordinating that was also so so simple. On the day of our wedding, she was super engaging and made us feel very comfortable in front of the camera. We're not used to taking couples photos, and unfortunately we felt uncomfortable during our engagement photo shoot with another photographer. We communicated this to Kirsten and she made sure to make us feel relaxed and at ease on our very chaotic wedding day. All of our wedding guests raved how awesome she was as she was taking pictures of everyone the whole night. Then we got the photos--they are beautiful! We got a sneak peak of the photos a couple of days after our wedding, with the whole photo album coming about 3 weeks later.  We only have good things to say about Kirsten and the amazing job she did. It was truly a joy working with her. She was the best vendor we had on our wedding day, even though working with her required the least amount of prep work.

n her photography. I found Kirsten when I was searching for wedding venues online in the DC/Maryland area; every time I saw a photographer I liked, I copied their name down and low and behold I copied Kirsten's name a dozen times. I reached out to her to see her availability, and after a quick phone call I knew she was the right photographer for us. Our engagement session was amazing and we got to know her well then. She has a personality that just invites you to be yourself in front of the camera, to laugh and hug and be playful in a really authentic way. Our wedding was rather different than what we planned this year, but Kirsten rolled with the punches and captured our smaller, special day beautifully. I left that day knowing it was the best day of my life so far, and seeing her pictures brings me right back to those moments. I will forever be grateful for her documenting our day!

tions as our photographer! I selected Kirsten after reviewing the work on her website. I loved her aesthetic, and the mix of standard and candid photos she captured. Kirsten was lovely to work with from the get-go. We had to reschedule our engagement photos a couple of times due to weather, and she was both quick with her communication and flexibility. At our shoot she was easy to talk to and used prompts and direction to guide us. We had never done professional photos before (and needed lots of guidance!), but you couldn't tell with our photos! At our wedding, Kirsten and her second photographer captured our magical day with ease. Of course it there was a light rain during our bridal party pictures, but you couldn't tell looking at the photos later. The photos of our ceremony are stunning-- they show so many special moments: our bridal party/family in anticipation of walking down the aisle, laughter and tears during vows, and sweet pictures of our guests that we didn't see since we were wrapped up in the moment. She took photos of our large families, and the second photographer got lots of fun candid photos during cocktail hour and the reception. Some of my favorite photos were taken when Kirsten had my husband and I step away from the reception for a few minutes-- with the nerves of the day behind us we were at ease and so happy, just enjoying our celebration. I would highly recommend Kirsten for your engagement and wedding photos. We couldn't be happier with how they turned out.

) photographer I called after seeing her gorgeous portfolio. What I couldn’t have known from her portfolio is that Kirsten is such a sweet person! My husband and I were so happy to have her calm, warm presence with us throughout our wedding day. I am thrilled with the way the photos turned out and feel very lucky that Kirsten could come from Seattle to Baltimore to capture our day for us. If Kirsten is available, book her!!!

ripted moments of your wedding, AND she is a lovely, sweet person who will make you feel comfortable in front of the camera. During our engagement session, Kirsten was so fun to hang out with that I felt relieved knowing she’d be at our wedding. Fast forward a few months to the wedding…I was pretty stressed out the week before thinking of everything that could go wrong, and Kirsten – this is not part of her job description – sent me comforting emails and texts to reassure me that our wedding was going to be amazing. On the wedding day, I loved having Kirsten around me all day because it was like hanging out with a friend. Kirsten and her second shooter were both experts at posing us without being too prescriptive, and they knew exactly when and how to guide our large formal group shots and when to be more in the background. We love our photos, and love reliving our wedding day through them. We’ve had friends and family comment that our photos look like they belong in a magazine, and while we’re biased, we agree because they really are beautiful. Thank you Kirsten, you are a gem!

ssional. I can't imagine having any other photographer for our day. We had a very small wedding, and so we wanted to make sure that we had a photographer that we really felt comfortable with. She made the process so fun and laid back! The photos are absolutely incredible, and every person we've shown them to raves about how wonderful they are. The entire experience working with Kirsten was above and beyond my wildest dreams for my wedding photography. I can't recommend her highly enough.

th. She is warm & genuine and the moment I spoke on the phone with her I knew she had the energy I needed on my big day. Our first meeting over coffee only confirmed what an excellent choice we had made - it was like we already knew her! Her positive energy vibes shown through immediately - I remember having her at a vendor meeting that was stressful and I felt relaxed having her on my side. She also made us feel so comfortable on the day of even though we chose not to do an engagement shoot to "practice" in front of the camera. I am a bit camera shy but she brought out the best of me, my husband and all our family & friends. Her shots were stunning & had an editorial twist I wanted but also captured the feelings & energy of each part of our day perfectly. I can actually re-live the whole day through her work. We are SO happy we met such an amazing artist! Thank you Kirsten!

uld have been missed (like the photo of my mom crying, framed between my dad and I during our father-daughter dance... what a great shot). She has a knack for making people feel super comfortable with her around. Because we had an engagement shoot already on our belts with her, when she arrived (over an hour early!) on the day of our wedding I felt like I was welcoming a friend. She works really hard to ensure that you get what you envisioned on your wedding day. We had multiple locations that we did photos at and she was thoroughly organized and planned well in advance ensuring us lots of time to wander around. Kirsten got compliments not only from my husband and I, but also our vendors and guests. My family loved her, they said they felt like she was a family friend and loved having her there taking in the intimate moments. My hair designer told me she was one of the best photographers she has met in the business because of the way she makes everyone feel comfortable and happy. I can't imagine working with someone who made me feel stressed! And even my hyper organized and very professional wedding planner, Julia Pavlovski, of Wedding Wise Seattle, had rave reviews for her. I am so happy that we found her and got to be one of her first weddings in the Seattle area. Seattle is certainly lucky to have her! <3

fun and positive - all of our bridal party even commented how much they loved her. She is an absolute pleasure to work with and is very responsive, professional, and talented!

feel at ease the entire time- she truly cares about her clients and it shows. On the day of the wedding everything flowed seamlessly. She immediately made me feel at ease when pictures began, and as the process continued it seemed we couldn't stop laughing and smiling the entire night. She is an incredibly gifted photographer and I would highly recommend speaking with her if you are looking for the best photographer in the Seattle area. I have seen a few of our pictures and I am speechless- truly beautiful work. Thank you Kirsten for the best wedding pictures and experience I could have dreamed of!

ly and we are in love with our pictures. I reached out to Kirsten in a panic because we had just received our engagement photos from another vendor, and they were...lackluster to say the least. Kirsten immediately put me at my ease and after getting together for lunch I knew we had found our girl! I appreciated how she took the time to have several conversations with me to get an understanding of what I was looking for in our wedding photos, what our style is, etc. It made a huge difference in the end product I know. Kirsten was flexible with her packages to accommodate how we already had done engagement photos which I really appreciated (even though we didn't love them we were most concerned about the quality of the photos on the actual wedding day). Kirsten and her assistant were such a great team and everyone commented on how easy she made the whole picture-taking process. We loved having them with us on our day! Really cannot recommend Kirsten enough she was fantastic.

ur first conversation, and throughout our subsequent interactions she maintained a cheerful but professional demeanor that helped us have fun while still keeping us on track. She was flexible with our disorganization and falling off schedule, and went above and beyond to scout out the venue and our rehearsal, and even gave us some pointers as we were running through it. Extremely organized and professional, takes beautiful photos (even of non-photogenic people like us!), and just a really wonderful person. Cannot recommend highly enough.

most important of all--loved having Kirsten at our celebration. She made our friends and family feel comfortable and left all our guests smiling. She was also a great listener and very accommodating in terms of timing, staging, and transitioning from one thing to the next. The two of us met briefly with a handful of other photographers, but none of them came close to Kirsten in their professionalism or charisma. Thanks so much, Kirsten Marie Photography. All the very best in Seattle--Maryland will miss you!

she truly cares about the people she is photographing. We knew we had a winner when for our engagement pictures, our dog would not cooperate worth anything and kept the attention span of a fruit fly. I was stressed and convinced that we wouldn't have a single decent photo with our dog and I was sure that it could be seen written on my face. However, when the engagement photos came back you couldn't even tell that we had so much trouble. Kirsten went above and beyond to get our dog's attention and for the fractions of seconds that she got it, she managed to capture beautiful pictures of the three of us. For the wedding itself, Kirsten and her second shooter caught all of the emotion of the day in pictures that we will cherish forever. Throughout it all, she was kind, professional, responsive, flexible, and so easy to work with. We are so sad that she is moving to Seattle, but Baltimore's loss is Seattle's gain. People of Seattle, you are getting a wonderful professional photographer and person. Kirsten, we wish you all the best! A&M

I knew my instinct was right when I met her for my bridal portrait. She made me feel so at ease and so beautiful!! And she did it again on our wedding day! We are in love with every single picture and reliving the magical night looking at them over and over again! She captured us so truthfully and beautifully and she was able to document the sweetest moments that we would have missed otherwise. Kirsten is incredibly creative and talented and it shows in her work. The photos are breathtaking! I could not be happier that we will have these forever!! Thank you, Kirsten!

wedding with a stranger, but Kirsten becomes friends with everyone quickly. My bridesmaids and I had so much fun taking pictures with her. She makes everyone feel great and do comfortable while taking pictures. Her pictures are absolutely amazing. She was able to capture so many emotions and I am so lucky to have her amazing pictures! She is an incredibly talented photographer!

quality and variety of pictures we have seen from our engagement pictures and the sneak peek of our wedding photos. Kirsten was great at communication throughout the planning process, and was always willing to work with our schedule. On the day of the wedding, she was so organized and made sure we kept to a timeline. Kirsten made the picture taking process fun, and made sure to get the formal ones we needed while keeping the candid style throughout the entire day. We are so pleased with the photos we have seen so far and can’t wait to see our entire gallery! I would highly recommend Kirsten to anyone. Her work is outstanding her style is very romantic and elegant. It is important to connect with your photographer, and Kirsten is a very personable processional who will make sure to capture your day beautifully!

ed and on schedule. She even had bobby pins to help fix my hair in the middle of my reception when it was falling out. She's fantastic! Book her today!

weddings. Even though I didn't get to meet her before the wedding, she was very nice and personable on the phone. All of the guests raved over her and how sweet she was! Please consider her for your wedding. You won't be upset! It went so smoothly.

ptly to questions or concerns, is organized, and definitely knows what she's doing. I was worried about spending too much time taking pictures and not enough actually enjoying our day, but it didn't feel like that at all. She worked very quickly without being pushy or rushing anything. She is extremely talented, all of the pictures we received were amazing. She has an artistic eye and doesn't make any of the shots seem overly posed or uncomfortable. We loved that Kirsten and the second photographer captured so many moments that we didn't even notice them there for. She was amazingly everywhere without ever being in the way. The photographs we received really speak to her talent! I can't recommend her enough!

wrangle everyone into pictures. She had some great ideas for sweet pictures of me and the hubs - all in all, I highly recommend!