I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Melissa and her team!!! The TLDR; is that Melissa is one of the most TALENTED photographers on the West Coast, but also the best-priced, most fun, and easy to work with. In summary, she’s the TOTAL PACKAGE! Look no further! S...eriously!!!
Melissa is a truly gifted photographer. As a photographer myself I knew that I was going to be very selective about the photography for our wedding. After looking at over 50 different photographers, Melissa’s work POPPED off the page and I instantly knew I loved her style. Most other wedding photographers have a tendency to overexpose their wedding work, which is usually intended to give the subjects a “glow”, but often takes away from the naturally beautiful color and contrast of the photography. Melissa’s work is crisp, properly exposed, and truly tells the story of the moment being captured.
We live in Santa Clara, but our wedding venue was in Santa Rosa so we met Melissa at Aroma Roasters (great coffee!) in Santa Rosa. From the moment we sat down we knew we loved her, and wanted her to be a part of our big day. Choosing a photographer was one of the most critical decisions for us so we wanted to take some time and think about it, but in the 60 second walk to our car, my wife and I had already made up our minds with zero hesitation; Melissa was the one we wanted! We decided to book our engagement shoot with her as a “trial run”.
We wanted the classic “fall look” for our engagement shoot, but due to the California drought it was pretty difficult to find a time and place where the tree leaves would be turning autumn colors. Because of this we had to reschedule a time or two, and Melissa was completely flexible and accommodating. On the day of the shoot, Melissa was happy to walk around the Davis Arboretum with us to shoot a couple of different locations, and she made us feel very comfortable in an otherwise typically awkward situation. Despite the 90° heat and sweating like pigs, our engagement photos turned out amazing! Booking the Big Day was then a no-brainer.
Melissa and her second-shooter Sarah had an awesome energy together that easily translated to the wedding party. Both Melissa and Sarah are the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but had no problem “herding” our families and guests to ensure that we got all of the photos we wanted.
Exactly 5 weeks after our wedding we received an email with a link to our wedding photo gallery on Pixieset. Just the simple fact that Melissa chooses to host her photo galleries on Pixiset is a testament to the level-of-detail that she puts into all of her work! The gallery was stunning, and we definitely had a hard time choosing our favorite “selects”. Melissa was very generous and provided a large number of extra photos at no additional cost.
We live 2 hours from Santa Rosa but we will absolutely be using Melissa for our baby photos, family photos, and more! Crossing our fingers that she continues professional photography for many, many years to come.
Thank you Melissa, Sarah, Chris, and the rest of her team for carefully ensuring that our once-in-a-lifetime day was captured in the most beautiful way possible!