Michael + Anna Costa Photography

rth personality and passion for her job and organization is why we felt we knew we found the right photographer. We first had Michael for our engagement photos and he made us feel relaxed the entire time and gave us great directions. We were lucky to have both Michael and Anna shoot our wedding! We got married in Santa Barbara at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum in November 2018 and knowing they have shot at this venue many times was very comforting. We wanted to have photographers that knew the venue due to lighting and where to capture those special moments. We took our wedding party photos at the Hotel Californian and we loved how all those photos turned out. They captured everything about that hotel and why we chose to get ready there. The lighting and candid moment shots from our first look, to our wedding party group shots were great! Everything leading up to the big day went to smooth. They have great communication and organizations to make sure we got all the shots we needed. When we received all our wedding photos back, their online album was organized and easy to view. It was so helpful when we were choosing which photos to print! The printing service they used was so easy to order from and they arrived so quick! Thank you Michael and Anna for helping us make our day so special and for capturing our day!

ad booked Anna for our wedding day more than a year in advance. About 2 weeks before the wedding, I contacted her to finalize the day of plans and she informed me she had just had a baby (at no point in the last year had she mentioned she was pregnant or anything) so this was a bit surprising. On top of that, she would be needing to take breaks during the day to breastfeed and on the day of might have to send her husband. That was too much unpredictability for us so she offered for her husband, Michael, to shoot our wedding instead. We opted for that. Michael's attitude made it clear he didn't want to be there doing his wife's work. In addition to his attitude, he was rude to me (the bride) and had the audacity to tell me I was controlling when I simply asked that all the pictures that my ailing father would be in should be done at the same time because of how difficult it is for him to get up and down. Then came our actual photos... there is not a single decent shot of our wedding party - everyone is spaced awkwardly, not looking at the camera, and all the photos just seem like a random group of people that don't even know each other. On top of that, the lighting for the photos (while on the beach) is terrible - everyone is washed out and the beach matches the water just making it look like a faint sand color background for all the photos. I understand that Michael's style is to do more candid photos than portraits and that would be fine if the candid photos were any good. So in addition to not having any decent portraits or other photos of the wedding party, there aren't even any decent candid ones. As another example, my maid of honor was by my side the entire day and somehow there is not a single picture of just me and her together. Michael also gave no direction when shooting the bride/groom photos. Compared with our engagement photos (for which we used a different photographer), we were shocked at how little direction there was to kiss / hold hands / otherwise move about in order for him to capture photos. I have a friend that also used Michael for her wedding and I wish she had gotten the photos back before our wedding (she did not get her full photo collection until after). She was also incredibly disappointed with her photos. Needless to say, I wish I could do the day over again to get better photos but obviously that isn't possible.

made wonderful suggestions on things we would have never considered (make sure you go for the sunset shots -- these were our favorite pictures)! My husband and I had so much fun all day with Michael as our lead photographer. He was calm and efficient -- it helped put us both at ease. He is also super silly and played along with our ridiculous wedding party and their jokes; everyone said they had the best time! I cannot thank Michael and Anna enough for the wonderful pictures we will cherish forever!