Nicole Dial Photography

Nicole and Paul were amazing photographers! They were professional and easy to work with. My husband and I are both a little awkward around the camera and they made us feel comfortable instantly. We love the pictures of us that they captured during sunset on the beach in Alameda. We highly recommend!!!

Nicole was a pleasure to work with from the initial meetings all the way through delivery of the final photos. We met with several photographers but knew almost immediately that Nicole would be perfect for our wedding from her approachable personality to her very reasonable rates. During our engagement session, we knew we made the right choice with her always helpful guidance on poses and willingness to hop to a second location for sunset panoramic shots. Going into our wedding day, Nicole was instrumental in supporting the planning process (even suggesting colors that would mesh better when we were being indecisive) and made the reschedule painless when our wedding was delayed a year for Covid. On the day of, Nicole (and Paul) captured all of the important moments from getting ready all the way through the reception and the pictures came out beautifully -- and in classic Nicole fashion, she even went above and beyond and fixed the bride's bustle. If you're looking for somebody who will deliver high quality for fair prices and is a joy to work with, Nicole is the way to go!

Nicole shot our proposal photos and they turned out so beautifully! She had met with my fiancé beforehand to scout out potential proposal spots and discuss the plan for the surprise proposal. When we met on the day of the proposal, Nicole and Paul immediately made us feel at ease, and were so friendly and professional. Our gallery came back with in a couple weeks with hundreds of gorgeous photos to choose from. We especially loved how bright, natural, and joyful the photos were. We couldn’t be happier with our experience with Nicole and Paul and we know the photos will bring us happiness for years to come!

Nicole and Paul were amazing to work with. We felt at ease immediately and they showed up early to scout the gardens we picked. My fiancé set up photos with Nicole in advance without my knowledge as a surprise and Nicole was flexible and accommodating. Our gallery came back within a week, and they’re amazing. There are also hundreds for us to choose from. One special thing they do is make a blog post about the shoot. It was so fun to share that on social media before the gallery was ready. Easily the kindest, most fun photographers we’ve worked with. :)

Nautilus Lens went above and beyond for our wedding. Nicole and her husband Paul were amazing and super fun. They were very professional and extremely talented. Nicole will do anything to get the perfect shot. During our engagement shoot, we spent much longer than an hour exploring Stow Lake with these two. And when we asked about using smoke bombs they offered us a trial session to see if it was something we wanted to use for our wedding. When our wedding finally came I don't know what we would have done with a different photography crew because they made everything so perfect and special even in the blistering heat. They made sure to capture every moment beautifully and gave us a sneak peek at the end of the night and even more the very next day. Thank you so much, Nicole and Paul. You guys were superheroes!

Nicole shot both our Engagement and Wedding photos. I can't express how wonderfully the pictures capture both events! The creative staging really put the venue on display. She captured the entire experience magically! We are forever grateful and happily recommend Nautilus for all your photography needs.

Nicole was amazingly. Couldn’t recommend her enough. She was so helpful in the planning stages. She offered really useful recommendations and advice. The day of she came prepared for any problems and adapted quickly when unexpected obstacles arouse. The pictures were gorgeous. She has such a talent for using light and capturing moments of joy. Having high quality photos was one of my highest priorities when it came to my wedding and I was not disappointed. She did a perfect job of capturing memories I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Nicole did an astoundingly good job on our wedding photos. On top of delivering phenomenal photos, Nicole was absolutely lovely to work with. She was more than our photographer, she was involved every step of the way. She remained calm during our wedding’s speed bumps and even sewed one of our bridesmaids into her dress when it broke. She is the complete package! Would highly recommend to anyone.

Nicole was absolutely incredible! She did both our engagement and wedding day shoots and the experience was perfect. She made us feel cared for and appreciated while we were posing on the day of, and the pictures were beautiful and delivered promptly. She was careful to collect our requests and discuss plans with us well in advance so we didn't have to even think about photos and logistics on our big day; it just all came together magically.

We had the pleasure of working with Nicole for our engagement photo shoot and we could not be happier. She gave plenty of instruction on poses and really directed us well while providing constant reassurance of how well the shots were. Her eye for a good backdrop, positive spirit and various pose instructions led to our amazing engagement photos. I could not recommend her enough.

My husband and I were thrilled with the professional team at Nautilus Lens. Nicole took every effort to know us as a couple, and that translated into beautiful photos capturing our special day. We had a great experience with her complimentary engagement shoot, and really got to know how we posed for photographs so on wedding day it was second nature. Nicole traveled to Fresno, California as well for our wedding. Great service and absolutely recommend!

I can't believe we didn't write this review sooner! Nicole and Paul were amazing at our wedding and every part beforehand. They were extremely responsive and made themselves available all the way up until the big day. I had a million requests and they made them all happen - made sure to include all the things that were most important to me and my husband. Nicole helped us come up with our timeline, which was great, since we had no idea where to start! We got so many beautiful pictures! She also helped me Ice my husband right before the wedding and Paul made sure to document the whole thing! Nicole and Paul did an amazing job putting together our Wedding Album as well. They were quick and captured all the best moments of our day. Thanks to them, we will never forget the details of our wedding day!

I knew from the day we met Nicole, that we wanted her (and Paul) to be our wedding photographer(s). She was our first photographer we interviewed, and after meeting her, I knew based upon her photos, professionalism and just kind and chill demeanor, that made me feel at ease and confident in my decision. For our engagement session, they scouted out beautiful locations for our forest-y photos and ended with beautiful beach photos at sunset. My fiance was freaking out initially about the photo shoot (because he's not super comfortable in front of the camera), but Nicole and Paul not only helped us to relax, but to also have fun and take some killer photos to boot! My husband legit, looked so confident in his pictures, you would have thought he was a model! Haha Nicole was an angel when it came to responding to my many questions and helping me create a great wedding day timeline. She really helped me to hone in on what was truly important to me and helped to solidify the logistics and coordination that is required on a wedding day. She helped us to pick the right amount of hours we needed to capure the full event without having to rush things. My husband and his groomsman worked more closely with Paul, and they loved working with him! The day of the wedding, I expected craziness, but they were completely on top of things! They scouted our wedding location far in advance, so they knew where they were going to take the photos ahead of time. It ended up raining the day of our wedding, and they came prepared with extra umbrellas for us, and assured us that the pictures would be gorgeous rain or shine! They also helped convince our wedding site vendor to let us take photos earlier than we initially planned, which completely saved us. We ended up getting the best First Look photos (and bridal party shots) outside just in the nick of time, before it started raining. It was wonderful how comfortable we felt all day. We were completely confident that no matter what they day had in store, that Nicole and Paul could handle it, and we weren't disappointed. I would recommend them 1000% for your wedding and engagement photos. We're obsessed with all of our photos from our wedding and they were an absolute joy to work with. Book them! You won't regret it!

We used Nicole and Paul as the photographers for our wedding in September 2019. From the time we met Nicole for our pre-booking consultation, we knew she'd be great to work with. She is so bubbly and fun and instantly makes you feel at ease. Her prices were really reasonable given that you get two shooters (her and her husband) as well an engagement shoot. She visits each location ahead of time to scout out the best spots and where the lighting is best. My husband and I had never taken professional photos before, but she and Paul made it so fun and easy when we did our engagement shoot. She even sent us a surprise gift a few weeks before the wedding. Before the wedding, she sent out a detailed questionnaire to gather information including all of our family photo groupings. The day of the wedding, she did a great job keeping us on track and making sure we stuck to the schedule that we had come up with ahead of time. It was great having her and Paul since we got many more pictures than if we had just had one photographer. We felt at ease taking pictures with them and got several comments from family members saying how impressed they were with Nicole and Paul. When it came time to take the family photos, she and Paul just started running through the list that my husband and I put together and everything was really efficient and organized. Originally she had said we would get our photos 6 to 8 weeks after the wedding, but she got them to us much earlier in 3 weeks. The photos are amazing and I can't stop looking at them and thinking about how well they turned out. I would highly recommend Nicole and Paul for your wedding. You won't be disappointed!

I feel really lucky to have had Nicole and Paul on our team through the whole wedding process. My fiance and I planned our entire wedding on our own, so it was really helpful to have someone like Nicole guide us through so many key parts of the day. Before the wedding, we met her through our engagement session in SF and fell in love with her and her husband! Meeting them in person before the wedding helped us so much in feeling comfortable with being in front of a camera and confident that they would have no problems come our wedding day in creating beautiful poses, shots, and memories for us to treasure forever. Nicole was always available to answer any questions I had about the process or how the day would go, and even helped create a detailed wedding day timeline that went beyond just the photos. She was familiar with our wedding venue and helped us chart out what would be realistic given our time frame, and how the rest of the day would go for the reception and other events. The day of the wedding, she was so much more than our photographer! She kept us running on time, helping my fiance and his groomsmen pin on their boutonnieres, communicated with our other vendors and family members, and most importantly were our biggest cheerleaders and made us feel so special and confident that day! For all the stress and time that went into planning our wedding, I was surprisingly able to really relax and enjoy every moment that day, and I think in large part it was thanks to Nicole and Paul! I knew that photos would be one of the only lasting things from this day, so it was so important to have photographers that we could trust and that we could work well with. Having two photographers was a HUGE plus as well, in being able to capture more shots throughout the day and split up when needed. They are a husband and wife team that work so well together, and are honestly some of the sweetest, most positive and engaging people we have met! They are professional throughout everything and clearly love what they do! I got so many compliments from friends and family that day on our photographers and on the photos that came out afterwards. Hiring them was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding!

Perfection! I was so concerned when planning a wedding for 350+ in 6 months and working with Nicole and Paul kept me at ease! All our photos came out stunning and it's apparent that they really worked hard to produce just what we wanted (we had several requests). The number of compliments we've received about how beautiful the wedding was just wouldn't have been possible without this marvelous duo. I'm so thankful to have found such an excellent photographer whose number I will keep for any other family functions. Their professionalism really shined during some very high stress situations and as the bride, I can't thank them enough for the encouragement and assertiveness that kept the ball rolling. Excited to work with them again in the future!

We couldn't have been happier with both Nicole and Paul. From capturing our engagement photos to our actual wedding, the level of detail Nicole and Paul showed to capture creative and unique shots was AMAZING! For our engagement photoshoot, Nicole was very helpful in choosing a spot that was both special and functional. After having both Nicole and Paul show us some poses, it felt natural to be photographed by them. They were so CARING and ATTENTIVE that day, it only made us more excited for the actual wedding. They chose spots and poses that were perfect! All of our family couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful they turned out. Both Nicole and Paul made sure to stay in contact with us throughout the time from our engagement photos to our wedding date. Any question I had, I knew that they would be able to provide us with GREAT ADVICE. Anything from DJ suggestions, to creating a photo shot list, to creating a wedding day of schedule. They provided us with guidance through the whole process. It was so easy to work with them and I loved anytime I got a chance to talk to Nicole on the phone! A week before our wedding date, we found out that it would be raining and immediately panicked. Nicole brought much relief to us by suggesting that we do the first look photos before the ceremony and follow it with the wedding party photos. While we knew that it wasn’t the “traditional” route, we absolutely LOVED the idea. It helped us save time and made the day feel super calm afterwards. I highly recommend this for anyone! It also allows you and the groom to share a romantic and intimate time together. We highly recommend Nicole and Paul because they go ABOVE and BEYOND. They brought umbrellas to our wedding, helped us stay on schedule, and even drove us to the reception. Their skills and professionalism were matched by their MARVELOUS personalities. Many of the guests were highly impressed by how FANTASTIC they were both on the night and when they saw the photos. Nicole and Paul, we can’t thank you enough for capturing our special day. We love displaying the photos in our home and it blows us and our friends away every time we look at it. You are both AMAZING photographers and a great couple to work with. HIGHLY RECOMMEND them!!!

My husband and I wanted to do an anniversary shoot and had been planning it for several years. We are so incredibly happy with the way the photos turned out! Nicole and Paul are so fantastic to work with and we’re able to get the exact shots we wanted. We would happily work with them again in the future!

Nicole and Paul are really an exceptional pair of wedding photographers! For context, at the time of writing, Nicole runs the business and Paul is her second shooter. I could go on and on, but let me just say what stood out to us most: they will really make an effort to understand what matters to you and capture *your* wedding. Many photographers can take nice photos, but Nicole and Paul know how to use photos to tell a story: *your* story! My wife and I had a pretty quirky wedding. In the month leading up to it, Nicole sent us a long questionnaire to get a sense of what was most important to us and should be highlighted on the day of. But it didn't stop there! After the questionnaire, she spent an hour with us on the phone helping us perfect our timeline and giving us relevant advice based on the many weddings she has attended. Finally, we sent her some additional materials (an outline of the ceremony and a video of us practicing for our first dance). At the wedding, she was exceptionally well-prepared, having clearly read/watched both things we sent her. We talked to many photographers before choosing Nicole and Paul and we're so happy that we chose Nicole/Paul in the end!

Nicole and Paul are the best of the best. Kind, thoughtful, funny, entertaining, and amazing at what they do. They make you feel completely at ease in front of the camera, and they are 1000% genuine in wanting you to look and feel your best. It's not just a photoshoot, it's an enjoyable afternoon with amazing people. Book them!

I'm a super thrifty person. Which means I only want the best bang for my wedding buck. I got that with Nicole and so much more. She did my engagement photos and she'll be doing my wedding soon. She is personable, easy to work with and didn't push an agenda. She only cares about bringing your photo vision to life and I want her to shoot my friends wedding next year.

Nautilus Lens Photography (NLP) was one of the best decisions that we made for our wedding. Nicole and Paul are the perfect pair and they work really hard to make sure that you enjoy your photos. From the pre-work that they do to find a great location to getting photos back very quickly NLP allows you to worry about other parts of your big day. We were nervous about taking photos together but NLP's experience and fantastic personalities put us at ease so that we could take amazing photos and have fun doing it! NLP really take the time and effort to get to know the people that they're shooting and it really pays off! We would 100% use them again in the future!

Nautilus Lens did an amazing job capturing our photos, and were a great resource in planning our wedding. During our engagement session and romantic portraits, Nicole kept us smiling with her many compliments and helped us find poses that felt and looked natural. During the ceremony and reception, they took photos of us and our guests that made everyone look natural and great. Nicole was also super helpful in the planning process, helping us to craft a timeline that worked for everyone, and giving us ideas on how to make everything run smoothly. She met with us several times in person and by phone to help us pick outfits for our engagement session, to make sure she knew which parts of the wedding were most important to us, to go over our timeline, and to hand deliver our photos! I highly recommend Nautilus Lens!

I’ll make it easy for you: if Nicole and Paul are available on the dates of your wedding, book them immediately! They were a dream to work with, especially considering how wary my now-wife and I were about the prospect of taking a variety of posed and PDA shots in front of a camera! Their warmth, friendliness, and goofiness put us at ease immediately. A big reason why everything ran so smoothly was their professionalism. Nicole was in constant and prompt communication with us from the day we first reached out. When rain threatened our engagement shoot, she proactively emailed us to reschedule. Engagement shoots are a standard part of Nautilus' packages which we're really glad for -- it meant that we'd hung out with Nicole and Paul for some time, and they were no longer strangers on our big day. Nicole's commitment to getting the perfect photos was on display throughout: she had scouted out locations for our engagement shoot, spent time at the location we'd chosen for our formals, and then met us at our venue to help us plan the setup to maximize aesthetic appeal. And the proof is in the pudding: several of our guests remarked on what a good job they were doing throughout the event, and the photos are simply fantastic!

100% pure bliss -- during the photo session, and after with the beyond amazing photos!! Nicole Dial and her husband Paul Garber of Nautilus Lens Photography made us look like models -- far exceeding our expectations. It is such a blessing to have been connected to them. Nicole and Paul are not only magic-makers with cameras, but they are **exceptionally** warm, professional, and organized!! Nicole's instructions were wonderfully thorough both before and during the session, and she happily answers any questions and was very reassuring. She knows all the great photo locations, too. She really puts your mind at ease during preparations, and that means a lot -- she removed any anxiety over how we looked, and made us feel relaxed, confident, and gorgeous in front of the camera. We're **so** astonished by the photos, we're already planning out future milestone and anniversary photo sessions !! I could not rate them more highly -- I'd give six stars if I could! The pictures are so utterly stunning and came back so quick -- you will not be disappointed!!

Recently my boyfriend and I had the most amazing photoshoot experience with Nicole and Paul for our two year anniversary. Not only was Nicole so responsive before the photoshoot but she exceeded all expectations during the shoot as well. She was so warm and welcoming and made both of us feel like ourselves during the entire process. Can not recommend Nicole and Paul enough! We are truly thankful that we have found them. We will definitely be using them again in the future :)

We could not be happier with our choice of photography team! Nautilus was absolutely amazing - they worked with us, our vendors, our planner, our schedule, and all our family (no, really - they were everywhere!) and guests to capture fantastic photos of all the important moments at our wedding, plus some fun things even we didn't think of! They even went so far as to help coordinate things when they had a free moment, and offered to run "interference" for us by whisking us away for a little break so we could catch our breath (taking "a few quick photos" is the perfect excuse to get away for a moment! Brilliant!). They are lovely people, with a truly fantastic eye and vision, and excellent ability to communicate to you and your wedding party / family exactly how to pose to execute that vision. Can not recommend them enough!

Our experience with Nautilus Lens Photography was amazing. From our first meeting all the way to receiving our photographs Nicole and Paul were thoughtful, fun, knowledgeable and professional. They asked questions to get to know us and to really get a feel for what we were looking for. They wanted to know everything from how we met down to the smallest details of our day. They both worked beautifully together and made us feel so comfortable at our engagement shoot and on our wedding day. They were super accessible and patient when I had questions about what to expect and helpful when I asked advice about clothing, colors and set up. Nicole also went on her own time to scope out our venue and get ideas of where to get the best shots on the day of! We also had a two day wedding and Nicole and Paul were super flexible with the timing and helpful on figuring out the best timeline in order to capture the most important shots. They had a quick turnaround and when I received the photographs I was amazed! They were able to capture beautiful shots, but also take me through my wedding day with a different set of eyes! I was able to see all the things I missed the day of. I highly suggest booking Nautilus Lens Photography for all of your events. I know we plan to continue working with them for years to come!

I can't recommend Nautilus Lens Photography enough! Nicole and Paul are so professional. My photos were stunning and they were ready before my honeymoon was even over! They knew all the right questions to ask to put my mind at ease and they really went out of their way to get all the shots we wanted and they even had some great advice. They went so far above and beyond! They even drove out to the location ahead of time to scout out great angles and lighting. Nicole showed up prepared for anything with a box of emergency fixes for anything that could go wrong from bobby pins to super glue. Everything went perfectly and I love love love our photos!