About this vendor
I find photography as an art medium, a language, and a way to contain traces of the human experience. My philosophy is to observe, and flow alongside you. Reading energy, following movement (and have a damn good time).
Major influences : photo-journalism / fashion / cinema / generational photographs + archives.
Intuition - Using my awareness / listening and trusting as I move through the
flow of the day. No force needed.
Honesty - reading your energy and observing who you are as humans and
documenting what feels true to you, your love.
All-encompassing - photographs of your florals, grandmother, venue details,
everything. The essence of the day.
Artful - honoring myself. First an artist, then a photographer. Create margin
for experimentation, movement in this medium.
Feeling - love flows from all over. how you feel during the day matters more
than the images themselves. I choose to honor you above myself. I will serve
you, encourage you, celebrate you.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Boudoir
- Bridal Portraits
- Engagement
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Film Photography
- Photo
- Printed Proofs
- Second Shooter Available
- Social Media Sharing
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Awards and Affiliations
2021 'Best of Weddings'
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.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.010 reviews
Riley was the second-shooter for my own wedding, and more recently I received the privilege of working alongside her on a wedding day as a venue owner. In both instances, she absol...
utely exceeded my expectations! She is kind, enthusiastic, and filled to the brim with talent. I absolutely recommend her to all of our couples!
If you're looking for someone with talent and artistic skills to capture your wedding day, I would choose Riley as your photographer. She was super easy to work with, flexible and ...
undeniably talented! We had to change our wedding date last minute and Riley really came through !! Super chill and fun! I highly recommend her!
We knew about Riley through a friend who hired her to be the photographer for their wedding. When we saw their pictures, we were AMAZED by the quality of the pictures and fell in l...
ove with her style and editing of the pictures. We met with her to discuss hiring her for our wedding and were so impressed! She was both professional and welcoming and we were excited to entrust her with our wedding.
At our wedding, she did such a sweet job of capturing our moments and also taking portraits. We are not a fan of super staged or cheesy wedding photos, and I can assuredly say that not one of our photos looked tacky or dull. We are so so pleased with every photo! It has been hard to choose which photos to print and put up around our house because they are all our favorite. It is seriously the best problem to have!! Every photo we got back was BEAUTIFUL and high quality. She even got several pictures back to us the same night as our wedding. We love that she gives us a link to all of our pictures on a website, password protected, so that we can access all of our pictures whenever we would like, could easily share them with family, and could select any photos to make prints of through whatever company we would like. At our wedding she also did an impressive job at getting the perfectly angled shots without getting in the way or comfort of our guests!
Overall, we are SO glad that we booked Riley, it was a huge blessing and we are so pleased at the result of our photos. She made the photo taking seem natural and fun and we so appreciated her creativity. You will not regret booking Riley!! It is so worth it to be assured that your wedding photos will be beautiful and electronically protected forever!! Thank you Riley!!!!
2 WORDS. Book her. Riley is a kind, peaceful, and gentle presence on wedding day AND she has an unrivaled eye for creating beauty and art. She’s going to deliver a gallery full of ...
photos with all of your favorite people doing their thing + hidden gems where she experimented with shadows and light and made something epic. You will treasure them all. She’s a true artist with a camera on your wedding day and she’ll make you feel at ease all day. She’ll set you up to enjoy the moments, rather than just pose for photo opps. We had a blast. If you want a photographer to feel like a friend, you found one.
Riley was a joy. Her talent and passion come together in an absolutely amazing way and she delivers with stunning photographs. Her eye for details captured such special moments of ...
our family and us on our wedding day and we get to keep these pictures for a lifetime. You cant put a price on that. Her creativity made for beautiful photos and kept flexible throughout the day. We are so grateful for Riley taking our pictures on our wedding day!
Riley is phenomenal! I appreciated her creativity, flexibility, professionalism and over all vibe. She’s a gifted photographer, who’s very pleasant to work with. I’m looking for...
ward to working with her for future pics . You won’t be disappointed!!!
We had the pleasure of having Riley photograph our wedding last Spring, and I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else! Riley has a deep dedication and love for what she does, and it shows...
through every aspect of her work. Not only are the photos BEAUTIFUL, but she made me, my husband, and everyone else feel at ease. My husband and I have a large extended family with all parents divorced in remarried — I was convinced family photos would be a nightmare. However, Riley called the shots quickly and professionally to get us through everyone in a timely manner in a way that did not cause stress, while getting all the complicated combinations we wanted. Truly amazing. While taking our photos, she played music, constantly talked up and encouraged whoever was in front of the camera, emboldening each individual to be confident. For someone who does not feel comfortable in front of cameras, this was huge for me. I felt beautiful and at ease. She cares for the people she photographs and has an uncanny ability to capture their unique humanity. She conducts herself in a professional, personable way — I could not recommend her enough!
Cannot recommend Riley enough!!! As a bride, I was constantly thinking/worrying about how our photos would turn out. Will the lighting be good in December? Will they be raw and int...
imate enough? Is she going to capture all the ‘good parts?’ YES. YES. YES. Riley was a dream to work with throughout the entire process. She is thorough, creative, personable, laid back and all about the details. She’s simply one of a kind! We listened to music, laughed and danced while taking photos. Riley made me feel like the most beautiful bride in the world. You will NOT be disappointed with the result of her work. Not only were my husband and I thrilled with the final product, but countless family & friends RAVED about them. Our photos hold some of our most cherished moments & thanks to Riley, we will have them forever!
We can’t recommend Riley enough. Not only did both my husband and I love having her, everyone from the wedding party, the parents, and the guests loved Riley and commented on how f...
un and talented she was. Her photos are beautiful - seriously, if you haven’t seen her work go check it out - and she is so easy to work with. She always makes sure you get what you want and more. One of the best parts of our wedding was getting to work with friends like Riley. She made our day so special and even people who weren’t excited about posing for photos loved Riley’s direction and help throughout the day. Wherever we went, from getting ready in the morning, to couple and party photos, to the reception, she always knew how to set the perfect mood either with our favorite music or easy conversation. She knows how to get the best shots and angles in a way that seems natural and effortless as soon as she walks into a room. She is easy-going yet organized, and made sure we got all the shots we wanted with family and friends efficiently to make sure we would get amazing photos, but also get as much time as possible to get back to the party! She blew away all of our expectations and even more once we started showing our friends and family, they couldn’t stop complimenting how beautifully all the photos turned out! We’ve actually already had friends book her for their upcoming wedding and we will recommend her to all of our friends from here on out!
Riley was a dream to work with! We were lucky enough to have her photograph our wedding while her business was still in its infancy and we are so lucky that we did. She was very qu...
ick to respond initially about photographing our wedding and every other time I contacted her during the whole process. Right at the beginning we had a meeting about what kind of couple we are, what the vibe of our wedding was like, and what we were expecting from our photographs. On the day, Riley was on time and open to our suggestions and she managed to capture all of the most special moments of our wedding without drawing attention away from us. Once our wedding was over we got our photos back very quickly and they were perfect!
Contact
Midwest + beyond. open to all locations
Riley Beard Photography