Ryan Sands Photography

Ryan truly exceeded our expectations!! His work is exactly what we were looking for in a photographer, and we couldn't be happier with how our photos turned out!! He was very attentive during the entirety of our planning process; from changing our date due to COVID, to readjusting our timeline a few times to get it just right for our tightly packed day. He was even willing to schedule a second session with us due to complications that happened on our actual wedding day. Ryan really took my Pinterest Boards into consideration and brought all of my inspiration to life so flawlessly!! And I can't forget to mention his AMAZING photo booth with all of the crazy props!! Our guests absolutely loved our photo booth and even used the props all throughout the night!! Ryan's energy is so contagious in the most stressful situations. And that energy continued as he jumped right in with everyone dancing to get the best action shots ever! He really made our wedding day complete, and I can't thank him enough for everything he did for us!!

Flexible and could tell he loves his job. Super satisfied with his professionalism. Even made my husband laugh out loud which is hard to do. I can’t wait until the finished pictures but I know they will be great.

I found Ryan at a bridal show at the Meadowlands and right away knew he would be a good fit for our wedding as he made my cranky 3-year laugh. We scheduled a Zoom call so my husband could meet him and we appreciated his knowledge, expertise and questions to get to know us better. His vision and timeline was so helpful and helped me envision how the day could work. We wanted someone to go with the flow and just capture the day and the moments with our friends and families. We worked together closer to the event to set up a timeline, important photos and other details. He was kind and easy to communicate with. The day of the event, he was timely, organized and got right to work! He was fun to have around while we got ready and through our first look. He rolled with the punches have having two kids in our bridal party and got some great moments of my son who hates photos. He checked in with me often and worked to make sure I got the pictures I wanted! The photos were amazing and he truly did capture my day just as it happened - I even saw moments I didn't realize happened. He was so fun to work with and a pleasure to do business with. I am already thinking of our next big event where we can hire him again!

Bride here: I originally chose Ryan as our photographer after seeing what a beautiful job he had done with my sister's engagement photo session. Since then, Ryan had done our engagement and wedding photos, and has given us THE BEST experience! Not only is Ryan exceptionally easy to work with (my husband and I are typically not comfortable in front of a camera, and Ryan knows just how to put people at ease), but he is so incredibly talented as well. I am still in awe of how he is able to position the shots *just right*, or how he can highlight beauty and joy in even the smallest details. If you are looking for a photographer who is skilled and passionate about his work, timely in his results, and who knows how to capture the LOVE in these most special moments effectively, this is your man! (Ryan, when you read this, I hope you feel how much your effort really means to us. Easiest 5 stars ever!)

Like so many this year, we were not able to have our wedding as planned in 2020. However, of all the vendors we worked with during this crazy difficult time, Ryan was the most amenable and most understanding. He was very responsive and available throughout the planning process and through our two postponements. As we were planning the wedding we were able to visit with Ryan. Neither of us have been married before, so we didn't really have a sense for timing and planning pictures. Ryan walked us through the day and gave us a sense of he how photographs the day to capture all the important moments. He was organized and practical. He showed us some of his photo books that were such high quality! We were very excited to work with Ryan and will definitely return to him when we finally get to have our wedding.

For all the decisions we had to make for our wedding day, choosing Ryan Sands as our wedding photographer was one of the best and easiest ones we made! He is very professional, approachable, knowledgeable, and very friendly, and made the entire process so seamless and wonderful. From our first meeting all the way through building our completed wedding album, he was always there to help answer our questions, offer insights and suggestions, and guide us through everything that needed to be done before, during, and after our big day. We did our engagement shoot with Ryan, and he put the same amount of energy, focus, and professionalism into that shoot as he did for our wedding, which really shone through in the pictures. Ryan was thorough and organized with all the preparation beforehand, and on our wedding day, he captured all of our special moments. We had some photos that we knew we wanted taken during our wedding, including specific groupings of family, decoration shots at the venue, and table photos, and he happily made sure all of them were taken (shout-out to his wonderful assistant Amanda for all her help on the day as well!). All our guests commented on how amazing our photos looked, and how happy they were to look through the online albums and spot themselves in the pictures! We are in the process of creating our wedding album, and the only tough part of this entire experience is limiting the amount of albums we purchase! We highly, highly recommend Ryan Sands Photography for your wedding day. We couldn’t be happier, and we know you will be too!

Ryan was great! Money well spent. Not only is he personable and professional, he is insanely talented. I would highly recommend him to capture your special occasion.

Having Ryan as our photographer for our wedding was amazing. We found Ryan through recommendations of two friends and could not have been happier. We first met him personally while taking our engagement photos. He put us at ease, as posing for photos doesn't come natural to me and my husband. Fast forward to the wedding, he was super attentive and made sure that all our wants and needs were met. We couldn't be happier with our picture gallery and would highly recommend!

Ryan stood out to me because of his photographs that somehow combine a classic look that was still fresh and natural. Since then, Ryan has worked with us personally to understand our specific style and what we want in our engagement and wedding photos. Since neither me or my husband have ever taken professional photos before, we really appreciated Ryan’s easy way of explaining how to pose and move for the camera. Moreover, the session itself felt like we were all just hanging out: Ryan asked us to walk down a path, sit on a bench and chat, or say something to each other to make one another laugh. Finally, Ryan helped immensely when it came time to prepare for the wedding. Together, we figured out the entire timeline for photos and locations. At the wedding, Ryan took all the important photos efficiently so we had time to be with our guests. The photo booth was also a big hit with our guests. Friends told us that it is the best photo booth they have ever seen because of the variety of fun props and the quality and size of the photos. Overall, Ryan is an amazing photographer but also just a wonderful person. I feel blessed to have found him so he could capture this very important time in my life.

Ryan was the second vendor we booked (right after the venue) two years ago. Simply one of the best decisions we made during this process! Ryan is professional, personable and just fun to work with overall! He and Amanda helped make the day of our wedding run smoothly with all of the photos that needed to be taken (we had A LOT of family shots), while working quickly and efficiently so as to not make the photo-taking process feel like a drag for those same family members who were waiting around. They were both so very attentive when people asked for group shots during the reception. They really just helped make the day so perfect! Ryan and Amanda went above and beyond what we expected. Plus, our engagement photos turned out gorgeous, so we can't wait to see the final product of our wedding day! We are beyond grateful for their work and service.

Ryan was absolutely AMAZING to work with and my husband and I are so lucky to have had him as our wedding photographer! We discovered Ryan after a quick google search and soon after realized that he was the wedding photographer for one my fellow college graduates and loved his photos right out of the gate. From the very first meeting with Ryan, we felt like we were reuniting with an old friend and I was very impressed with his photography packages which included so much for a fantastic price. We had a pretty strict budget and Ryan's packages included all taxes and fees and we loved that everything included was clear without any grey areas. We also discovered along the way that Ryan doubled as a bit of a day of coordinator/wedding planner and he helped us lay out the entire day which took so much stress off our shoulders. Our engagement session was easy peasy and we felt comfortable right away working with him (and his lovely girlfriend Amanda) because he made things light and gave us little simple cues to help us learn how to feel and look natural for photos. After the session, Ryan left us feeling confident and relaxed and we knew that we made the right decision choosing Ryan and we excited to do it all again on the day of our wedding. For any brides out there who are a little on the OCD side (guilty!) when it comes to being organized on the day of your wedding, I can honestly say that I was impressed by Ryan's organization and paperwork that he provides because it made the day of our wedding run super smooth and we didn't miss a single shot we were going for in terms of formals. We also chose Ryan's photo booth for our reception and we CANNOT get over how awesome it was and how happy we are that we decided to add this to our wedding. If anyone out there is on the fence about it, look no further than Ryan and DO IT!!! It will be one of the best decisions you've ever made and you will not be disappointed! Overall, our experience with Ryan was outstanding and I have not stopped scrolling through our photos with a giant smile on my face reliving all of the special, hilarious and tear jerking moments he captured from the start to the end of our wedding. I would highly recommend him to anyone and wish I could give him more stars!!!!

Ryan Sands is hands down the best photographer around! His eye for detail combined with his skill set in photography, motivation, compassion, equipment, and personality make him an easy choice for any event! He did our engagement pictures and right away we knew we made the right choice. As much as I don’t mind PDA (my husband does though lol!), Ryan made us feel so comfortable and not weird about being ourselves for the pictures! It felt like he was an old friend who is just VERY talented at photography! Not only does he take the time to text and email us often with any answers to questions, he also takes the time to really edit and sharpen his work (not that it probably even needs much, as his focus on lighting and positioning seemed to come natural to him to know what would make a beautiful shot!) I also had told him how I don’t like tons of straight pictures (I like more off balanced / candid / unique line ups!) and he listened and let us move around during our wedding formal shots and candid! If there’s anything he doesn’t have planned, if you just mention it to him, he will willingly do it! I should also add, when my husband and I were first looking for our wedding photographer, we had a budget set and literally had said “I’m sure all photographers in this range / area are going to be good, so we’ll just pick anyone”... UNTIL we saw Ryan’s work at a bridal show! His photographs literally jumped off the canvas. It outshined all the others near- so sharp! We spent a little extra to get A LOT MORE both package wise AND just work/talent wise! Worth every penny.

Ryan was AMAZING to work with. I exchanged a million emails with him prior to our big day and he always sent me back a detailed response in a timely manner. We got his most expensive package, which is quite expensive, but the deliverables are of the highest quality. Ryan was fun to work with, gives you positive feedback through the shoot, and doesn't make you feel silly or uncomfortable in situations that can be so. I could deduct a few points because Ryan stressed me out a little bit on our wedding day when he arrived a little late after setting up our photo booth. He communicated to me that he would be doing that early the morning of, but I didn't realize it might interfere with our scheduled start time (ultimately, it didn't affect a thing, I was just worried about it). Both my bridal shoot and our big day were captured beautifully an our guests LOVED all the fun at the photo booth. I wish I got to see a few photos during the shoot so I could adjust myself to downplay some body parts I'm a little self-conscious about, but all in all, I came away with some incredible shots. After the wedding, I know Ryan took a vacation and then got sick, but I wished he was better in touch about when we might receive our photos, just to manage my expectations. Over all, Ryan was an incredible asset to our wedding day, served as a HUGE resource leading up to the event, was super fun to work with, and delivered the most incredible photos. If I got married again, I wouldn't change a thing (except for how I held my arm in some of those photos! ha!).

We were very disappointed with Ryan as our wedding photographer. We were told to hire the second shooter so that all of our guests would be captured in photos, we ended up not getting pictures of most of our guests and ended up with a lot of the same photos. Also, Ryan let the picture of the Bride and her only brother slip through the cracks.

I knew Ryan would be my photographer even before learning he was the preferred photographer for my venue. His personality is top-notch, making myself, my husband, and my guests feel at ease in front of his camera. Also, I appreciated that he recognized the quality of the light outside. Even though we didn't intend to do outdoor pictures (it was January), I am so glad he suggested it - they are my absolute favorite pictures of the entire day. Totally worth freezing for. I really appreciated his flexibility - we had some atypical requests about the engagement photo shoot and he was happy to modify his standard package to meet our needs. Ryan was easy to reach and made us feel that things were always "under control". Overall, he coordinated well with his team, eased our minds about the whole day, and added greatly to the wedding of our dreams.

We met Ryan a couple years ago at a bridal show. We loved his work and personality! We immediately booked him as our photographer. So glad we did! He was easy to work with and always available via phone, email, or text. We got married on September 17, 2017 and Ryan did an outstanding job. We had a short amount of time between the ceremony and reception, but he knew exactly how to organize family and friends for pictures. He was able to capture all the sweet moments and details of our big day. A month later, we already have our professional photos and all the pictures can easily be shared with friends and family. I can't thank him enough. All the pictures turned out incredible. We highly recommend Ryan!!! He is professional, highly energetic, and creates beautiful photographs. Ruby & Scott

Ryan was dedicated to getting the best photos and his enthusiasm was great! He took as many photos as I wanted with family members and made sure to catch all of our best moments on the dance floor. His photo booth was a huge hit with my guests as they lived dressing up in the props. I would recommend him to anyone!

We met Ryan at a Bridal Show in North NJ, his work spoke for itself. He did our engagement shoot first and was amazing, my husband is not a fan of taking pictures and Ryan made it so easy and captured amazing shots for us. He was so laid back and made us feel so comfortable. We knew after receiving our pictures we made the right choice for the wedding. On our wedding day it was raining in the morning and Ryan assured me that it was the best weather for pictures and that the sun would come out soon and he was right! We have received so many compliments on our pictures because they were perfect! He even went into the woods to capture some amazing shots for us! If you want someone who is personable, friendly, easy going, professional but still have fun with your group then he is your guy! Thank you so much for making our day so special Ryan!

Ryan was wonderful on our wedding day!!! He has a great talent of being unobtrusive during the event, while capturing beautiful moments. He also has an amazing energy without being overbearing. I feel lucky as I found Ryan's team based on the sheer skill of his photography- when I was looking at other photos done at my venue, I noticed how special and interesting his particular shots were. They really stood out to me! At that point, I knew he was talented, but did NOT know how wonderful he was to work with, which my husband and I quickly found out on our big day. So many of our guests commented on his energy, general friendliness, and charisma. We had a lot of demanding characters involved in this wedding (of course, all just wanting the best) and he was amazing despite all of it! Also, all guests loved our photo booth. I now also have a memorable video of dancing with My husband to "Living on A Prayer" with him in a giant panda head... (priceless) Without hesitation, I would highly recommend Ryan and his team to all brides and grooms! AMAZING!!

When you’re standing outside in 90+ degree weather trying to corral 40 people into the same picture (many with a poor grasp of English), and this is only the first of around 15 group shots you need to take, and your photographer is the cheeriest, calmest person in the group, you know you’ve found a good one. My wife and I hired Ryan to do our engagement shoot, and more recently, our wedding. We could not be happier with our decision. Perhaps Ryan’s greatest strength is the sheer enthusiasm he has for his work. It’s easy to see that he just loves taking amazing pictures, and he went above and beyond to get those great shots for us. His photos of us were beautiful, artistic, and romantic. At our wedding, he stayed past the contracted time because he looked at the lighting outside and thought he could get some phenomenal photos, and based upon the samples we’ve seen, he was absolutely right. Ryan is professional, personable, easy to work with, and clearly highly experienced. We strongly recommend him and would hire him again for any event.

*** UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST DISAPPOINTING VENDOR OF OUR WEDDING *** In short, Ryan Sands (both person and company) was the most disappointing and regretful decision of our wedding in Nov 2010. Now in 2017, Ryan refuses to honor our long-term contract and post picture online from our wedding day. We no-longer have access to promised site hosting and access to all of the embarrassing photos that Ryan took. I would also be remiss not to also mention his wife/girlfriend was supposed-to assist him at our wedding, thus, paid for an additional food plate for her, though only for her to no-show with Ryan’s excuse that, “She was shopping with her Mother” (Ryan, in 7 years I still haven’t forgot that reply). Google readers, please, do your homework before selecting Ryan as a vendor/photographer and think twice before you decide to contact this business. This Google review to Ryan is a last result in trying to obtain our wedding photos without seeking additional, expensive legal representation whom would only remind Ryan of our contractual agreement possessing his very own signature. The statement below is taken from Ryan’s email to me personally on 9/15/15: Ryan states: ‘I know I most likely told you that I would host your gallery files indefinitely, however I do have limited space on my hosting plan and it is financially unfeasible to continue to host every gallery for every wedding.’ - that sentence was copied word for word from my email. To whomever reading this, please think twice about retaining Ryan Sands Photo services for ANY event and message me for further proof. jnewbro@gmail.com. Thank you for your time in reading this review. – JN 5/6/17

Ryan was so great to work with! He made everything very relaxed and the few pictures we've seen so far are great! Not to mention he freezes his butt of with us in the cold to get some great pictures!

Ryan did an AMAZING job shooting both our engagement and wedding photos! The first time we met with him we really loved his upbeat attitude and organization! He is very friendly and from the moment you meet him you can tell he really loves what he does! We had a very hot day for our engagement photos and he made everything work out! Everyone actually can't believe it was so hot because the pictures look amazing! On our wedding day he made everyone feel comfortable and at ease. When you have a million things on your mind someone that takes over professionally and has everything organized is exactly who you want in your corner! He did an absolutely beautiful job shooting our wedding, the pictures are stunning! I actually cried when he put up our blog because it brought back all the wonderful memories we had on our Wedding day. He was the perfect photographer and we couldn't have asked for a better person to work with. We can't thank him enough for the amazing work he did! Thanks Ryan, you're amazing!!

Deciding which photographer to use for your wedding day is not a decision to take lightly - these pictures will be around for decades after your wedding, and you want to be sure that they are perfect. Ryan Sands is your photographer. The love and attention he puts into every shot is so evident when you see the finished product. He is so gifted with finding the perfect lighting or background to make sure you look your best. His photos always turn out gorgeous! The hardest part was picking which photos to use in our album. There were too many to choose from! He always makes you feel comfortable, and stays out of your way during your special day. I can't wait for future milestones, as I will definitely be using Ryan to capture our special moments. Thank you, Ryan, for ensuring that we will be able to relive every moment of our wedding day in such a beautiful way.

Ryan is not only an incredibly talented photographer but a wonderful person with a positive spirit! He memorialized our wedding day with his beautiful photos, which my friends, family and everyone I show them to-cant get over! They all say they look like they should be in a magazine! Ryan far out-shined our expectations. We absolutely enjoyed his presence, which wasn't like the annoying-get-in-the-way photographers we've encountered at other weddings. At times, it was as if he wasn't even there....but he was, catching every moment that we shared with our family and friends that day in the most beautiful manner. There were endless amounts of beautiful photos to choose from to put in our album, that was the ONLY difficult part. Great problem to have! I recommend him to anyone and everyone for all occasions! We will certainly use him again for other great life events in our future :)

Ryan is not just great at what he does, he is the type of person that blends into any situation - he's friendly, he's organized, and he's able to take great photos without being obtrusive at all. The photos we have from our wedding are just beautiful, and he got such amazing pictures of guests and bridal party alike, which i'm so thankful for! We got so many fantastic candid shots, which is exactly what i was hoping for. I've been to weddings where the photographers seemed pushy or didn't really try to make people feel comfortable, and Ryan was just the opposite. He's efficient and professional, and the whole day still felt really easygoing!

Ryan and his wife were great to work with!