*WINNER*: 2017 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards!
I'm so stoked to be selected as one of the winners of WeddingWire's Couples' Choice Awards! Thank you, thank you!
The WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards® recognize the top 5% of local wedding professionals on WeddingWire who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness, and professionalism. Winners are determined by 2016 reviews from over a million WeddingWire newlyweds.
Below are just a few of my favorite reviews (from WeddingWire & Yelp) by clients to date!
“I cannot say enough good things about Gina! She was absolutely amazing to work with. When I was researching photographers for our wedding I was immediately drawn to her style of photography — more casual, relaxed, and was always ready to catch moments as they happened. She was so kind and professional and SNEAKY! I loved all the candid shots she was able to capture of us and all of our wedding guests! Before we received our pictures from her, there were so many shots I was wishing she had captured. I thought she had missed some moments but I was SO wrong (I told you she was sneaky). She literally photographed everything big and small and going through all the photos really helps us relive the amazing day we had :)” — Leah & Matt (June 24, 2016 wedding)
“It is almost difficult to write a review because my mind is cluttered with a thousand wonderful things I want to say. I LOVE my wedding pictures. But I knew I would even before I saw them. Because the whole day of my wedding Gina was EVERYTHING i could have ever wished for in a wedding photographer. I so dreaded hiring someone for an insane cost only to have them dictate when and where and how I stand and desperately cling to the timeline. Then after searching for what seemed like forever, I found Gina. Gina is warm and approachable, but never invasive or unprofessional. Her photo-journalistic style was exactly what I wanted. Wonderful warm, candid moments that are a true testament to her talent and ability as a photographer. She captured every weird tradition and curveball with absolute grace and enthusiasm. The portfolio of our wedding pictures, everything from the detail shots, to the family portraits to the candid expressions of all the people we love, build a perfect time capsule of everything our wedding day was. All the tiny little moments you want to capture from the day – holding hands under the table, throwing your head back laughing, the embroidered handkerchief you thought you forgot to ask her to photograph, the quiet moments you stole with your new spouse – she got them all, and in the sneakiest and least obtrusive way. Thank you Gina.” — Emilie & Erik (April 22, 2017 wedding)
“Gina’s talents span beyond her camera work, she is truly a master of her craft. Gina came with us as a ‘third wheel’ as we eloped at San Francisco City Hall. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Gina made us feel so comfortable, coached us through the camera shy moments, and was able to photograph something truly magical.
The pictures we have from the day perfectly capture the moments we shared. From candid shots walking and laughing together, to the most sincere posed pictures, and all the documentation in between… I feel as if I could relive the moment through the story she captured.
Gina is truly the kindest and most professional photographer I have experienced. I am pretty camera shy, or rather… I tend to make the worst faces when a lens is pointed at me. Somehow Gina made me feel like the camera disappeared and all the pictures came out so natural. I don’t know how she does it, but the pictures we have prove that anyone can look good with the right coaching and photographer.” — Lauren & Jason (June 29, 2017 elopement)
“We loved working with Gina for our courthouse wedding! We interviewed a few photographers, but we picked Gina because she seemed most like someone we would already be friends with. She has a very kind and calming presence, which came in handy because the courthouse was a madhouse that day (we’ll be sharing our anniversary with a LOT of couples!). It was super crowded and crazy, which led to our timeline running longer than expected, but Gina took it all in stride, and our photos turned out great. Gina did a wonderful job capturing the story of our wedding, including many lovely candid shots of us and our families. She has a great eye for composition and small moments, and she is as adept at capturing humor as emotion. On top of that, she is as organized as she is chill (a rare combination), and very responsive with all communication, even after the wedding. Highly recommended!” — Michelle & Joel (February 25, 2017 courthouse wedding)
“Gina is AMAZING. From the moment we found Gina’s website, we were pretty sure we’d stumbled upon someone fantastic. And when we had our first introductory meeting with her, we knew we had.
We threw an untraditional wedding: a Prom at a local high school. Some of the vendors we spoke with seemed a bit confused why someone would want to do something like that. Others seemed baffled by the seemingly circular logic of the idea: “Don’t most proms these days try to imitate weddings?” But from the moment we told her, Gina *got* it. Truly. And even more importantly, got us.
She came prepared, having done lots of research beforehand on prom imagery — both in the literal, Google image search sense, and in the fantasy prom sense of Sweet Valley High covers and John Hughes movies.
She showed up hours beforehand to scout the school and figure out the best places to inspire both of those ideas. And she worked with us in advance on timelines and family groupings so we were sure not to miss anyone or anything.
But most importantly, she brought a positive energy with her the entire night, that radiated from behind the camera to whoever was in front of it.
I cannot say enough amazing things about her — her eye, her creativity, her preparedness and professionalism, and just her as a person. We feel so lucky to have found her, and are excited to glowingly recommend her to anyone who will listen.” — Christy & Stuart (August 6, 2016 wedding)
“We found Gina through A Practical Wedding as a recommendation for an affordable photographer. It was true — her rates were potentially half of other photographers we spoke to. But cheating out wasnít our only objective — knowing that we weren’t going to have a videographer, it was very important we found a photographer who was going to truly document the entire day top to bottom and that is exactly what Gina and her assistant did.
We first met Gina at a coffee shop to talk about our thoughts for our wedding. At this point we had met with 5 other photographers at the same coffee shop, and were getting a little exhausted. Everyone had beautiful photos to share, and some of them even shot our venue and knew the best angles, but it was really important that the person who was going to follow us around like a stalker on the most important day of our lives be someone we wanted to hang out with. Gina was 100% that girl. She’s an artist and a journalist and an all around super rad chick. Over an hour of coffee we fell in love and the deal was done.
The engagement session was super fun. We had some loose ideas of where to go — strolling around our neighborhood, checking in at a favorite bar, going to a nearby park. She was up for it all. She didn’t put us in weird forehead to forehead poses. She didn’t ask us to look lovingly into each other’s eyes. She just hung out with us for an afternoon and took THE MOST AWESOME PICTURES EVER.
We got digital prints within a few weeks and the option for a few prints. They were edited & colored to perfection in a natural and respectful way. We chose one super big print of our favorite shot to display at the wedding. Gina ordered and when she got it back, said at that size, it didn’t look the best. She then printed a bunch of other options and brought them to our wedding. You could probably hear my bridesmaids ‘aww’ from a mile away.
The day went exactly like we wanted it to. She had a shot list of some family and bridal party photos, but our main focus was to be on candids and they were all over it like respectful paparazzi. They even came to our after-party with us and continued shooting. It was so fun to have them there and I’m so happy we get to have all of those memories documented in photos too.” — Lisa & Bryan (November 6, 2016 wedding)
“Gina was *the* perfect photographer to capture our wedding! It was a once in a lifetime kind of experience — we were in Goa India, with friends and family coming from all over the world for our 3 day love-fest and Gina captured every bit of the magic. She is curious and observant, which made her take pictures of details and moments that others would have skipped. And those were the best ones! We received so so many compliments about the pictures. In addition to producing a stunning final product, she was so accommodating and easy to work with. In India, things can start 1 (or 2 or 3!) hours late, which happened frequently throughout our events. Gina took it in stride, and was so understanding. I really can’t recommend her enough!!!” — Nikki & Rohit (December 15, 2015 wedding)