My husband and I hired Ruthanne for our elopement in September 2019 in Napa. We are so happy we held out for Ruthanne. Given it was literally just the two of us at our elopement (plus our pups) we wanted to capture the day in all the magic that it was. And Ruthanne did just that. Our elopement was at the Carneros Resort which was a 180 from the normal adventure elopement photos she usually takes. Ruthanne did SUCH an amazing job. I absolutely hate having my photo taken and after the first 5 minutes with Ruthanne I felt completely at ease. Our photos truly capture who we are together and aren't overly staged typical wedding photos. With that said, I feel like all of our photos could be in a vogue magazine. They are perfect. Would love to have Ruthanne take our photos again for our next big life moment! read more

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I can't say enough good about Ruthanne. After following her on Instagram for a few months, all I wanted was to shoot with her! Thankfully the opportunity arose and I was able to book an adventure session. Going in, we had no idea what to expect. But wow she was not joking when she named it that! We were hiking all over rocks and bushes covered in snow, falling and laughing. We had some truly incredible views and I got an amazing sneak peak just hours after we shot. Ruthanne was easy to get along with and was extremely knowledgeable about the area. I am so thankful that I found her and hope that we can work together again! read more

I seriously can not recommend Ruthanne enough! My boyfriend and I did a shoot with her recently and the entire experience was amazing from start to finish. Ruthanne was super helpful in suggesting a BEAUTIFUL location (on the beach in front of the Golden Gate Bridge- so dreamy) and even helped me narrow down which outfits to wear! I was a little nervous to be in front of the camera, but Ruthanne's bubbly and fun personality instantly made me feel comfortable and we had so much fun shooting with her! We were genuinely having a blast the whole time, and it absolutely shows in our photos. She did such an awesome job of capturing our personalities and real smiles. I just received my gallery and the photos literally brought tears to my eyes because they are sooo beautiful without looking overly posed. She is based in the Truckee/Tahoe area but she does travel, which is awesome! She came up to San Francisco to shoot with us. Ruthanne responded to every text and email incredibly fast and the turnaround time from shooting to receiving our photos was extremely quick. She was so kind, fun, and professional and we'll absolutely without a doubt be using her again any time we need a photographer in the future! read more

My now husband and I planned our elopement in less than three weeks. Our plan was to have our witness and officiant take a few pictures of us with their phones and to set up a tripod with our camera. Three days before we were set to elope I stumbled upon the Instagram for @MissRuthanne. Instantly I was drawn to the timeless talent in which photo after photo depicted expansive, breathtaking, remote landscapes; each uniquely capturing a deep connection to love and the world in which we live. I literally fell in love with Ruthanne's work. It was either going to be Ruthanne photographing our elopement or no one. To my luck, Ruthanne was available that one day within the upcoming seven weeks and it happened to be my day. Including Ruthanne in our intimate space and photographs that she produced took what we had envisioned and experienced to another level. I am beyond lucky that I found Ruthanne. Her work is stunning and her eye to capture the moment in an artistic and dramatic way is truly unique. My advice, if you are going to elope, find a date that works for Ruthanne and then begin planning. read more

I cannot even begin to explain how happy I am with my engagement photos. Ruthanne has a way of bringing out the true, authentic smiles and laughs of her clients. I, not feeling comfortable in front of a camera, look like I am a professional model in all of my shots, which of COURSE I am ecstatic about!! My fiance models for some companies so he was more comfortable with the whole shoot, but even he recognized how Ruthanne's direction was helpful to capture "the shot". The turn around delivery was within a week!! Knowing how busy that girl can be, I wasn't expecting them for a while, but she took the time to edit and deliver because she knew we were looking forward to receiving them. Now they are up on my walls, and I look at them everyday. I would recommend Ruthanne in a heart beat. If you want to find her updated website, it is www.ruthannez.com read more

I'm really not one to write a bad review.... But I can't with a good conscious recommend Ruthanne as a wedding photographer. I'm almost in tears after reading the last review because it's almost identical to my experience with her. Had we seen that review we would not have hired her and be where we are now. Like the previous review states, Ruthanne is fun and awesome to work with in person, she was on her game and professional the first time we met her as well. She has been impossible to communicate with tho, and the photos we received are not worth the money we paid and don't do our wedding justice. I could go on and on about what she could do better, most importantly COMMUNICATE with paying clients.... We have no problem being patient, but some kind of reasonable response goes a long way. I've sent her my thoughts privately, in messages that she has so far ignored, hoping she might send us the rest of the photos or at least a time frame... As the 8-12 week standard window is long past. We do have some good photos, even some great ones, but still waiting to see if she has the rest, and if she captured what she was paid to capture. At this point we can't recommend her as a photographer. read more

I hired Ruthanne to photograph my step daughters wedding in June of 2015. It was her dads and I gift to the new bride and groom. I talked with her over the phone and was very impressed with her professionalism and her character. She met with my daughter and her future husband to go over details and set up a Engagement Photoshoot. The pictures were amazing. Miss Ruthanne has a great eye and enthusiasm. The day of the wedding, she showed up as my daughter was getting ready. She took lots of pictures. As we got to the venue, a ranch she and her assistant (who I also paid for) were there from the beginning to the very end. She engaged people and brought out smiles to all who were being photographed. Her assistant helped with the photo booth I had set up myself. He captured great moments that I took care of getting to the bride and groom. I unfortunately had an emergency during the reception where I had to leave for about an hour. During this time I missed, the father daughter dance and I assumed family pictures. What I don't understand is how did they not know I wasn't there? How could they miss me in pictures and for the moment I wanted to see most; father daughter dance. It was heartbreaking. I didn't show it till I was home later that night. How does a professional photographer miss family members for photos when she knew what we wanted and all parties evolved. So the real work began after the big day. Months and months, nine yes 9 months! Emailing, phone calls, texting, calling, Facebook messenger, Facebook posts, Instagram comments...finally we had contact. It took an email from me threatening lawsuit to get a response. There were so excuses, bad internet connection. And the biggest one, "I associate that weekend with a really bad moment in my life". Really? I guess her boyfriend and her broke up, or she found out he cheated on her or something like that. There should be no reason, short of death that a professional can't do what they were hired to do. She was hired to capture a moment in my daughter's life. A day that we can't recreate, we can't get back. The newlyweds were supposed to get pictures by October. They were relying on that to give family members Christmas gifts. But it took 5 more months to finally have contact from her. So, my bottom line...don't hire Miss Ruthanne Photography. I believe she needs to do some growing before her emotions can handle the situations she is put in with others. read more

Super knowledgable and professional, I would recommend getting your family portraits with her!

Hang in there future brides, this post may be a bit long but I feel the need to assist you in making one of the biggest decisions of your wedding. If you are anything like me you have done a lot of research on, well, pretty much everything pertaining to your wedding. For me the most research I put in was in finding the correct photographer. Nowadays photographers are a dime a dozen and some are worth the thousands of dollars you spend on them while others are not. When I first found Ruthanne Vaughan I was impressed by her style and exuberance she displayed towards life and photography. However, I should have paid a little better attention in the beginning as it probably would have saved me some grief in the long run. Let me begin by saying Ruthanne as a person is awesome. She is easy to get along with, my family and friends enjoyed her presence the day of the wedding. She is also adorable which assisted in drawing smiles out of the groomsmen. Let me also clarify, Ruthanne is a 20 year old entrepreneur who, at the time of my wedding had only shot three other weddings. I knew this going in and assumed she had the skill set necessary to shoot and deliver quality pictures in a timely manner. It took Ruthanne almost eight (yes I said that correctly) months to get me my wedding pictures, and that was after many attempts to contact her. I first emailed her in November 2015 after not hearing from her since my wedding in June 2015. She got back to me within two weeks saying the pictures were almost done being edited and would be posted to her website soon. Well the pictures did not go up soon, in fact they are still not up as I write this (in March 2016). I did not hear from Ruthanne again until January 2016 and that was when I texted her instead of emailed her. She again disappeared until the end of March, but this time I didn't just email her, I texted, called and finally resorted to sending her a Facebook message and posting on her Facebook wall. When I did get ahold of her she blamed her inability to contact me on poor internet connection and phone service. Getting my pictures from her took way more effort than it should have and only concluded with me threatening legal action. In the end she left the pictures on her door step and I drove up to get them because she couldn't make time to see me. The overall quality of the pictures I got back was good but not professional. Out of the thousands of pictures many of them are worth hanging on my walls. Several of them are beautiful moments of my husband and I that I wouldn't have had if I didn't have a photographer. Having a second photographer was important to me so one of them could capture people moments and the other could capture the hard work that I put in to making the day beautiful. Very few of the pictures I received were of the décor. To be honest I was very disappointed with this because I saw very little of those things that day I would have liked to include them in my wedding album. In conclusion, while I am a strong advocate for growing local entrepreneur's business I cannot recommend Miss Ruthanne to be the photographer at your wedding. I understand how long it takes to edit pictures and I would have been more then okay with waiting eight months for quality pictures. What I got back was not worth my time or money. It also would have been okay if by the end of everything I felt like a valued customer, but I didn't. Photography is expensive and it takes work to find a quality photographer, it would have been easy for Ruthanne to turn me into a repeat customer. I am just starting my life and I can tell you Miss Ruthanne will not be taking my anniversary, baby, or family pictures. I have no desire to deal with an unprofessional photographer again and would not wish the frustration I went through on any future brides. read more

Unprofessional in completing job, does not communicate or return calls in a timely manner. Eight months is too long for a bride and groom to wait for their pictures! And that's after repeated attempts. read more