Stephanie is kind, professional, and incredibly talented. We feel so lucky to have ad her photograph her wedding in Avila beach!

Stephanie is fabulous! She recently photographed my daughter's wedding, and she was just wonderful! So nice and professional. Took so many great photos - both photos we had asked for and awesome photos we didn't even think about asking for! I highly recommend her! read more

Thank you Stephanie. You did an outstanding job with the family photos. We met Stephanie while she was working at a wedding that we attended and we were impressed by her attention to detail. Stephanie is very very talented. We asked Stephanie if she could help with our family photos and we were so glad that she was able to accommodate us. My family was so overwhelmed by the photos that she took. Stephanie was so sweet and patient and professional during our photoshoot. We strongly recommend her and we will work with her again. read more

If you're looking for a great photographer, Stephanie is the person for you. She was fantastic! We were so grateful to have Stephanie and Edwin take both our engagement and wedding photos. Our wedding was postponed like many others and we were so grateful they were flexible with our new date. They really helped out with the wedding and were super friendly to all our loved ones and was always there when we wanted a moment captured. They both captured each and every event from our wedding day from our ceremony to s'mores and even snowballs! The pictures turned out AMAZING with a super quick turnaround! We will be keeping these pictures to remember the night for the rest of our lives, THANK YOU!!! read more

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Stephanie is the best! She is an exceptional photographer who saved our last-minute pre-wedding photoshoot. Overall, Stephanie's talent, professionalism, and dedication to making us happy set her apart. We highly recommend her and look forward to working with her again. When we met Stephanie on the day of the photoshoot, my partner and I were on the verge of a nervous breakdown after an awful experience with our hair and makeup stylist (who did the makeup and hair completely different from what we agreed on, and ran almost half an hour behind schedule). However, Stephanie's calm and reassuring presence helped us relax and fully enjoy the day despite all the chaos. One of the things that stood out to us the most was how approachable and accommodating Stephanie was throughout the entire process. She was always willing to listen to our requests and preferences, and went out of her way to make sure we were happy with the final product. Her dedication to capturing the perfect photos and poses for us was truly impressive. We truly appreciated her openness and transparency throughout the entire experience. In addition, Stephanie brought along a beautiful veil and other items that we could use for the photoshoot, which was a thoughtful and generous touch. Her attention to detail and creativity shone through in every aspect of the shoot, and the results were absolutely stunning. read more

Stephanie was such a pleasure to work with and an incredibly kind person. Her photos are always amazing, and we couldn't be happier with the documentation of our big day. She made everyone feel comfortable during group shots and doesn't take her sweet time about getting the perfect shot. We cannot recommend her highly enough for wedding and engagement photos. read more

Stephanie was such an incredible photographer and an absolute joy to spend time with. From the first meeting with her, we knew we wanted to work with her. She is efficient with her work but the warmest soul you will meet and will put anyone at ease who is nervous in front of the lens. It is clear she puts her whole heart and soul into her craft and the results are incredible. We have gotten so many compliments on our wedding photos and she got them back to us so quickly! Quit your photographer search now and book her if she is available for your day. You won't regret it and you will have someone capture the most special moments for you who is the upmost professional and easy to work with. read more

Secrest Wedding Photography - Event Photography Near Me

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We considered one photographer for our wedding and almost booked them. Then things started getting fishy with poor response times and sometimes no response at all to emails. After talking with one of my bridesmaids, she recommended Stephanie. I am SO glad she did! My initial meeting with Stephanie was at a Starbucks. I brought my Maid of Honor and we looked through all of the books she brought. I was shocked by how genuinely sweet Stephanie was. She asked a lot of great questions about the wedding and our vision for the day (which our other photographer never did). Her pricing was higher than the other photographer, but after seeing the quality of her work, I was happy to pay her what she asked. We booked her a couple of weeks later and then we asked her to do something a little strange. My husband and I are big Disneyland fans and had always wanted to do our engagement photos in the park. Seeing as we live in the bay area, I didn't think Stephanie would be willing to go down south, but I figured I'd ask anyway. To my surprise, Stephanie was planning on shooting a wedding in So Cal and said if we could coordinate our shoot with when she was in the area, she would love to do it! And let me tell you, her pricing was INCREDIBLY reasonable considering our out of the ordinary request. The engagement session last all day in the park with 3 outfit changes. It was so nice to spend a day getting comfortable with Stephanie and how she works. We were 100% convinced that no one else could better capture our wedding. She was willing to climb, get down on the ground, go in off limits areas... the woman has no fear! Disneyland is full of great scenery and places for photos, so we couldn't walk more than 20 feet without Stephanie suggesting another super cute and amazing idea. We had a blast! Throughout the process of wedding planning, Stephanie was very responsive when I emailed with questions. She even sent me a new copy of our contract when I misplaced mine. Our wedding day was amazing! We chose the package that includes a second photographer because t was very important for us to have photos of my face and my husband's face when we saw each other for the first time during our ceremony. We are SO glad we did that! Edwin Borbon is just as incredible as Stephanie! They were very quick to capture shots. They were literally running all over the place to get different moments from multiple angles. They were never in the way. They were always polite. They were dressed professionally in all black. Half of the time, I didn't even notice they were there because they were so great at blending in and not intruding on our moments. My mom even told me it looked like they were part of a well orchestrated ballet. Our photos are absolutely amazing! There's nothing I asked for that was missed. They captured our day better than I ever could've imagined. We had a teaser the morning after the wedding and a few more over the next two weeks. We got our pictures in an online gallery the day we got home from our honeymoon. It was perfect timing! We opened a bottle of champagne and I cried through every slideshow on the website. I can't thank them enough for all of their hard work. I will recommend Stephanie to everyone I know. One of the best decisions we made about the wedding was booking her! read more

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Stephanie was a dream come true. She was recommended to us by a friend who did her wedding and we're so thankful she referred us. We met Stephanie and instantly knew she was the right one for us. She is probably the sweetest down to earth person I've ever met. She even got teary eyed when we told her about our engagement. Her work...omg is second to none. She has an artist eye, which was a must for me when choosing a photographer. She has an impressive resume before doing wedding photography. She met with us before the wedding and we game planned everything. She also brought her best friend Edwin I believe to do the shots with me. He was great and very friendly. The best part about her was we were late for the start of the wedding so Stephanie had to think on her feet and some how made it all work. We still keep in touch with her and can't wait to take baby pictures with her. She is like family. If you want the best use Stephanie. read more

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My husband and I were married this past September. As soon as we met Stephanie, we knew she was the perfect wedding photographer for us. She is such a kind-hearted, sweet, attentive, professional, creative, and talented individual. We could not be happier with our decision to hire her. On our wedding day, Stephanie captured all of our favorite moments and much more. She was so great about taking us aside to get some beautiful photos and then getting us right back to the party to spend time with our guests. We really never felt like we were missing anything. She is attentive while also being invisible. Some of the moments she captured, I didn't even realize she was taking our photo. Stephanie was wonderful to work with from the moment we hired her, through the wedding, and even after the big day. We live out of state, so most of our communication was done by email, phone, and Skype. Stephanie was great at communicating and answering any questions we had before and after the wedding. She truly made the whole process stress-free, seamless, and enjoyable. She also got our photos to us after only a couple of weeks! One of my favorite services she includes after the wedding is a photo website where we can view and download all of our photos from the big day. She even provides a custom link so that we can share our entire wedding album with all of our guests, too! Stephanie's photos from our wedding day truly feel magical and really represent our personalities and love. We have received endless compliments on them. We honestly feel that hiring Stephanie was one of the best decisions we made, and we honestly can't say enough great things about her. read more

Secrest Wedding Photography - Event Photography Near Me

There are hundreds of great photographers in the Bay Area. There are probably thousands of good photographers. There is only one Stephanie. We hired Stephanie to take our wedding photos and our entire family was incredibly impressed with her professionalism, energy, and final product. If you consider how much time and interaction you have with your photographer on you wedding day, you realize that person had better be someone you want to spend one of your most important days with. She takes the time to meet with you and understand your needs and wants. She offers competitive packages with the option to own all your photos outright. She is invested in making sure you are pleased with your experience and most importantly the quality photos you will cherish forever. She communicates quickly and effectively whenever you have questions or concerns (mainly brought on by the wedding planning process, not her). She is willing and able to do any photos you want and makes sure to obtain this list from you prior to your wedding day. She suggested having a wedding wrangler to gather family and expedite your "must have" photos which worked like a charm. We appreciated her attention to detail, making some absolutely fabulous shots out of dim or dark lighting at a venue she'd never been to (we got married under the redwoods in the evening). I loved her photojournalist style of capturing the "story of the day" which allowed us to sit back with a glass of wine and some music a very short time after our wedding (turnaround was speedy for how much editing that must have been) and experience the whole day all over again. I've heard stories about photographers bringing stress to the day and taking the couple away from their event, but she respected our day and did everything she could in advance and day-of to maximize our enjoyment while capturing our essence and the spirit of our event. She and her talents are well worth the price tag and peace of mind that you will love your wedding photos. We are so happy we found Stephanie and she was available to be a part of our wedding day. read more

Stephanie's work is amazing and my husband and I could not be happier with our wedding photos! My dad is a photographer and picked Stephanie as our photographer for her ability to capture the moment. Leading up to our wedding, Stephanie met with us two times. The first time was to see her work and pick out a wedding package. The second meeting was about a month before the wedding to help us organize our 'must have' pictures. I think giving Stephanie a schedule for the day and organizing our before the wedding shots definitely helped with the flow of the day (and was a request from Stephanie). On the wedding day Stephanie was punctual and so easy to work with. She brought her assistant Edwin for the family pictures and ceremony and he was a good complement to Stephanie's style (definitely worth it if your family wants extra photos and the added cost was fair). Stephanie was efficient with her photos and really focused on getting pictures of the event as it took place. She also separately pulled us aside twice, once as the sun was setting and a second to get a picture with the beautiful night sky. She communicated very well with us but at the same time made sure to be in the background so we barely knew she was there. Within 2 weeks, Stephanie delivered to us an electronic version of our wedding photos. It was a Friday night so we got a bottle of Champagne and spent the evening reliving the moment. We could literally feel the emotions of the day all over again. We did not have a videographer but the DJ did provide a recording of the ceremony. Stephanie's pictures were so spot on that we were able to make a slide show to the recording and it's way better than a video. I can certainly see Stephanie's background in photojournalism shine through in our photos. Attached is one of our favorite photos from the day that shows off Stephanie's talented eye and creativity. I highly recommend Stephanie Secrest for wedding photography. She is extremely talented, super responsive, easy to work with, and reasonably priced. read more

Secrest Wedding Photography - Event Photography Near Me

I can't say enough great things about Stephanie! Value and Perfection rolled into a sweet, friendly bundle! I met Stephanie through my boss at work actually. He highly recommended her as I searched far and wide for a great photographer for my wedding day. So I thought, "why not meet her?" As soon as I did, I was hooked on her like chocolate! Not only does she have the sweetest and most sincere personality, but she is THE BEST photographer out there! Talking with Stephanie is so easy. She immediately becomes a friend and makes sure that she covers every detail that you want for your special day. Unlike most photographers, Stephanie takes the time to get to know and understand her clients in order to give them exactly what they are looking for. By the day of our wedding, I had come to trust her and feel so comfortable around her that I hardly knew she was there snapping left and right, high and low. Speaking of high and low...Stephanie will stop at NOTHING to get the perfect shot! She was on the floor, on top of chairs, huddled under grape vines, and if I'm not mistaken, that was her on top of the power pole to get the aerial view (ok, I'm kidding...but you get my point!) She works for you on your special day, and she works hard! In the end, I walked away with TONS of beautiful photos from my wedding day, someone I recommended to my sister for her wedding, and a great friend. She could easily ignore me from this point forward, but she pops her head in every now and then through email and catches up with me, as a friend. And that is worth every (inexpensive) penny I gave her and more!! Thanks Stephanie for the most wonderful experience with photography! read more

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I reached out to Secrest Photography to help with my father's funeral services on short notice after my initial photographer arrangements fell through. As you could imagine, this was stressful. Stephanie kindly apologized that she could not do the funeral and took it upon herself to find me a photographer. Although we had never met before, she felt my pain. She committed to finding me a photographer because she wanted to take something off my plate! Wow! There are good people out there...even complete strangers. She referred me to D. Ross Cameron Photography who did an amazing job. Thank you Stephanie! read more

Secrest Wedding Photography will capture the essence of your occasion. Lemme just say - I've read through all these reviews, seen her awards and acclaim from different industry sources, looked through her website AND worked with Secrest Wedding Photography for our BIG DAY... and if you're reading these reviews and planning a wedding ANYWHERE around the world, I suggest that you just stop reading and call this photographer. We were neck deep in some sticky negotiations with a (CHEAP!) friend of a friend for our wedding photography when we met with Secrest Wedding Photography. Secrest proposed that we chat about her packages at a local cafe and look through some of her albums. Not only is Secrest probably the nicest person on earth.... I mean really really really really nice... But also she has everything it takes to tell you and your guests the story of a romance, a relationship, a whole lifetime with her photojournalistic style. The fact that she only has five star reviews says a lot, right??? Message me if you're not convinced, but seriously, if you've read this far and you haven't called her yet, you might be writing a one star review for your wedding photographer someday and all that mascara is going to be dripping all over your wedding photos and ruining them EVEN MORE and you're going to think back to this day and ask yourself, "Why? Why didn't I listen to DeCoux?" Believe me. Save yourself the trouble of looking elsewhere and call to meet her... You won't regret it. read more

Stephanie is great! She takes amazing photographs, is great about communication, and is very fun to be around. She'll make anyone feel comfortable. I completely recommend her for any of your photography needs. read more

OOOOOOOOOh Stephanie! After e-mailing more than 40 photographers and meeting at least 5, I knew Stephanie was the one the moment I walked in the door for our interview. WOW. She is amazing and passionate and LOVES what she does. Those qualities make her incredibly easy to work with and her enthusiasm shows through in her art. Stephanie photographed both our engagement shoot AND our wedding.Not only are there great posed shots, but there are amazing moments she was able to capture that I would otherwise have missed. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to select the shots. Oh... And did I mention my parents are wedding photographers? The LOVED Stephanie's work and she was even willing to go the extra mile to make them feel comfortable... (She even met my mom and me at the church the week of the wedding to assess the lighting situation! AND let my mom step in on the posing that she is oh-so-particular about... Stephanie COULD be a diva with her talent, but definately is not.) I recommend Steph with absolutely NO reservations. Hire her now. And the bonus? Steph loves all of her couples SO much that she even includes free baby pictures! read more

If you're looking for a photographer for pretty much any event, you can STOP LOOKING now! You've found the best photographer you could--Stephanie Secrest is beyond incredible. Stephanie photographed my wedding, and her work covers everything I could have hoped for. It is beautiful and fun, and it also documents everything about the event--from the big shots of the ceremony, dinner, and dancing, to the little moments (some of which I missed on the day of!) throughout the evening. My husband and I looked at a huge number of photographers in the Bay Area when we were looking for our wedding photographer (we knew that one thing we really cared about was beautiful photography from the event), and we didn't see work from anyone else that came even close to Stephanie's. Moreover, you can hire her without spending every last penny that you had saved for the honeymoon! She does engagement and baby shoots for all of her wedding couples (presumably the baby shoot is sometime after the wedding, but I'm sure Stephanie would be flexible about that, too). Stephanie is also incredibly professional. When we interviewed her, she met us at my parents' house and brought a huge portfolio for us to look through. She spent as much time as we wanted answering our questions, and she answered more via email (she probably thought we were the most anal couple ever). Because we don't currently live in the Bay Area, we had to squeeze the engagement shoot into a short visit over the holidays, and Stephanie didn't mind spending an entire day, four days before Christmas, traipsing around (cold) San Francisco with us. Even more amazing, she had the photos ready for us to see within a week! (Similarly, she had our wedding photos ready for us, on our own website, within days of our return from our honeymoon!) The engagement shoot was also a great way to get to know Stephanie better. By the time we saw her at the wedding, it felt like seeing an old friend! I can't stress enough how important it is to have a photographer you really like for your wedding, because of how much time you'll spend communicating with him/her. Stephanie was just fantastic. I know she does this for a living and thus goes to a *lot* of weddings, but Stephanie made me feel so special on my wedding--she made me feel like I was the most important bride ever! Stephanie also does a pretty incredible job of "disappearing" while she's working. Other than when she did the portraits of my husband and our wedding party and our families, I swear I didn't see Stephanie the whole five hours, but it's clear from the photos that she was absolutely everywhere at once. My understanding is that Stephanie is willing to travel for weddings. She also does all sorts of non-wedding events. I feel strongly that I've found "my photographer" for life--I only wish I had more professional-photographer-worthy events to hire Stephanie for. She is the BEST! read more

All the reveiws before me have said it - THE BEST. I went to many photographers for my wedding before deciding to go with Stephanie. She is amazing to work with but she also gives you a website AND a full CD of all your photos in TWO WEEKS. This is practically unheard of. I talked with companies that said I could have a CD after 1 year. WHAT? Stephanie does amazing work. She really captured the moments of my special day, just I dreamed. My wedding day will live forever through the timeless photos that she manages to fill with life. Seriously people, look no further. read more

(...continuation from Nancy H's review below) They also both shot memorable group shots of the entire congregation after the ceremony. And afterwards, Stephanie was super assertive and, with a little help with the loud voice of our Best Man reading from our shoot list, we were able to conquer taking family photos (and believe my husband has a HUGE family) in half an hour! Afterwards, Stephanie followed us back to the hotel for our wardrobe change, and we managed to take some more photos of getting ready, and took some more portraits of just me and my husband. The reception was covered by John, with extra help from Stephanie. At some point in the evening, they asked us if we'd like to take some photos with the sunset. So my husband and I walked outside with the videographers and photographers, and they paparazzi'd us like crazy! We were really impressed with the outcome. Stephanie stayed much later than we had asked her to, as did John, and they did such a fantastic job covering the toasting at the tables, the dancing, the reactions during the speeches and games, the garter and bouquet tosses, and farewells. POST-WEDDING: When all was over, Stephanie was able to process the photos in just a few weeks and kept sending us sneak peeks of her editing along the way! We had the chance to visit her home again to have all the photos copied to an external hard drive, and she reminded us that she always offers free baby portraits for her wedding couples! My husband and I have been so incredibly impressed with Stephanie, her work, her openness and just super fun personality. We loved having her as our photographer, and we know you will too! read more

All I need to say about Stephanie is WOW! Prior to the wedding she came to my house to show me and my fiance albums and pictures she has taken for other couples. I was sold after just looking at one album! She has a great style and good eye for catching amazing shots! I love that she tells a story in her pictures. I am so happy we chose her to photograph our wedding on 11/7/09. She is very professional and so easy to work with. Not only does she know what looks best in a shot, but she works quickly. And, she had our photos ready to view only 2 weeks after we had gotten married! My husband and I went to her house to view them on a slideshow- I was blown away with all the shots! I would definitely recommend Stephanie Secrest as your photographer! You will not be disappointed at all! read more

Stephanie Secrest is amazing! A friend introduced us and I knew right away she was the photographer to work with because of her talent, passion about photography, and her happy attitude (which is key to have happy people around you for a happy day). She is very quick to respond and really goes above & beyond the call of duty. I am incredibly lucky to have had a photographer like her at my wedding. She made everything easy. I would recommend her again in a heart beat for any occasion. *Addition: I was in my brother's weekend this past weekend and his photographer was in all of our faces and incredibly intrusive. Made me think back to my wedding and how Stephanie and her 2 other assistants/co-workers were complete ghosts. They got amazing photos and you could barely tell they were there. That is a perfect team of photographers. :) read more

Stephanie did a fabulous job. The photography at my wedding was the most important detail to me. I searched around for awhile and felt a wonderful connection with Stephanie. She is very flexible and works around you and what you want. My pictures looked like they came out of a magazine. Absolutely fabulous. She also had her photographer friend/assistant Edwin for our wedding of 250 people and they made an awesome team and they both took wonderful pictures. Each of them has their own style, but they really compliment eachother! I couldn't recommend anyone more highly than Stephanie. Just look at her photos and you will see the proof. We also had fabulous engagement photos and she helped us feel so comfortable. We got our photos 2 weeks after the wedding like she promised. I was able to send the web address of our photos to our family and friends and they were able to download any of the photos they liked. I got so many wonderful complements on our photos. I read more

We interviewed Stephanie and two other photographers for our wedding. She stood out because she was very intuitive, polite, easy-going, and extremely talented. We had her take a few sample shots of us the day of our interview, and were blown away with how beautiful they came out-- without any preparation. We found her on the International Wedding Photojournalism website. She helped me work out a schedule of photographs for the wedding so that we could simplify the schedule of events, and maximize the amount of time we had to enjoy our guests. Her style is very naturalistic, very fresh. She came with her colleague-- Edwin-- who was just as talented, spontaneous, and easy to work with. He helped take photos of the groom's men before we did our first look, the ceremony, and cocktail hour. I would highly recommend a second photographer (btw). We highly recommend Stephanie! read more

My wife and I found Stephanie through a friend. We had already contracted another photographer, but our friend assured us that we would not be sorry for switching. WE WEREN'T!!! Stephanie is amazing. She is warm, funny and genuine. She has a way of setting you at ease and that brings out some amazing photos. Our journey with Stephanie started out over coffee at a little out of the way place in the east bay. She spent the better part of 90 minutes discussing our plans for the wedding AND finding out what we were like. We discussed engagement shoot locations and possible shots at the wedding. That meeting set the stage. But...I forgot to mention that Stephanie is also very organized. She promptly returned every communication, had the contract out in the mail very quickly after she signed it and was very helpful with reminders. She made the process very easy. We met for our engagement shoot at about 2:30 pm in hopes of getting great afternoon light. To make a wonderfully long story short, we parted that afternoon almost 4 hours later. It was a truly rewarding experience and Stephanie made it super fun. We got the engagement photos about two weeks later...both emailed and a copy on a disk. I can't say strongly enough how great it was having her be so organized and professional...and super nice. Prior to the wedding, Stephanie confirmed all of the details and worked with us to create a "must have" list of photos. That made it very easy to organize the people we wanted to have formal pictures with from the wedding. At the wedding, Stephanie seemed like she was everywhere, but nowhere at the same time. When we wanted her for a shot, she was ahead of us and planning it before we knew we wanted it. But, she was never in the way. No for the most important part of this review...the photos. Stephanie gave us 160+ photos from the engagement shoot, and 900+ photos frome the wedding. All of them are absolutely amazing. Her eye for a shot is unequalled. Her background as a photojournalist gives her the ability to not "miss" important moments (like my wife shoving cake in my nose). The lighting, color, balance and framing of every shot was perfect. Lastly...at first look, it appeared that her prices were a little high. But after putting together what we got, the cost was truly a bargain. And...the cost was actually several hundred dollars less that the othe photographer we originally contracted. If you use Stephanie for your wedding, you will not bet disappointed. read more

Stephanie did such a wonderful job capturing all of the details of our wedding day! We met about six weeks before the ceremony to look through wedding photo books from previous clients, and we could tell right away that she would be a great match for our day. We had a small wedding (about 40 people, including us), and she was a terrific low-key presence throughout the day. From the getting-ready shots through to the reception, Stephanie was cheerful, unobtrusive, and seemed to always be in the right place at the right time to get all the shots we wanted. After the wedding, she provided amazingly quick turnaround on our photos--and friends and family alike have commented on the great work she did. As my sister (and MOH) said, "Lots of posed wedding party photos are so cheesy, but these are great!" I couldn't agree more. Finally, I was super impressed with all of her detail shots. I put a lot of time and effort into the small details of our wedding, and Stephanie really captured those details in a beautiful way. We were very, very happy with Stephanie's work--I highly recommend her if you are looking for a wedding photographer! read more

Choosing Stephanie Secrest as our photographer was the best decision we made for our wedding. Her photos do more than tell a story of our wedding day, they bring the day back to life. She is one of the hardest working people I know, but you would never know it because photography is her absolute passion, and it shows. She truly loves her job and that makes working with her fun! Aside from her talent and passion for photography, she is also one of the nicest people I have ever met. She has the perfect temperament for organizing family for group shots, which can be tricky if you think about it. Her personality puts you at ease, and helps make for natural and beautiful photos. I really can't recommend her enough. My husband and I feel like we found a photographer for life. We will use her over and over again to capture all our important events in the future. read more

I have to write a disclaimer: I know Stephanie from having worked with her at two Bay Area news publications. Naturally I wanted to select her for my wedding from knowing her work as a journalist. However, after reading her other reviews on Yelp, I have to say that it seems she treats all her clients the way she treated me and my now husband- as a someone she purposefully got to know well so she could do her best in showcasing what was important on the wedding day. She had us over to her studio twice to pick our brains on what we wanted from a photographer: shots of some of the guests we probably wouldn't see a lot of given our quick time frame and artistic shots of my dress, our dog, and the beauty of Tilden Park. Stephanie is a consummate professional who loves what she does- and it shows so well in her photos. She understands the stress of juggling different vendors and respectfully worked well with everyone else on our day. But above all it's her skill that made me want to review her on Yelp. I highly recommend her. read more

YOUR SEARCH ENDS HERE! Stephanie is an amazing photographer, and an even more amazing person! Stephanie came highly recommended by the manager of our venue at Blackhawk Country club. She was the only photographer that I met with and I knew the instant I met her she was the one I would chose. Stephanie met us in Half Moon Bay for our engagement photo session, and right away my fiance and I we comfortable with her. We had so much fun that day. By the time the wedding came around Stephanie felt like part of the family, I was genuinely excited to see her on my wedding day. Stephanie Loves what she does and it shows, our engagement photos and wedding photos turned out amazing. Not to put any pressure on Stephanie because I believe it is pretty much unheard of with wedding photographers, I was so shocked that we actually received our wedding photos while we were still on hour honeymoon, 13 days after the wedding. What a fun experience that was. I look forward to the day that Stephanie does our baby photo session. Yup she does a free baby photo session for all her couples. I Honestly believe that there is no reason to look any further, Stephanie is the BEST! read more

Stephanie was the photographer for my August 2013 wedding. She took breathtaking photos of our evening and captured all of the magical candid moments during the vows, speeches, etc. She is a genuine person that is really easy to work with!!! I will definitely use Stephanie as my photographer for future events. SHE IS ONE OF A KIND! read more

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Where do I begin. We found Stephanie on Yelp. And it was the best decision! We actually almost didn't hire Stephanie because she was outside of our price range. But after we moved some things around we decided it was important to splurge on the photographer, and it was the best decision we could have made. Stephanie has a fantastic energy and made us feel very confident leading up to the wedding. We hired her along with a second photographer, Edwin, and they made a fabulous team! We just got the pictures yesterday (we got married less than 3 weeks ago mind you!) and they are so great! Stephanie and Edwin are professional, made sure we got everything we wanted, and made the day great. read more

My husband and I got married in July 2008 at the Purple Orchid Inn in Livermore. We had seen one of Stephanie's books while planning and just loved her work. Upon meeting her I knew she had to be our photographer. Stephanie is so friendly and is clearly passionate about her work. On the wedding day Stephanie made sure to capture every moment. We could not be more pleased with all of our pictures. Stephanie was able to capture moments with our friends, family, and romantic pics of just the two of us. Now I am faced with the task of selecting which photos to put in a book. There are so many great photos I think we will have to have 5 books! Even months after the wedding I am looking back at pictures and discovering new aspects of the day that I didn't see but Stephanie did! I am really so pleased to have so many pictures of all of my guests and every part of the event. read more

Stephanie was recommended to us by my co-worker and she was fantastic! We took our engagement photos with her and we got some beautiful shots that we used on our holiday cards, wedding favors and more. I was hoping to have a costume change opportunity but we were having so much fun taking photos that I wasn't able to change because we wanted to grab some shots in front of the sunset. It ended up being worth it because one of my favorite photos is of my husband and me jumping in front of the sunset. :) Stephanie is a doll and she is so easy to work with. On the day of the wedding she captured gorgeous shots of my husband and me. I really love all the moments she caught of everyone dancing and being silly. When we got the photos a couple weeks after the wedding I kept saying "gosh, I didn't even know Stephanie was there!" because she is so talented at grabbing shots of all your special moments. My only small critique is that I wish the family portrait portion of the day was better organized. I totally understand that this is traditionally a hectic moment however I would have liked to see Stephanie take control and direct everyone to take their places. Even though Stephanie shoots tons of weddings, she really makes you feel like the most special and beautiful bride! I plan to recommend Stephanie to all my friends who need a photographer in the future because she provides a personalized experience and she shoots absolutely gorgeous photos! read more

Your look for a wedding photographer should be over right now. Stephanie photographed our wedding in October of 2014. In my opinion, the photographer is the single most important vendor. The day goes by in a flash but the photos are with you forever. The last thing my wife and I wanted to do was stress about the photos. Stephanie was a blast to work with. She took the time to get a feel for our personalities and that really shined in the final photos. She is professional, organized and gets the job done. She has incredible artistic sense and I'm still blown away by some of the photos. She quickly turned around the finished product and really made the entire process such a breeze. You can tell how much she cares about her work and documenting these important days for people. I really can't say enough good things about her. Do yourself a favor and take the stress out of the photographer decision. With Stephanie at the wheel, you're going to love the results. My highest recommendation! read more

Before seeing a single photo from my wedding, I was already prepared to give Stephanie a 5-star rating. Stephanie was incredibly responsive and on top of communication throughout the entire planning process. I never felt like I had to chase her down or that I wasn't her top priority. She is very easy to get along with, open to lots of ideas, and always ready with fun suggestions of her own. I wanted to work with Stephanie because I saw from her portfolio that she has the ability to capture intimate moments that tell the grander story all in a single frame. With her photojournalism background and approach, she is a master at capturing authentic moments, rather than creating posed, unnatural ones. Stephanie's ability to artfully capture moments as they are was key for my wife and me because the wedding was actually a surprise we sprung on our guests the day of. We needed someone who would be able to navigate the uncharted territory of such a unique event and still artfully document it all. And Stephanie certainly delivered. If you want the standard photos that look just like everyone else's, hire the best-rated wedding photographer in your budget. If you want exceptional stills that truly reflect the ineffable essence that is specific to you and your day, hire Stephanie Secrest. read more

We did baby photos with Stephanie. We had 2 photo sessions: the first one was when my son was a new born (literally new born, second day after he's born) and the second one was when my son was 4 months old. First, It's very easy to work with Stephanie. Our time was not very flexible both times, because parents and siblings were visiting short amount of time, but she was still able to make it. I really appreciate her effort. Second, she is so kind that she offered us the second mini session for free because she thinks the first new born session wasted a lot of time. Last but not least, I like the photos she took. Those photos are very realistic and recorded all the happiness on our faces :) read more

Stephanie is the photographer we didn't have a second thought for our wedding. We met her in the wedding fair at San Francisco and we were so impressed with her photo artistic direction and her professional knowledge about wedding photography. We worked with her twice for our wedding, one is the engagement session at the Santa Cruz and the other one is the city hall wedding ceremony. She is a very organized photographer. She called me before the shooting day and we communicated in emails so many times about the schedule and plan. She was patient with very all kinds of our ideas and she provided us many recommendations for locations and ideas. She also asked us about our love story and our background, so that she could better invlove and work together with us in the shooting process. I can tell she is really enjoying what she does and she is a responsible photographer. On the shooting day she was totally a professional creative woman! On time, energetic, creative and flexible with our various requests. After the shooting she did he PS editing quickly and delieved all photos for us within one week. The photos are exactly what we are looking for in mind! Overall she is a photographer with excellent photography academic education, years of practical wedding photography experience and easygoing personality. I would definitely work with her again in the future for other occasions. read more

Wow is all I can say about Secrest Wedding Photography! Stephanie is a wonderful photographer, she captured our wedding day with elegance and grace far above and beyond our expectations. My husband and I met with her several months before hand, she welcomed us into her home, offered us beverages and snacks while we looked over her work. She is such a wonderful person, so friendly and fun. We ultimately chose her because of the combination between her artistic eye and her great personality. We both felt a connection with her right away. As far as our wedding day goes, she shot some awesome pictures of the wedding party and family, she also took really great photos of the ceremony, but best of all were the pictures of just my new husband and I. The lighting was perfect along with the scenery, she used her experience and knowledge to combine everything together to come up with some timeless shots. Thanks again Stephanie! read more

Stephanie is nothing short of amazing. Aside from her obvious talent as a wedding photographer, she is super-easy to work with, has a flexible schedule, and strives to keep her clients happy. Your first meeting with Stephanie will consist a viewing of some of her recent work. You will be, as we were, amazed with her talent with the camera. Stephanie gives her clients a nice balance of artistic and practical wedding photos. Immediately after seeing her work, we knew she was the right photographer for us. Stephanie spent quite a bit of time talking to us in order to get a clear understanding of how the ceremony would take place. Obviously a wedding photographer only has one chance to get things right or it will be a complete disaster. Stephanie understood our wedding schedule so well that she had numerous ideas of what types of pictures she should take before the wedding day had taken place. She attended the walk-through of our wedding venue with zero complaints and always showed great flexibility with her schedule whenever we needed her. The day of the wedding was no exception to Stephanie's professionalism. She was on-time, happy, helpful, and when we received the final pictures, we were floored. Her services come at a slight premium, but believe me, you get what you pay for in this case, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better wedding photographer than Stephanie. read more

We were married on 9.27.08 in Livermore. As many couples know finding a location is one of many hard decisions to make. Luckily for us, Stephanie had a wedding book at one of the locations we were interested in. Her book stood out from every cookie cutter book that was shown to us. We chose our location because of Stephanie's photographs. The first time we met Stephanie was at a bridal fair that our wedding venue was having. She greeted us with a warm smile and seemed as excited as we were about our wedding. We decided to book an appointment with her and see more of her work ( even though in the back of our heads we REALLY liked her already and wanted to book her right then and there!) My husband and I met with Stephanie again in the Alameda and she showed us everything she had done and the stories behind the photographs. The photographs were beautiful and exactly what we wanted for our wedding day. As you already guessed we booked her. Wedding day. We had met Stephanie a few weeks before the wedding to give her a list of 'musts' to be taken on the day of the wedding(and she did every item on the list!). :o) So come wedding day Stephanie knew what to do. I can't express how WONDERFUL Stephanie was, she was just so excited to be there and to be capturing this moment. She was so professional and handled my huge family with grace. Stephanie would do anything to get the shot-she would lay on the ground, climb on some chairs run from point A to B and then on the ground again! She really, really LOVES what she does. She wants to make these photos the best for you. I also received so many compliments from family and guests about how easy it was to work with her. About 2-2.5 weeks later our photos were up on the website. The first time I saw them I cried. I was so happy with the quality and just reliving those memories. We wanted a more 'candid' take on the wedding, captured moments mostly and she did exactly what we wanted. Another week later we received all of our photos. Again, even the un-edited versions were great. Photography is a really important part of a wedding and choosing one can be stressful and we met with another vendor before meeting with Stephanie and we felt like we were just another couple or just another job. With Stephanie it was the polar opposite so if you are looking for a photographer who loves their craft and actually cares for their clients, someone who has the technical capability, who is an artist then Stephanie is the person for you. read more