Lilia Photography

Wow. Lilia was just amazing to work with from start to end. The photos we received were beyond all expectations and a dream come true! I knew I wanted to hire her as her photos were exactly to my taste and she has so many years of experience photographing SF City Hall.

Lilia is really great with setting up a phone appointment to chat and get to know you initially. She maintained great communication throughout my planning process and helped me plan a timeline. The day of, I felt like I knew her so well and we both felt completely relaxed with her. All the photos we took felt very natural and not awkward at all. I never felt rushed throughout the day, at all, but we did great with time. She was able to herd us all through City Hall and beat other groups to the prime locations! She was also so gracious in staying later than we arranged for since the ceremony ran late in order to get all the outdoor shots done.

Afterwards, she promised us some sneak peaks the next day (the next day!!!) but literally sent like 40 sneak peaks!! Amazing!! Lastly, she sent all the rest within the month! Within 3 week! She is just the best!

Do not hesitate to hire her! We loved working with her and we are so happy she is our sole witness on our wedding certificate! Also we're so flattered to be on her instagram!

Thanks so much for making our day extra perfect, Lilia!

My wife Michelle and I were married in San Francisco in September 2017, and Lilia was our wedding photographer.

In truth she was more than that -- she also provided advice from months in advance of the ceremony, checking in on us regularly via e-mail and Skype to make sure that everything was going according to plan and offering help and assistance wherever she could. As we were travelling a long way (from Ireland), her kindness was invaluable to us.

She worked very closely with us to get a feel for what we wanted from our photos in every conceivable way, from lighting to settings to poses. This was just one outstanding example of her professionalism -- taking the time beforehand to truly understand what we wanted saved a lot of time on the day and virtually guaranteed that the pictures would turn out the way we wanted (which they did, and then some).

On the day of the ceremony, Lilia was already at San Francisco City Hall when we arrived. She truly is a lovely, warm person, and she immediately put us at ease. From the moment we met her she became a part of the happiest day of our life in a way that never once felt intrusive. She served as our witness, but was also on hand to guide us through the various steps that we needed to take before the ceremony.

Not only does Lilia know City Hall like the back of her hand, she knows the best places to go at certain times and when specific locations are likely to be busiest. She took a number of shots before, during and after the ceremony, and was very proactive in reminding any tourists in the vicinity that there was a wedding taking place. As a result, we ended up with very few (if any) random strangers in the background of our photos, which would have surely been the case otherwise.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but the quality of the photos Lilia took was stunning. Go on her website (liliaphoto.com) and look at her portfolio for yourself. Our pictures were of an identical quality to anything you see there. She provided us with over 400 of these high quality photos, taken in City Hall and other locations around the city (that you can choose from in advance), and was very efficient in producing them, sending us a selection of about 20 a couple of days after the ceremony and then the rest within a couple of weeks after that.

In closing, we cannot recommend Lilia highly enough. For the service she provided, her price was also very reasonable. The only regret Michelle and I have is that we forgot to get a picture with her in all the excitement, we would certainly have liked to do that as she was such a big part of our day. If you're getting married in the Bay Area and need a photographer, you absolutely will not regret hiring Lilia.

Lilia was amazing on our special SF City Hall wedding day .. She made us feel so comfortable and we were able to be ourselves, which really shows in our pictures we just received. She is very quick to respond to emails and she was also very flexible with a last minute time change we had for the wedding. Thank you so much Lilia for capturing our special moment and for giving us pictures we will treasure for a lifetime!

Lilia is an amazing photographer, need I say more? Oh, okay then...

We eloped from England to San Francisco City Hall and our wedding would not have been the same without Lilia. That's a fact.

Lilia helped us with information on our venue, she took amazing photographs, she was our only guest, and she even shared wedding cake with us.

She turned our photos around quickly so that we could take them home with us, rather than post them, which was really thoughtful. I cannot recommend her enough.

Lila went above and beyond being a photographer and made two awkward people really enjoy their time in front of the camera - our faces were hurting from smiling and laughing so much on the day.

If you're looking for a highly professional photographer who will not make you pose like a stiff and will capture looks you didn't know you had, then Lilia's your gal. Enjoy!

Such an amazing experience! She made us feel so comfortable and we are in love with the photos. I would highly recommend using Lilia for any wedding photo needs.

Lilia was great right from the very beginning. She is super responsive to emails and provides all the right information without being pushy. We had a destination wedding to San Francisco City Hall from Canada and Lilia made it very easy to work out all the details from afar. I met with her in her loft before booking her and she was so warm and welcoming! Closer to our wedding date we had a 45 minute Skype date where she just got to know us a little better (because we couldn't do engagement photos or anything), I felt more like we were old friends than anything professional. Her website was the easiest out of all the vendors that I worked with to work out contracts and payment details. We also came up with a list of formal photos together to make sure we didn't miss anything.
On the day of Lilia was so nice. She was able to get our families to look good without coming off as controlling (it was like herding cats! and I've seen other wedding photographers snap at people before). She helped us pick other shooting locations (because we're not from around SF) and even drove us to and from them. By the end of the day my Hubby was tired and cranky but she still managed to make us look super good! She even dropped my veil off at the restaurant afterwards. Also, as every wedding runs late, and we got stuck in traffic we accidentally went way over the 3 hours... she didn't mind at all and said that she'd rather make sure we got great photos than follow a strict timeline! Oh, and she had water and granola bars for us!! DH was definitely happy about that!
The night of the wedding she emailed me 60 edited photos, then had the rest done exactly 3 weeks after our wedding date! She made a slideshow that we could show our families, as well as an online album space where anyone could download photos from. We then received our DVD with all out photos wrapped beautifully in a leather case.
All of my Mom's work friends said the photos looked like they came out of a magazine!

I planned my wedding at City Hall in San Francisco via the Internet from Georgia. The best decision that I made while planning was choosing Lilia Photography. Lilia was quick to respond with all communication. Lilia arrived early on the day of the ceremony and was a delight to work with. She put my husband and I at ease throughout the whole afternoon. We were thrilled with the photos. Everyone that has seen them can't believe what a wonderful job that she did. If you are planning a wedding, you will be thrilled if you choose Lilia. Her photos speak for themselves, but her demeanor and professionalism are an added bonus. I would highly recommend using Lilia.

Lilia was a blast to work with. We felt so comfortable and laid back thru the day. We laughed and had fun with our session and even worked through a few unforeseen obstacles. She does great work and went out of her to be sure we were completely happy with our pictures. I did the larger package and very glad I did.

Lilia is THE BEST! Lilia and her husband Ray photographed my wedding in Berkeley in October 2010, and shot an engagement session for my husband and me in the Mission in May 2010.

Lilia and Ray's shots are both beautiful and personal. They're really evocative of the tone and spirit of my wedding, which we planned as a non-traditional event. Lilia and Ray did a great job of capturing all the important and traditional events and details throughout the wedding (e.g., dressing, flowers, portraits, service, toasts, first dance, cake cutting). But more importantly, they really show the perspective of time and place -- there's a point of view to most of the shots from the reception that really place the viewer in the thick of the action. This was extremely important to us when choosing a photographer, and Lilia really delivered!

But, almost as important as the product in our experience with Lilia was the interaction. Lilia really made us feel like she understood our needs and struck a nice balance of giving us what we asked for and guiding us towards the best possible way to execute. She was by far the most organized, attentive, and responsive vendor we hired during the long wedding-planning saga, and she always made us feel like she not only had the time for us, but that she actually enjoyed working with us! Lilia is super nice, warm, and enthusiastic, which are all important traits for a photographer. However, she's also smart, thoughtful, and thorough, which are characteristics that are hard to find in any person, no less a wedding vendor.

To be absolutely honest, there wasn't a single moment during our entire interaction with Lilia when we even had the shade of doubt or regret -- she constantly built our trust and delivered with confidence. We have had so many people tell us how beautiful, unique, and artistic both our wedding and engagement photos are. I would not hesitate for a second to recommend Lilia to any friend looking for top-notch event photography with a distinct point of view.

Lilia and her husband Ray took both our engagement photos and, more recently, our bridal portraits. (We would've had them shoot our wedding too, but we had it on the East Coast... although apparently they do destination weddings!) Their shoots are always fun, and Lilia somehow knows how to make you feel natural and comfortable in front of the camera. They listened to our ideas on what sort of feel we wanted in the shoot locations, and based on our conversations, they gave us some good suggestions of places to take the photos. They also genuinely tried to get to know their couples so that they could reflect their personality in the pictures, which I think really comes through. They worked magic with lighting, angles, and creative poses, and we were very pleased with the results. Both our engagement photos and bridal portraits came out gorgeous!!!

Lilia Photography is truly a dream to work with, and they come with our highest recommendation.

I'm a designer and love photography myself, so trying to find a great photographer for an important event like my wedding was tough. I came across two problems: 1. the best photographers were too darn expensive, and 2. the inexpensive ones didn't have the greatest photos, well to me they didn't. UNTIL I randomly found Lilia Photograpy on one of those bridal list links. First & foremost, it's all about presentation and after looking through her website I knew I had to give her a call. I figured, if I was a professional photographer, I would definitely create my website just as she did (design concept, fonts, colors, etc.). There was an instant liking I took with her style, and especially her price! My husband and I met with her for the first time at her office/home and knew just by meeting her and talking with her AND by the look in her home (similar decor taste to ours = unique/funky/dark/urban/awesome haha) we were sold on the spot. Lilia Photography is actually two people, an awesome married couple Lilia and Ray Ahner. They were like ghosts in black attire on the day of the wedding taking photos and not getting in the way. I've seen friends who've gotten married and had photographers that were very demanding and sometimes rude just to get a shot, but Lilia & Ray were real and just the opposite which is very important on your wedding day. Also, their shots were of course GREAT!! I wish there were more detailed shots of the ceremony and reception, but they definitely took many of the important ones very beautifully which is what matters the most. We would highly reccommend these two to take photos at your wedding. These guys rock!