We are so happy that we hired Maria for our engagement shoot and wedding day! She was so kind, organized and communicative from the very beginning. She made us find our families feel so comfortable while taking photos. She really listened to everything we wanted and crafted such beautiful photographs! Thank you so much Maria! We definitely recommend her for wedding and all other photography needs!

Maria was a punctual, professional and a calming presence at our elopement. Most importantly though, she captured our wedding with immersive photographs that provided a window into that moment for our own memories as well as for the multitude of friends and family who were not present.

Maria was absolutely amazing and I couldn't imagine our wedding day without her. Due to COVID-19, we downsized our wedding and had to find a photographer on short notice. Maria was extremely easy to work and quickly helped us put together a plan for the day.

On our wedding day, she knew exactly what to do, and helped put both us, our families, and our guests at ease—and we all had so much fun with her! And the pictures are amazing!

Maria is one of our favorite people we worked with for our wedding in September. We really appreciated that she took the time to talk with us over the phone about who we are to get a better idea of the type of photos we wanted. It may come as a surprise to some, but we have no modeling experience, and we quickly found photo shoots are awkward! But Maria made everything easy, light-hearted, and fun. Her photos for everything from the engagement shoot to the wedding are amazing. She has an incredible talent for capturing candid moments and making the staged photos look and feel natural. On the day of the wedding, Maria was calm and very organized. We were able to get all of the photos we wanted with the wedding party/family and barely missed any of our cocktail hour after the ceremony. She even sent us a link to a dozen or so photos the next morning! Her prices are incredibly fair and she worked quickly to release our photos. The only problem now is since all the photos are so great, choosing our favorites for prints is near impossible. Thank you for everything, Maria!

My husband, Rob, and I have been married for a little over a month now and since then, we've reflected on everything from our Sonoma wedding -- all the parts we loved about, things we wish we could change, relatives we wished we didn't invite... but above all else, we are over the moon to have had the privilege of sharing our day with Maria.

From our very first intro phone call, Maria was everything we were looking for in a photographer. She was friendly, direct, professional, and had an amazing sense of humor that made us feel comfortable immediately. She had wonderful way of sharing her ideas and thoughts without pushing a specific style or direction on to us that made us feel confident in our decisions. I recall during the conversation that she had been the only vendor to have asked Rob what he envisioned for our big day, what he wanted, how we met, and how he would describe our style. Though small, that really stood out to us and during the call, Rob and I looked at each other and with a collective 'yeah, let's do this' and booked her immediately.

We never though an engagement session would be in the cards for us, but Maria took us out of our comfort zone and gave us a day in Point Reyes we will never forget. I look at our engagement photos basically on a weekly basis and think about how far Rob and I have come from that day, but to also remember what an awesome day that was getting to know Maria and feeling comfortable in front of her camera. If you're like me and feel like an engagement session is too extragravant or not a must-have, I urge you to reconsider. It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know Maria, feeling good with our poses, learning our angles (trying to, at least), and honestly, is a really fun thing to do together amongst all the planning.

As our wedding was in Sonoma in October, there were threats of power outages (thankfully, we were all clear) and Maria had texted me a few days prior to share encouragement and let me know it was all going to be okay. I was so moved by that and it meant so much to have her looking out for us. On the day of our wedding, Maria was everything and we could not imagine that day without her there. She made us both calm and grounded amidst the chaos and nerves of the day, never losing sight at how big of a moment this was and made us, our families, and friends all feel so beautiful.

This woman, though, does not stop. Shortly after our wedding, Sonoma was once again under the threat of more power outages (insert expletive about PG&E here). As Maria lives near the area, her family had to evacuate. Before I could even reach out, she let me know that the evacuation would not delay her process and had all of our photos everything backed on to a hard drive. I mean! I can't even.

Our photos came out stunning, from our pre-ceremony shots, to dancing photos and everything in between. Our pre-ceremony portrait session was honestly such a highlight from the day and I am so glad she suggested doing a first look (seriously, DO IT!) because the lighting was magic and it was a blessing to have the time to do it all before the reception began. These photos are memories we will cherish forever and ones I can't wait to show our future family (I'm not normally this sappy, but this is seriously how talented Maria is). Since the wedding, Rob and I have loved every minute looking back on it all but more than once we've asked - Can we hang out with Maria again? Thank you for everything!

Maria was an excellent photographer and so easy to work with. We booked well in advance and got a free engagement session out of it--we weren't planning on engagement photos but are so glad we got them. not only did we get some lovely photos, but we got an opportunity to work with Maria which was helpful for the day of. Maria is so incredibly organized, i loved that everything was done online. she sent us a questionnaire in advance of the wedding day asking about all of our families names, relationships etc that made everything go smoothly. we were worried about the amount of family portraits putting a drag on the day, but she bossed everyone around (in her chill, friendly manner) and got those done in a flash! Her photos are absolutely beautiful, and she captured little details and put everyone at ease. She even helped with keeping our schedule between the getting ready-first look-ceremony, which took place at three different locations. She has great energy and is low key! I 100% recommend her, especially if you're not totally sure how you feel about having a photographer follow you around on one of the most emotional, busy, amazing, stressful days of your life. I uploaded photos she took of our engagement session, because i don't have the wedding photos yet--it's only been two weeks since the wedding. I have seen a preview though and they are GORGEOUS!

MARIA. IS. THE. BEST.  Seriously.

I knew that chemistry would be critical to how we decided on our photographer. From our first call with Maria, through engagement photos, to our sweaty goodbye at the end of the wedding night, Maria has always felt like a friend who we just knew our whole lives and just happened to be capturing these special moments for us. Her ability to put us at ease, make us laugh, and appreciate OUR terrible jokes, all of it made her able to create and photograph all the moments that we will so appreciate years from now. 

Within a couple days of our wedding, she provided a hefty sneak peek of over 30 photos, all of which are perfection. My friends were shocked at how quick the turnaround was...it's not typical to get photos so quickly. Maria has always been quick in her work, and always so caring and responsive. 

I can't stress this enough- if you want phenomenal photos of your special day (wedding, engagement, party, etc), you will not be let down by Maria. She is talented, fun, and a genuine badass who has a forever place in our hearts. 

Thank you, Maria. 

-Allison and Travis

Maria is just that good. She is extremely talented, fun, and easy to work with and we could not be happier with our photos and experiences with her! Such a plus that she is also just a wonderful person to be around, she made a huge impact on us and we think about her often.

She is professional, incredibly engaging and warm, and has the ability to put you at ease immediately and feel confident that she will capture all the feels. She is responsive, flexible, and has excellent attention to detail.

Our engagement and wedding photos made us cry, her work is absolutely fabulous and no element or emotion from our wedding was missed, we could never have imagined how much joy her photos could bring us. She builds connections in a very special way, letting you feel no burden of cameras and forced poses, allowing us to just enjoy and be in love. To receive a few sneak peeks right after the wedding was also such a treat.

We are thrilled to have experienced the magic of Maria, and more thrilled to be leaving this review for her in hopes that others will also make the best decision like we did and partner with this special talent.

Working with Maria was such a great experience and easily the best decision my (now) husband and I made for our wedding. We decided to get married with only a few months to prepare and one of our top priorities was to get the best photographer. We wanted classic timeless photos that played on lighting and searched for a photographer who could capture the emotion and atmosphere of our special day. Thankfully Maria just happened to be available on that date.

Maria and I hit it right off from our very first phone conversation and by the time we actually met it felt like we’d known each other for years. She promptly returned phone calls/emails and was available to discuss our expectations or answer any questions/concerns we may have had every step of the way. Having a wedding in your own backyard is a lot of work so to alleviate wedding day stress Maria suggested we use our romantic session to take wedding photos prior to our wedding date - that was the best idea! We were worried we would be nervous and awkward during the romantic session but she put us right at ease and it was easy, fun, and romantic. On our wedding day Maria arrived well prepared and the day transitioned seamlessly; we barely even knew she was there, she blended in so well with our guests!

We recently received our wedding photos and we absolutely love them! They capture the day in ways we never could have imagined. Every image is beautiful and full of emotion; they give us a chance to relive our special day. Maria is authentic, professional, and works magic with lighting! We highly recommend finding a reason to work with her and we hope we have an opportunity to do so again in the future!

I typically do not leave reviews, but in this case I simply had to. I cannot say enough good things about Maria Villano Photography. While planning our destination wedding in Napa Valley, we shortlisted Maria from her great reviews and her beautiful sample photos. From our first contact Maria was the consummate professional. She was very responsive and very helpful, and answered any and all questions that we had. She made sure that we felt comfortable prior to signing the contract. The contract process and payment was easy, efficient and very reasonable!!! Maria even reached out personally to make sure any and all requests for photos, or ideas that I had were incorporated into her work. On the day of the wedding, Maria was a godsend. She guided my husband, me and our guests through the day seamlessly, and captured beautiful candid moments, as well as gorgeous formal shots. She made all of us feel very comfortable at every step of the process, and we couldn't be happier with the final product!!!! I highly recommend Maria Villano Photography for any special event.