If you are looking for a wedding photographer, look no further than Maya. We hired Maya to capture our wedding and I am so thankful we found her. During the inquiry and set up process, communication was effortless and professional. She was responsive to questions and had a clear guide on how the planning process works. We loved that her pricing included travel from San Diego to Santa Barbara, as well as a free engagement shoot. Maya had good insight into where our engagement shoot should (or shouldn't be) and was easy going when we suggested a place she hadn't shot before. The day of the engagement shoot felt like hanging out with a close friend. She made the experience fun and memorable. Nick and I aren't super comfortable in front of a camera, but she worked with us and gave us natural poses. The turn around time on the engagement shoot was super fast! Not the mention the previews we received within 24 hours. These photos are something out of a fairy tale. She captured the emotions and visuals beyond any of my expectations. I seriously need to invest in a digital frame because I cannot pick just one or two of these photos to hang in my home. Fast forward to our wedding day. Maya showed up to the first location early. She was a calming presence in an otherwise chaotic morning. She needed very little direction on what needed to be shot, besides the location of the detail items. I let her work her magic and trusted everything would come out amazing. After the ceremony, I was tired, physically and emotionally but Maya managed this so well. She helped us navigate the competition for photoshoot locations in the busy SB courthouse. She then helped me bustle my complicated dress and took the stroll with us to the reception site. Her and her second shooter, Nia, did an amazing job of navigating traffic while we took pictures in the middle of state street. And Nia helped us wrangle family members needed to specific shots. Nia and Maya brought such a balanced energy to the event. I am writing this review early, as my wedding was only a week ago, but the previews I received (again within 24 hours) brought me and my family to tears. The moments she managed to capture will be treasured forever. There's one photo in particular of me hugging my Uncle right after the ceremony, who I'm very close with, but don't have many photos with. This will forever be framed in my heart. The pictures of me and Nick cutting the cake look like they belong in Vogue! Anyways, you need Maya as your wedding photographer. Besides marrying Nick, hiring Maya was the best decision I could have made for our wedding.

Maya is truly the best wedding photographer you can possibly book - I met her when she shot my sister's wedding a few years ago, and she made such a great impression with her friendly, kind, calm demeanor and beautiful photos. I was so lucky to win an engagement shoot with her a few months after getting engaged myself, and as soon as we got our sneak peeks (I think.. 5 hours later?! Incredibly fast!) we knew we needed her as our wedding photographer too. My now-husband and I are super awkward behind the camera, but Maya made us feel so comfortable and gave us plenty of suggestions on how to pose that felt natural.

We wound up having to reschedule our wedding to a few months later, and Maya was the first person we contacted - I refused to book a day she wouldn't be available for - and she was so easy and accommodating in switching us to the new date.

Fast forward to our wedding last month in Indio, and I can not sing Maya's praises enough. She showed up early, brought a second shooter, and was the perfect friendly face to spend all day with. She got through family portraits quickly, worked with all our various ideas, and captured every magical moment of the day perfectly. Our timeline ran so late and behind schedule, and Maya was so easygoing and stayed until she felt like she got all the pictures.

We got our sneak peeks less than 24 hours later, and our full gallery a month after the wedding - which is incredibly impressive considering how much footage I'm sure she had to work with. My husband and I were in tears reliving the best day of our lives through her lens and I can't begin to put into words how much her pictures have meant to us. She captured all the smiles and tears and got footage of so many of our close friends and family that we will cherish forever.

Don't hesitate for a second to book Maya! I can't wait to book her for maternity and family shoots in the future, or use really any excuse to work with her!

ENGAGEMENT + WEDDING + MATERNITY

Maya is the most talented and professional photographer I have ever met. I hired Maya in 2016 to do our engagement photos in Palm Springs, CA which turned out so beautiful. Honestly... I am very awkward at getting my photo taken, but she made us feel relaxed and comfortable by politely guiding us on different poses to use. I was so impressed and thankful for that, because we had so many great photos that came from our session.

She went on to do our entire wedding photos in Temecula, CA in 2017. She captured every moment that I had envisioned and asked for, which was important because we had many family members and friends who flew out to be at our wedding. I was so stressed out that day, but she was extremely patient, calm, and helpful. I still look back at our wedding photos and think about how lucky we were to have found her to capture this special time in our lives.

When my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child in 2020, we had moved to Denver, Colorado. We knew we wanted to reach out to Maya again to see if she would be interested in taking our maternity photos. Then COVID happened. We contacted Maya unsure if she would be able to come out to Colorado, as my Dr. strongly recommended me to stay local and not travel during these strange times. Maya was quick in her response to let us know her availability, and was extremely understanding, affordable, and accommodating in the event we would need to reschedule due to unforeseen circumstances.

Luckily, everything worked out perfectly. She was so easy to work with, like usual, which was even more appreciated as I was finishing my degree in school while also trying to prepare for our babies arrival. We just had our maternity shoot here in CO and received some sneak peak photos and I immediately started (happy) crying when I saw them. This has been such a challenging time for my husband and I, and to see how amazing these photos turned out - I truly cannot express how grateful I am to have them. Especially because none of my family has gotten to see me, or celebrate in person my pregnancy, sending them these photos were just as emotional for them, too.

We are forever grateful for Maya and I hope this review expresses what an amazing photographer she is. If you are looking for an experienced, dependable, and overall wonderful human being to capture a special moment in your life - please consider Maya. Thank you Maya!

I could not recommend Maya Lora Photo enough!! Choosing to work with Maya was honestly the easiest and best decision we made for our wedding. After getting engaged to my fiancé, I had been shamelessly stalking Maya’s photos on Instagram for a few months and was in love with her photography style, so I knew exactly who I wanted to reach out to when it came time to start contacting vendors! We ended up going with a package that included both engagement and wedding photos; it made so much sense to have the same photographer for both so that we could get to know each other before the big day! We took our engagement photos in Joshua Tree when the weather was freeezinggg but Maya recommended some great shooting locations and had no problem braving the colder temps and driving all the way out from OC to meet us! It was so windy and I was convinced there would be 0 decent photos of us, but when Maya delivered the photos I was shocked to see how many beautiful shots she was able to capture in those conditions! We honestly loved every single one of them and it was so hard to decide which photo to use for our save the dates.

I could also not say enough good things about Maya’s team on our wedding day. I was (needless to say) a total wreck with stress the morning of, but Maya and her team made everything so easy and I was able to relax knowing I was in such capable hands! Maya had recommended that we take some time for couples portraits during sunset, and I'm so thankful we did!! Our photographer/videographer team was so much fun and took all the stress out of the day - those are honestly some of the moments we remember most.

Beyond that, I was so impressed how quickly Maya delivered our beautifully edited photos, and I’m still in awe of how she captured us so perfectly on that day. Maya was everything we could ask for in a photographer and more, and we couldn’t imagine having worked with anyone else!

If you are reading this review, then you are exactly where my now wife and I were nearly a year ago. Overwhelmed by all that we had gotten ourselves into planning a wedding. I had no idea who to hire for any of it. How to tell the different providers apart and who we could trust to do a good job. There are certainly no shortage of vendors that are all vying for the business. A lot were easy to discard but then there’s the 4 or 5 that you narrow it down to after looking at their work, their track record and their reviews. I have nothing invested in this review beyond reaching out to someone who is where I was and saying that this is the person you WANT doing your wedding photos.
Maya met us weeks before the ceremony with our coordinator and walked through the venue with us to preview what she would do with it. She took time to get to know my wife and I and what we were like so that she could translate that to how she approached the project. Bottom line is that she really cares about her clients and her work. There’s no pretension here. Some of the people I talked to had an off putting arrogance about their photography. She lets her work do the bragging.
The day of the wedding she totally outdid herself!! It is so hectic, and it is obviously the culmination of such a massive amount of planning and stress. Maya handles it like a real pro. She gets her shots and is able to move around and capture everything without being specifically conspicuous if that makes sense. She was able to wrangle everyone to be where they need to be and get the photos that YOU WILL WANT when its all said and done. She does this without being a drill sergeant or overbearing about it which I found to be pretty impressive. She has an unhurried relaxed way about her that sincerely makes all the difference in the thick of things. When she took my wife and I aside for all of our couple’s pics she not only made it fun, but her direction yielded some really flattering shots that I am very proud to share and display. She makes you look good!
I hate big long novels for reviews so I will wrap it up but I could go on. Everything was so above what I expected that I couldn’t say enough. Maya captured the vibe of our wedding in a way that is just incredible to revisit through her pictures. The angles, the content, the framing all SO well done. It is obvious that she is skilled in her craft and that she takes time, personal care, attention to detail, and pride in her work and in her edits.
I am sincerely grateful that we had Maya with us on our wedding day. She is such a sweet person and a KICK ASS photographer! I don’t review unless its really GOOD or really BAD. Do yourself a favor and try to hire Maya for your wedding day. It’s the best decision we made.

My husband and I are completely floored by the talent Maya has! She has such an eye for detail and can make you look good in ANY lighting, rain or shine (it rained at our wedding!). My husband used to do wedding photography himself and even HE can't believe how good Maya is at what she does!

Not only is Maya talented, but she is sweet, humble, and personable -- working with her felt like hanging out with a friend (which is great because she makes you feel so comfortable in front of the camera)! We LOVED meeting her in person during our engagement shoot and truly felt as though she was a close friend by the day of our wedding!

Maya is an amazing person through and through. She WANTS the best for her clients, going ABOVE and BEYOND to make sure they are happy with her work! When we first sat down to plan our wedding, we KNEW wedding photos were the ONE thing we would not compromise on. Thank goodness we found Maya! She was HANDS DOWN the best decision we made for our wedding -- our wedding pictures are beyond perfection and we will cherish them for so many years to come.

My husband and I plan on recommending her to all our friends because we KNOW good photogs are hard to come by! Thank you, thank you, thank you Maya!

We truly feel like we hit the jackpot with Maya. She is everything you could want in a vendor; professional, super sweet and ubbbber talented! We felt like she was our oldest friend just hanging out with us during our elopement. She took charge of the day which allowed us to focus on the magic. Our photos are so breathtaking and everyone who sees them can’t get over them. She completely captured our essence as a couple! We feel so lucky that we had a PERFECT fit for what we considered THE most important choice for our big day. To feel so at peace with cherishing these photos for the rest of our lives is a great feeling. We recommend her to everyone!!! Thank you so much Maya! You are the best!! We love you!

Where do I even begin with Maya- she is just absolutely exceptional. My husband and I were fortunate enough to hire her for our wedding after choosing her simply from loving how beautiful her photos were on Instagram. After doing an engagement session with Maya and her photographing our wedding, she practically feels like a member of the family now! She is professional, creative and honestly just the biggest joy to work with. We always laugh the whole time- and Maya never fails to capture the best moments of it. And she’s so artistic- the tones she uses on her photos make me feel like I walked off the page of a magazine. Maya will forever be our only option for capturing our most important memories.

Maya is the ABSOLUTE best photographer I have ever met. After an engagement shoot with another photographer who I was very unhappy with, I found Maya! Maya puts so much time and effort into getting to know the couple and finding out exactly how they want their day and pictures to look. Maya did both our engagement photos and our wedding photos and I am in awe of them everyday. There is no one more talented, calm, and professional as Maya is. We find a friend in her and we would never go to anyone other than her. We can't wait to share more memories with her exceptional talent. Thank you Maya. We love you!

Maya captured our intimate Yosemite elopment in the most stunning way! As a camera shy couple, she enabled us to be our playful selves and have the comfort level normally found with a friend. Additionally, she was incredibly professional and flexible in working with us! We do not hesitate to recommend her to family and friends!