We could not have asked for a better photographer to capture our special day. From our initial interactions to post-wedding gallery delivery, she has been thoughtful, organized, professional, and supportive. We met in person with Melissa, per her suggestion, prior to booking her for our fall 2023 engagement photos and it really helped set her apart. It’s sometimes hard to feel comfortable being photographed by a stranger but Melissa put us at ease from that initial meeting. She took the time to get to know us, our story, and our shared interests so it could show through during our sessions. She strikes the perfect balance of candid style shots with prompting for certain poses when needed or providing guidance but still letting us feel like ourselves. We absolutely loved how our engagement photos turned out and couldn’t wait for her to capture our wedding. She reached out ahead of time with guidance, potential timelines, and recommended groupings for family photos. She took such care to make sure the day was exactly how we wanted it and that no detail was unaccounted for, including meeting with us prior to the wedding to discuss when certain shots (first look, portraits, family photos, etc) would fit best into our timeline for the day. On the day of our wedding, Melissa arrived early and we felt very confident in her ability to execute our vision for the day and keep things on track. All our friends and family that interacted with her or asked her to grab a photo throughout the day were so complimentary of her. We had a videographer that she even reached out to ahead of time to make sure that they were both able to capture what they needed to in the time that we had available before and after the ceremony. Following the wedding, her delivery of the “sneak peeks” was prompt and we LOVED them. Well, this week we received the rest of the gallery and we are OBSESSED! Melissa works so hard to tell the story of the day and makes an effort to capture a lot of of the guests at the wedding, not just the wedding party or immediate family. Melissa is personable, communicative, organized, thoughtful, and talented. So if you’re still looking for your wedding photographer, look no further!

From the first encounter, we knew Melissa was the perfect photographer to capture our big occasion. She is highly professional, responsive, and friendly throughout. We looked for a photographer who has the artistic skill and personal touch to ensure an experience which is comfortable and a result which is excellent - she delivered on both! Along with her second shooter, Ashley, Melissa captured a ton of fantastic photos for a very reasonable fee. We felt so confident in her work we actually decided to forgo a videographer and have no regrets. She comes highly recommended from this couple.

When my (now) husband and I were looking for a photographer for our wedding, we wanted to find someone who's style/pictures we loved, and also someone that we got along well with. Melissa brought all of that and more to our engagement shoot, wedding day, and all of the planning leading up to the wedding day. She was organized and took the time to really get to know us, which came through in all of our wedding pictures. She created a VERY helpful timeline, and made sure to capture all important groupings of friends/family on our wedding day. Most importantly, she made us feel extremely comfortable in front of the camera. We don't love getting pictures taken of us, but Melissa helped to guide us in a natural way, and helped to make sure that we not only felt comfortable, but that we had fun throughout the photo taking as well. I am so happy to have had Melissa with us on our wedding day! She has a client for life - we are already talking about having her take pictures of our extended family when we eventually get a dog :) Thank you again Melissa - and to all brides searching for a wedding photographer, you are in excellent hands if you choose to go with Melissa!

I absolutely would recommend Melissa Palka Photography! The experience we had with Melissa on our wedding day, and throughout the whole process of planning, engagement photos, and everything else was 10/10!!! Our photos came out even better than I had imagined. Melissa is so creative and really took the reigns and made us feel so comfortable getting our photos taken. The photos she took came out beautifully and really captured us as a couple without feeling too posed. Not only are her photos amazing but she is very gifted at directing and taking charge - she made sure everything was planned out, running on time, and going smoothly. We loved working with Melissa!

Melissa was such a joy to work with for our engagement photos and our courthouse wedding. I am not very comfortable with taking photos (I don't take pictures of myself often), but Melissa made it so comfortable that I thought I was good at posing for photos! Haha. Melissa always comes prepared, knowing all the best spots to take the photos. And the pictures came out BEAUTIFUL! We took our engagement and courthouse wedding photos in Maryland, but we are having our wedding ceremony in New York City. We booked Melissa instead of going with a local NYC photographer because we love working with her so much. We will definitely reach out to Melissa for any other photo needs in the future!

My husband and I are in the process of adopting from foster care and are creating a photobook for our potential child. We wanted to show pictures of ourselves in our home, in a more casual way, instead of all of our formal photos. Melissa did such a great job of capturing us, our home, and our pets looking natural. I was afraid it would be awkward, but Melissa just talked to us, or directed as needed, and we felt completely at ease which translated to great photos. She was thoughtful in how we would be using these photos, very communicative, and made a great experience. I would highly recommend and definitely plan to use her for family photo sessions in the future!!

I booked Melissa for a surprise proposal. She was incredible from start to finish! Melissa was both helpful and insightful about planning which was much appreciated. She made several suggestions that truly helped make this a success. The images themselves are beautiful -- they blew us and our families away. Melissa made the portraits following the engagement absolutely seamless and definitely fun! I am so glad to have been able to work with Melissa through this process and now, as a newly engaged couple, we are very excited to continue working with Melissa for more events milestones to come.

My fiance and I got engagement photos with Melissa here in DC for our destination wedding. We were very specific in what we wanted (sunrise at the monuments in DC) but for everything else, Melissa was a wealth of knowledge. During our meet and greet, she asked purposeful questions about our wedding planning, what we envisioned for the photos, what we were planning on using the engagement photos for, and so on. After the meet and greet, she had us sign a straight-forward contract (no googling if something was weird in the contract or not) and then sent us a very long questionnaire to get to know us better and know what we wanted (and didn't!) with our photos.

Prior to our shoot, there were hiccups - the park service permitting system is An Experience to Deal With, there were forecasted storms, there was a surprise event being set up that completely hid the Lincoln Memorial with scaffolding, and there were more runners than you ever expect at 6:30am. But Melissa made us feel cool and comfortable; she told us exactly what to do, where to look, what to do with our hands; she even asked permission each time before going over and adjusting my hair or fingers or something. I appreciated that she respected my autonomy and made us look great without feeling like dolls being moved around. She is great to talk with, and she made the shoot go by so fast.

The only things I would improve upon are things I didn't know to mention until we got our photos back - most of the photos are vertical, when our website (where we're hosting most of the images) wants horizontal; most of the photos one of us is gazing away, and so there's only so many photos of us posed looking straight on; and there are a LOT of kissing photos (which I'm less likely to use for a Save the Date to send to my granny). Those aside, all of which I didn't even know to mention until after I got the photos back, I'm sure she would have adjusted prior to the shoot had I mentioned in the questionnaire. I know this because there were things I mentioned in the questionnaire I didn't like, and she never even brought them up.

All in all, I'm really happy with our engagement photos and I would certainly use Melissa if I was getting married locally. She made us look great and feel great, and after our shoot with her it made being engaged feel Actually Real.

Melissa was absolutely AMAZING to work with for our engagement photos and our wedding - could not recommend her enough!! My husband and I aren't very comfortable taking photos or being the center of attention, but Melissa immediately put us at ease and we had so much fun working with her. She went above and beyond in terms of communicating with us, helping to plan our timeline, scoping out our venue for good photo places - she even showed up an hour earlier than scheduled to get set up and make sure everything would run smoothly. I'm obsessed with our photos, and looking at them never fails to make me smile - she captured one of the happiest days of our lives in such a beautiful timeless fashion. Our family and friends were so impressed with how efficient, kind, and talented she was throughout the day. At the end of our wedding night I could not stop gushing to her about how lucky we were to have found her - she is the wedding photographer of every couple's dreams! So excited for her to continue on in this business - I would absolutely recommend her to anyone getting married in the area and will 100% reach out to her for any special future photo needs.

You are going to have a long term relationship with your wedding photographer, so it better be someone awesome, professional, cool under pressure, and really committed to the customer experience. Melissa embodies all of these qualities and is truly the consummate professional who caters to the luxury client.

I met Melissa at a photography workshop and had the pleasure of working with her throughout the week. She consistently demonstrated mastery of her artistic craft, vast experience working through complex wedding situations, and took extra time to mentor less-seasoned photographers. I would book her in a heartbeat to capture my love story in an elevated, artful manner.