I found Valerie on Instagram, and was immediately impressed with her work and website. I reached out and heard back quickly, we chatted about what our vibe was and we loved her enthusiasm and energy. We had an engagement shoot with her and had a great time. We loved the pictures and the experience. The day of the wedding she was so great! Capturing everything, helping us stay on track, working with other vendors, and having an amazing attitude and personality all day. We really wish we were San Diego locals so we could use her for every photo need! She was kind enough to send us a sneak peek just a week later of a few of our top photos, and they are stunning!! We cant wait to see the full album, and continue to recommend her to anyone who asks!

Valerie was the best as our wedding photographer. I was so out of it the day of and ill-prepared for the get-ready photos and detail shots. She was so patient with me, and when I handed her my second pair of shoes that I last second remembered, she just fawned over them rather than being frustrated that she would have to retake the detail photos. I also made things difficult with my wedding dress! My dress was a body suit and a detachable skirt. Trying to get a hanging shot of it was a challenge. But it was a challenge that Valerie rose to. She made it work and found a way to make the two pieces hang like a normal dress. Valerie made the very awkward posed photos into fun mini sessions and was able to get me out of my head. She had our back the entire day and had no qualms with putting people in check when she had to. She scouted out the perfect first-look spot for us in Balboa Park and set it up so well. We couldn't be happier with our experience with her.

Valerie is truly the BEST! She shot my brother-in-law’s wedding and produced the most stunning photos. We have recommended her to others and they were amazed with her work and professionalism. She goes above and beyond the duties of a photographer (my brother in law had a tear in his suit pants before walking down the aisle, and she was there with a needle and thread fixing it for him!!) No joke. She has also taken photos for me at a 4th of July party and we loved every.single.image! She is also a blast to work with and makes you feel super comfortable.
My wedding has been postponed due to COVID-19 and all I cared about was making sure she was available for whatever date we rescheduled to. Can’t wait to have her photograph more special occasions to come!

My wife and I are not comfortable in front of a camera, but Valerie knew exactly what to do to make us comfortable and to capture our personalities in each photo. We started with her at an engagement shoot and were so glad we did, so we knew exactly what to expect day of the wedding. Valerie is able to get people to pay attention to her and keep things moving. Highly recommend!

We hired Valerie based on a recommendation from our friends who had just gotten married, as well as the videographer we hired who told us she was extremely easy to work with and very talented. She did not disappoint! Valerie came out for not one, but TWO engagement sessions included in our package, because the first day was extremely foggy and we wanted beach shots. Despite the fog, she directed us to an alternate location and still managed to get lots of amazing shots. She scheduled a second date to get our beach shots, which were also so difficult to choose between to use as a Save the Date!

From the start Valerie has been extremely easy to work with, flexible and really knew how to make us feel confident and comfortable, when we really didn't have any experience in front of a camera! She listened to our vision and totally rocked it.

The day of the wedding she doubled as an extra bridesmaid, and wedding coordinator. She dragged my train around and helped me get the stupid buttons on in the back of my dress because she's had more experience with that than anyone in my bridal party and we were in a time crunch. She was running around everywhere making sure she got every shot we wanted, and doing it in an efficient and calm way. She kept everything rolling. We just got our "sneak peak" shots, less than two weeks after our wedding, and they're absolutely amazing. She killed it. She was also amazing with our dog and baby during our family shots. We are so extremely grateful for her and would highly recommend her! Thank you so much, Valerie!

Our photography was very flexible in driving up from San Diego to our wedding venue in Newport at 8am to capture my wife and her bridesmaids getting ready. She came with a back up shooter and both were very professional and did such an amazing job capturing our special day. As a photographer I was pretty picky with who I chose to photograph my wedding but Pai Photography impressed my wife and I. She was so great at getting our bridal party and guests comfortable and setting up the family photos. We're very happy with our results and you will be as well. Value = they are definitely worth more than they charged. www.paiphotography.com or valerie@paiphotography

Valerie has this special skill where the more I look at the photos she took for our engagement and wedding, the more I love it. We are really happy with how our photos turned out. Valerie is also very witty and has a style of humor where she's super quirky, but in a good way that makes you feel less shy and self conscious when you're taking photos and more willing to express your true self during the photoshoot. Her rate is also incredibly reasonable and competitive!

Besides being an awesome photographer, Valerie is also really great in helping you with bridesmaid tasks during the wedding. This includes helping you with bustling your dress, carrying your gown train around, securing your veil to the back of your head, or pining boutonnières on for your parents/wedding party members. I was especially grateful for her in doing all the boutonnière pinnings as I had no idea how to do that and definitely did not want the added stress of trying to figure it out on the day of.

One tip that I suggest when taking your engagement or wedding photos is to have some ideas of poses you want or have a list of the specific sites you want to take pictures at your wedding venue. I regret not doing this as, after the wedding, we realized there were a couple places we wish we had taken more photos at. Additionally, our wedding photos had many similar poses sprinkled throughout and I wish I had researched/looked at more wedding photos in general to get ideas of what other poses we could've done. However, considering how much details are involved in weddings, these are sort of just "cherry on the top" stuff which would've been nice to have but aren't deal breakers. Valerie will definitely not miss any defining wedding moments for you. You can rest assured that she will capture all your wedding highlights without fail!