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Weddings

Darlene Stewart Photography Reviews

Darlene Stewart Photography

Darlene Stewart Photography

Spanaway, WA
4.4 out of 5 rating, 5 Reviews
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Reviews

4.4 out of 5 rating
5 Reviews
  • Quality of service
    4.4 out of 5 rating
  • Average response time
    4.8 out of 5 rating
  • Professionalism
    4 out of 5 rating
  • Value
    4.4 out of 5 rating
  • Flexibility
    4.2 out of 5 rating
100% Recommended by couples

Awards

5
  • K
    Kaitlyn N. Sent on 07/29/2021
    5 out of 5 rating
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      5.0 out of 5 rating

    Darlene is amazing!!

    Darlene was extremely accommodating and flexible. She helped us adjust the package to be perfect for our needs. She was sure to ask multiple times if I was satisfied with the amount of shots, poses, etc.
    Covid threw a whole wrench in our plans and Darlene did our last minute planned, first ceremony in an hour! She still managed to come up with 200+ beautiful memories captured.
    Our sequel wedding the next year, she was amazing in making sure we got every last detail we wanted. She paid attention to family dynamics and was so patient while people in the wedding party were late. She even helped me calm down.
    When my feet were sore after photos, her and her husband took me up to the venue just to be courteous.
    I couldn't recommend her enough.
  • T
    Tiffany Sent on 01/18/2019
    5 out of 5 rating
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    Best photographer in the Tacoma and surrounding area!

    I didn't realize I haven't left a review here! Darlene is amazing so much so we bought a lifetime package for all our future family photos. I was your normal anxiety ridden bride if not more so. Darlene and her husband helped me with my timeline to maximize their time at the venue. She dealt with uncooperative wedding party for me, it was similar to herding cats, and stayed professional throughout. They knew exactly how to photograph perfectly for our venue choice and everything was amazing.
  • L
    Laura Sent on 05/28/2016
    5 out of 5 rating
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    No other local photographer can compare to her awesome quality pictures nor her unbeatable price. She works with you directly and makes sure you are the center of the universe.
  • illustration stars

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  • User855088 Sent on 07/07/2012
    4.8 out of 5 rating
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    Darlene did a great job at our reception. We communicated through Facebook most of the time and she was always very quick to respond. She was accommodating when I wanted to add extra hours. Her prices are much better then any of the big name photographers. We got a 3 cds of photos, originals and edited, and rights to them all. I pretty much let her take any photos she wanted since we had posed pictures taken at ceremony in vegas. I was very happy with the pictures that she took. She got lots of the decor, guests, dancing and of course us. My only complaint would be that she could have looked a little more professional at the reception.
  • Molly
    Molly Sent on 07/19/2019
    2 out of 5 rating
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    Bad attitude

    My wedding was definitely on a budget, so Darlene's prices appealed to me. I didn't want engagement photos so she let me add that hour into our wedding day. I hired her for a total of 9 hours.
    When we got to the venue, she was on time, dressed appropriately, and seemed nice, until the groom was late.
    She made comments such as "Someone needs to light a fire under his butt" referring to the guys. Even though our coordinator had the situation under control, Darlene felt she needed to insert her comments in, constantly, to everyone, including my makeup artist, which ultimately just stressed everyone out. It got so bad that my wedding coordinator had to take her to the side and tell her to cool it.
    The pictures after the ceremony with the wedding turned out absolutely beautiful. Darlene and her husband have a talent, for sure, but my goodness, the attitude the WHOLE TIME. We had a girl that was a part of our coordinator's team that would occasionally give suggestions for cute pictures. EVERY TIME it was met with a snarky "I'm getting to that" or "I know"
    I, as the bride, felt scared to bring up any suggestions.
    So the night goes on, dancing starts, and Darlene literally sat down and stopped taking pictures. Just sat there. I didn't notice this because I was just dancing my tail off, but 5 people, FIVE PEOPLE, came up to me to tell me that my photographer just stopped taking pictures.
    For my wedding, Darlene brought her husband to help her. Our send-off was scheduled for 10, and around 9 he approached me asking if my send-off was going to be early. This, honestly, made me feel like my wedding was boring, my guests didn't want to be there, and that I had failed. I ended up crying in the bathroom on my wedding day.
    Thank goodness my coordinator stepped in and cheered me up.
    She ultimately told the photography duo to just leave and refund me for the hours they didn't shoot for and that they would get the send-off pictures with an iPhone.
    They didn't, they stayed and took a few more pictures. But when I received my flash drive, it is very apparent when the two didn't want to be there anymore. The send-off pictures are just awful...
    Overall, I wouldn't recommend. The attitude put a cloud over my day and it is something that is brought up every time I talk to anyone about the wedding because literally, everyone noticed it.

    Darlene Stewart Photography's reply:

    So glad I have an option to reply here.

    Photos, they take time. Yes the groom was late. I was trying to get a certain amount of photos done and taken care of in a certain amount of time. He was suppose to arrive ready, which he and the groomsmen were not. Was hard to stay on top of your timeline when everything was running behind. But my husband got the guys pictures done in an adequate amount of time. And according to your timeline the makeup artist ran over late as well, cutting into the bridal photos.
    So yes it caused stress, to me. Because I was suppose to be shooting photos and wasnt and had to do them later. Giving me less time to get a large variety of shots done.

    Your wedding coordinator never told me to cool it. I actually was checking in with her often to see what the plan was and what we were going to do since the timeline was becoming off. Pictures take the longest so it was important to have this communication.

    And yes it was difficult when people are coming at me with suggestions while Im in the middle of a set trying to catch up on time. I love suggestions. Just wait until we're transitioning or come to a stop to suggest something as there is a method/logical way to the way we shoot so we dont forget anything.

    And the reason I "sat down" was because one of the inebriated guests stepped on my toe, splitting my toenail up the middle. After that happened I stepped outside in tears because my toenail got split and my foot was killing me. The only people who checked in on me was your bartender and your coordinator along with my husband.

    Your coordinator made it apparent that you knew what had happened as it was when I was sitting in the lobby with my foot up, trying to get the throbbing to stop, she came to me and told me then that she let you know what had happened and that is when she gave us the offer to leave and do the refund of that time. And we said no, I continued to try and get over the pain of my toe. My husband was in and out shooting "dancing" photos.

    And the send off, according to the coordinator was going to be earlier than what was on the timeline, because the amount of guests that were invited didnt show up. So it got bumped up so that there was enough people to line the sidewalk.

    Lesson learned next time I get injured I will leave and go to the doctor. But this time I beared down and just dealt with my toe the best that I could.