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Rachel Philipson Photography & Design Reviews

Rachel Philipson Photography & Design

Rachel Philipson Photography & Design

Ithaca, NY
5.0 out of 5 rating, 51 Reviews
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Reviews

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51 Reviews
100% recommend it
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Awards

51
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2017 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2015 Winner
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2012 Winner
  • N
    N K Sent on 07/11/2021
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    Highly recommend!

    Rachel was great to work with from the minute we first contacted her. She responds very quickly and is very helpful. We had selected an outdoor space at a park. She went and checked this out weeks in advance and let us know that parts of it were closed off, which would have impacted our plans the day of. We switched locations, and she remained flexible as we did so. The day of our wedding, Rachel was so easy to work with. She even hiked up with us a bit to take pictures where we wanted. The pictures turned out beautifully and really captured our day. Thanks for being a part of our special day and for helping to capture our memories for years to come, Rachel!
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    Sweeny Sent on 07/20/2021
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    Perfectly beautiful photos

    I’m speechless with how wonderful these photos came out. Rachel is a true professional, I gave her a pretty long list of photos I wanted and she got every single one. But my favorite part was all the photos that weren’t planned. She captured the feel of the day perfectly from beginning to end. We are super happy with her work and would definitely use her again if we have the opportunity as well as recommended her to all our friend and family.
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    Cara K. Sent on 06/29/2019
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    Rachel is wonderful!

    Rachel did the photography for our wedding on June 22, 2019 and she did an amazing job. She is extremely talented and takes a creative approach to telling the story of the wedding through pictures. We received a beautiful flash drive from Rachel with all our pictures on it and, when looked at all the pictures, it felt like our wedding story was flashing in front of our eyes. Simply stunting. Rachel is professional and extremely responsive. She was a joy to work with! My husband and I totally recommend her!
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    Paige Sent on 10/31/2018
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    The best photographer we could have ever dreamed of!

    We had the absolute pleasure of having Rachel Philipson as our photographer for our engagement photos and wedding photos. I cannot emphasize enough how incredibly talented (and sweet) Rachel was throughout the process. I was a destination bride living across the country, but Rachel was so helpful that I felt like I was right there planning alongside her. She responds to e-mails immediately and is beyond patient/understanding (I admit I changed the wedding day timeline probably a thousand times and it never phased her). Rachel showed up promptly and was prepared and ready to go. Her personality was happy and helpful so she fit right in with the festivities. Leading up the event, Rachel offered fantastic suggestions and even put me in contact with the right people to reserve extra photo locations in case of rain. She thought of EVERYTHING to ensure I would have the perfect day. As for quality, her photos were breathtaking. I have had so many people tell me how they've never seen such beautiful work. She captured every detail of my dress, special moments that I never thought of, and candid shots throughout the night. She knows how to work the lighting/angles and how to blend in to allow the moments to happen naturally. I often forgot she was even there so she caught so many special moments without intruding. As for editing, Rachel worked with such speed--getting our photos back to us within a week for both engagement and wedding photos. I cried seeing the photos because they turned out even more perfectly than I could have ever dreamed. My mom was even worried (she hates being photographed!), but can't stop raving about the photos. Rachel was an absolute joy to work with and I plan to book more photography sessions with her. Booking her as our photographer was the best decision that we made for vendor planning. Rachel is a beyond talented photographer and an incredible person too!
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    Michelle Sent on 08/24/2018
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    Rachel was the photographer at our daughters wedding. She was incredible to work with right from our first contact with her. She responded quickly and completely to my numerous questions throughout the planning process. She visited our venue to get a feel for the location before the event. My daughter commented how Rachel seemed to be at the right place at the right time the entire evening. She captured everything we had hoped for, plus so much more that I would have missed if not documented in the photo gallery. It was seamless. We had the online photo gallery within 3 days of the wedding and the images are absolutely beautiful. Rachel is truly a talented photographer and I am so happy we were able to have her as our daughters wedding photographer. She truly went above and beyond our expectations!
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    Lillian Sent on 02/26/2019
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    Amazing experience and fast turnaround

    Working with Rachel was amazing! She brought so much experience and professionalism to the process, which was extra helpful because we had no idea what we were doing. She was reassuring while we tried to plan the wedding long-distance, and on the day of she was able to give us some advice and tips to get the best shots. The most shocking part was that she had the (absolutely beautiful) photos back to us in just a few days!!
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    Ben Sent on 06/28/2018
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    Rachel is a must-have photographer at your wedding! We are sooooo very happy she documented our special day and she is incredibly talented.
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    Valentina Sent on 07/08/2018
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    We hired her for our wedding on June 22 and she was fantastic. Professional, kind, competent, super attentive to detail, and fast on delivery. She was able to capture so many small details, expressions and interactions in her work. Her photographs are modern, personal, narrative. Her work really helped document our day in a unique way, and we highly recommend her.
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    Haley Sent on 08/22/2017
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    Rachel has been absolutely amazing to work with! My fiance and I contacted her about shooting our wedding a few months ago, and she was extremely responsive, professional, and friendly. We just did our complementary engagement photo session with her last week and it couldn't have been better. We were both a little nervous as neither of us feels super comfortable posing in front of the camera, but Rachel made us feel so comfortable and at ease. The pictures turned out better than I could have ever hoped for, and she had digital proofs to us the very next day and the high definition photos to us within the week. I also think her rates are extremely reasonable, especially given her high quality of work. We went with her "medium" package but added on rehearsal dinner coverage for an extra fee. We can't wait to work with Rachel for our wedding! I would highly recommend her to any couples in the finger lakes region.
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    Ruth Sent on 06/26/2017
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    Rachel did our engagement and our wedding photos. We had a small simple wedding and Rachel captured so many great moments from the ceremony to the reception. During our wedding photos she handled our large group shots so well and made everyone feel relaxed. It was the fastest my family has taken a good picture in years! Our couple photos are so sweet Rachel is so good at capturing little expressions and glances so that you really see our relationship come out in the pictures.
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    Jamie Sent on 05/15/2017
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    The very first thing my wife and I did when we began our wedding planning was look at each other and say, "Rachel should be our photographer." We had experience with her photos from other events we've attended. Rachel is a consummate professional. We selected a package that included two photographers for six hours and it came with a complimentary engagement shoot. Rachel could not have been more accommodating, pleasant, and professional. All of her communication was prompt, clear, and helpful. ...and we had our photos, on a thumb drive, in less than a week!!! We couldn't be happier with the photos we received. If you select Rachel as your wedding photographer you will be delighted with the results. We certainly are!
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    Lindsay Sent on 12/09/2016
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    Finding Rachel felt like a complete cash-in of lifelong good karma. The high quality of her work comes from a thoughtful immersion into her client on what they want.
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    Anthony Sent on 09/25/2016
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    Rachel was amazing! My wife and I discussed after the wedding that having Rachel as our photographer was one of our best wedding decisions! Not only did our pictures turn out beautifully - but she was incredibly easy to work with from beginning to end.
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    Adelaide Sent on 09/25/2016
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    I could not possibly be happier with both my interactions with Rachel and the utterly gorgeous photos she took of our wedding. Rachel is a quiet, calm, poised and unobtrusive presence and you cannot underestimate how incredibly valuable that is on your wedding day. She takes photos so quickly, efficiently and artfully. The photos she took of our wedding were nothing short of perfect. Portraits, ceremony, décor, candid shots--she took both very classic shots as well as artistic, interesting, different kinds of shots as well. The icing on the proverbial (wedding) cake: Rachel sent me our photos--organized, edited and posted online--less than 48 hours after the wedding!!! She is wonderful and I look forward to recommending her to all my friends getting married in Ithaca.
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    N. Sent on 08/21/2016
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    We cannot recommend Rachel enough as the perfect wedding photographer. She was a pleasure to work with throughout planning and the wedding day. She was organized, efficient, attentive and most importantly took the most beautiful photos of our special day. She promptly sent us the photos upon return from our honeymoon as arranged. Rachel perfectly captured our friends and family as well as the ceremony (although we didn't even notice her taking the photos because she was so discreet!). We continue to look at the gorgeous pictures which remind us of the joy on that day.
    We highly recommend working with Rachel if you want to treasure your wedding moments long after it is over.
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    Katie Sent on 06/18/2017
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    Rachel was excellent! I'm so glad we were able to work with her for our wedding. Besides being responsive, accommodating, and professional, she is also kind, friendly, and genuinely excited to be there on your big day. Rachel was very detail-oriented, organized, and made sure to photograph the certain parts of the day that I had specified.
    On our wedding day, she was at the church before the wedding party, getting photos of the setup, architecture, and landscape. For the rest of the ceremony and reception, she discretely captured wonderful candids, thoughtful details, and helped stage beautiful formal shots. I am so happy to have Rachel's photos to remember our special day.
  • User2742844 Sent on 08/25/2016
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    Rachel was great to work with and took beautiful photographs in a quick and unobtrubisive way on our wedding day. We are very satisfied and would highly recommend Rachel to anyone for their wedding.
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    Sharman Sent on 12/10/2016
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    You'll have the opportunity to interview with Rachel before your event and after that's complete, you can be completely confident that she listened to you and paid attention to your ideas. She will be mentally creating the images of your day before she gets behind the camera!
    You can truly trust her, relax and have a wonderful celebration knowing that she is there to capture all your unique moments for you!! She is an amazingly talented artist!
  • User2497321 Sent on 01/07/2016
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    Great documentary style photography. You'll recieve candid and natural expressions as part of interactions between people! If you want posed photos, know what you want and be able to set these up yourself.
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    Anne Sent on 09/20/2015
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    I can't say enough good things about Rachel, both personally and professionally. She was the perfect photographer for our intimate wedding in Ithaca. Before the wedding, she was quick to respond over email and made arranging everything super easy. During the ceremony, she took very discreet photos that still captured the essence of our little garden ceremony, and afterwards, she had a lot of wonderful and creative suggestions for family pictures as well as pictures of just us. She's also just an incredibly nice person and a pleasure to have at the wedding! When we got home from our honeymoon, she had already sent us a thumb drive of pictures and an online gallery, and when we opened them up we were absolutely thrilled. I highly recommend Rachel and wish I could add extra stars!! :)
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    Naomi Sent on 01/07/2016
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    Rachel was the perfect photographer for our big day! She was easy going and very helpful in working with us to capture the perfect moments! We appreciated her good communication throughout the process and quick turnaround in getting our photographs edited and ready to view!
  • User2291337 Sent on 08/29/2015
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    Rachel was an AMAZING photographer, I simply can't recommend her highly enough! Every part of the process of working with her was fun and stress-free, and she was very easy to communicate with and super nice. On the day of our wedding she was an absolute pro. She took our formal pictures quickly when we were running slightly late, and they all came out perfectly. She got shots of all the little bits of decor that people had worked hard on, without missing a single thing. I hardly even noticed her taking photos during most of the reception, but she got so many awesome candid photos of everyone. We have great pictures of every single person who was at the wedding. She also remembered a couple of photo requests we had made earlier and then forgotten about, and made sure that everything happened when it was supposed to. She sent us the finished photos only a few days after the wedding, which is incredibly fast and was much appreciated! We have hundreds of absolutely beautiful photos of our wedding, and I truly could not be happier with them.
  • User2268830 Sent on 08/13/2015
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    Rachel’s website portfolio is an accurate reflection of her work: beautiful, candid, and natural, which is exactly what we were looking for. Although we did take some portraits after the ceremony, we were able to be ourselves—no awkward or unnatural posing. She would have been game for anything, though. Rachel beautifully captured the essence of our wedding day and of us as a couple. She was the opposite of “in your face,” yet she caught some great moments that we didn’t even realize she was watching!

    Rachel was professional and responsive from the very beginning via phone and e-mail. Her prices are competitive, and she was able to modify the number of hours in a package to fit our needs. Rachel met us at the venue several months prior to the wedding to meet us and see the campus (we got married at our college). At that point, we were told to expect the digital proofs to be ready about week after the wedding. However, since she knew we were moving abroad within a week, Rachel had the online gallery ready and the digital proofs in the mail in two days! Rachel was a pleasure to work with, and I would recommend her to anyone.
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    Dakota Sent on 06/24/2015
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    Rachel took all of our wedding photos this past weekend, and she was an absolute pleasure to work with! After not finding a photographer that my husband and I clicked with, I was beginning to despair of ever booking someone! But after talking to Rachel and meeting with her, I knew she would be wonderful. She was so responsive, well-priced, flexible, and listened to (and understood!) the exact vibe that we were going for with our wedding. Our wedding day dawned after a huge freak storm knocked out the power to the entire city of Oneonta, but Rachel was a calming force and got everyone to enjoy taking photos despite the insanity that was happening all around us.

    The photos themselves are just breathtaking. People keep telling me they look like something out of a catalogue and I couldn't agree more! Rachel has an eye for portraits, and her candid photography blew me away (especially the black and white photos!). Going through the pictures afterwards, I was shocked at all of the amazing, subtle moments she captured during the reception! She also got us our photos in record time, and they came in the most lovely box on a wooden flash drive. I honestly can't recommend Rachel enough! I would book her again in a heartbeat!
  • User2323589 Sent on 09/19/2015
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    Rachel was so professional. She captured so many moments when we didn't even know she was there. There were so many great photos it was really hard to choose which ones to print and give to family and friends. Rachel is really nice and easy to work with. Very responsive too. We highly recommend her!
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