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Samantha Bonpensiero Photography Reviews

Samantha Bonpensiero Photography

Samantha Bonpensiero Photography

La Mesa, CA
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Reviews

4.7 out of 5 rating
4.7 out of 5 rating
22 Reviews
95% recommend it
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  • Quality of service
    4.8 out of 5 rating
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Awards

22
WeddingWire Couples' Choice Awards 2016 Winner
Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 1
Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 2
Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 3
+3 User photos
Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 4
  • Kaitlin
    Kaitlin D. Sent on 03/31/2020
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    Dreamy Photos

    I love working with her so much ❤️ She’s a bright ray of sunshine and takes amazing photos!
    • Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 5
    • Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 6
    • +4 photos
      Samantha Bonpensiero Photography 7
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    Jackie Sent on 11/05/2015
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    Samantha was flexible from the beginning when I had to reschedule our meeting and to the day the venue changed after she had visited. But everything worked out great because she had a great feel for my personality and what I wanted. I worried if my husband would hate taking pictures for over an hour but he liked her fun personality too and she got a large variety of photos in a short amount of time. That helped! I have enjoyed looking over the photos often!Im sure she could doctor them up a bunch but we got fortunate with the time of day and she used the lighting so beautifully i love our wedding pics! Lots of my friends wait forever for their pics but she sent us many of the best ones in about a week so we got to see them during the honeymoon! That was cool. And, the keepsake box and the photo book the engraved memory stick came in will travel with me the rest of my life. And the wedding album is what makes it such a good deal!
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    Jessica Sent on 02/27/2015
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    Such a helpful person, down to earth, and she is willing to capture your silly side.
    • illustration stars

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    Camille Sent on 02/26/2015
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    Awesome photographer, great experience! I started emailing Samantha ages before we actually arranged to have the photo session. She was helpful and communicative the entire time. Since my husband and I are new to San Diego, she recommended different locations to us and really worked to give us the most beautiful shots possible. Samantha also took the time to sit down with us pre-shoot to talk about what to expect, outfit recommendations, and our final choice of location - La Jolla. She was easy to relax around and really had an eye for interesting location and poses. We shot at La Valencia Hotel and on the beach in La Jolla. My husband and I don't particularly like posing for photos, but Samantha kept things light and easy, so we were totally relaxed and had a blast the entire time! The end result is wonderful, the photos are really beautiful. I'm so happy to have found someone like Samantha who worked so hard to really make our engagement photos a happy, treasured memory.
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    Emerald Sent on 05/27/2015
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    The pictures Samantha did for my wedding were very beautiful, I love them very much and am very happy with the results!
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    Kelly Sent on 02/24/2015
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    Samantha took lovely photos of my wedding! She can make any setting beautiful and the colors she details are just vibrant. Her profile is creative and festive. She sure knows how to capture the moments. I absolutely loved my photo album and USB drive she made for us. A very talented young lady I will use again for other occasions.
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    Nadine Sent on 07/24/2015
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    Samantha was amazing!!! I was so lucky to have her photograph my special day!!! I loved my photo albums!!!! I had access to all my photos and she even gave them all to me!! She was so fun to have at our reception! She even danced with me once! I wouldn't have changed a thing!!! She really was one of the best decisions I made for my wedding!!!
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    Courtney Sent on 02/24/2015
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    Sam provided amazing service and professionalism. She was with us every step of the way capturing all of our most important memories with energy and enthusiasm! Our photos turned out so beautifully! Excellent job! She is the best!!!
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    Allie Sent on 02/28/2015
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    Samantha is an amazing photographer. We are thrilled with the way our pictures turned out! She captured the entire day so beautifully, from the girls getting ready in the hotel suite to the guys waiting for us at the church to the entire reception. We had a number of guests say the pictures told the whole story from start to finish and she was able to snap such great personal photos of our family and friends throughout the event! I couldn't be happier or more pleased with the photos and can't wait to share them with everyone! Samantha is someone you want to use for your very special day. You won't be disappointed!
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    Crystal Sent on 05/28/2015
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    Having a photographer at your wedding is a must, finding one is the challenge. When meeting up with Samantha for the first time, I already knew she would be PERFECT for my wedding. Looking through her gallery, you can tell that she loves what she does and is super creative in catching the emotion. Working with her was an absolute pleasure. During my engagement session she knew exactly where she wanted us to pose and what kind of look she was going for. The pictures came out beautiful. Samantha made it well known that if I ever I had a problem or a question that she was only a phone call or email away and she was always very prompt and professional when responding. The wedding pictures were just breath taking. There was a plethora of photos taken, I love looking at them. I love the creative ways she took pictures of my accessories and of me getting ready with my mom. I received all my pictures on a USB stick that came in the most elegant casing dated with our wedding date and names along with 4 wedding photos of us on the cover. Loved it!!! At the end of your wedding what's left is the photos and for me that was the single most important piece of the experience, be able to capture that day and have it in an album and Samantha made that happen. I am so happy that I was able to work with Samantha and I am looking forward for future family photo sessions with her.
  • User2060798 Sent on 03/07/2015
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    I am more than happy with my wedding photos! They turned out amazing!
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    Taylor Sent on 03/09/2015
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    She is amazing! Friendly, efficient, on time, affordable, and I Also received my pictures back very fast. She makes you feel comfortable and is very easy to work with.
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    Leah Sent on 02/23/2015
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    Samantha was so amazing, creative, helpful on my wedding day. I had never had professional photography done before so I had no idea what to expect. She was collaborative and also super helpful with making sure we got all of the pictures and poses we wanted. She was also able to kindly direct family and friends to cooperate as well! The pictures came out perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything better. She was also very quick with getting the edited photos online and sent us a cute flash drive personalized with our names and in an adorable book. Very professional and awesome experience
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    Melissa Sent on 06/06/2015
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    Samantha photographed my beautiful proposal at Sunset Cliffs. She went above and beyond by helping my fiance plan the proposal, setting everything up before we arrived to the cliffs, and even hiding in bushes in order to capture our perfect moment. I was so happy to have her be apart of our special day!
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    Elise Sent on 06/01/2015
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    Samantha was amazing for our engagement session! I loved all the photos. She picked her favorites and did them in both color and black and white which was so nice. She also re sized them for me multiple times so I could print them off at different websites. She is such a GREAT person to work with and very responsive. She is so sweet and kind! I would recommend her for photography. Please feel free to reach out to me as a customer if you have any questions.
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    Claire Sent on 03/07/2015
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    This was my first time ever using a photographer and Sam made the process so easy! She worked with us and our budget to get exactly what we wanted. Her style is perfect for trendy events as she stays away from boring traditional pictures and goes for beautiful candid shots that were a perfect surprise when we got the pictures back.
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    Ed Sent on 05/28/2015
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    Samantha was excellent in capturing our proposal. She met up with me a few days before the big proposal to go over all the logistics. After getting all squared away, she texted me saying that she was all set up to go on the day of the proposal. Shortly after, I walked my soon-to-be fiance to a garden in Balboa Park and popped the question. Samantha captured every detail of the proposal... even bringing her boyfriend as a decoy as not to be overtly obvious that she was actually taking pictures of us the whole time.

    Then Samantha was kind enough to take us around Balboa Park and give us a mini photo shoot. We currently have two canvases printed out from our proposal day hanging on our walls. Thanks Samantha!!
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    Chris Sent on 02/25/2015
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    Samantha was a pleasure to work with! Our wedding day turned out to be such an amazing day. Samantha captured it all, giving us lifelong memories.
    The photographs were amazing and captured all the special moments. We chose Samantha because of her artistic flair and also because she is so pleasant, accommodating, and easy to work with. She is such a professional.
    We asked Samantha to capture the beauty and passion of our special day and she exceeded all expectations. She was very accommodating to our schedule and went the extra mile. She responded promptly to all emails and answered all our questions.
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    Tonya Sent on 05/29/2015
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    Samantha did a great job! Would definitely call her again!
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    Fanny Sent on 02/26/2015
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    Sam is such a pleasure to work with. Her personality and unique views on photography definitely make her THE best photographer in San Diego. I cannot wait to do business with her again.
  • User2888401 Sent on 12/02/2016
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    Our experience with Samantha was very similar to the other recent review. Samantha seems to have lost her focus on her photography business. Several times during the planning process our phone calls and emails would go unanswered for 2 weeks. Samantha did a fairly good job of photographing objects before the wedding such us the reception tables, an assortment of programs and the cake. But her photos of people were not great. Many photos of the bride were over exposed so you couldn't see the lace details of her dress. It looked washed out. There were quite a few photos that I had to adjust myself to make the highlights and shadows acceptable. It is obvious that Samantha did little if any post processing to the photos. At the wedding Samantha told us we should receive the photos within 2 - 3 weeks. However, we did not receive them until almost 8 weeks after the wedding and after several inquiries regarding their status. The final disappointment was there were some shots that we saw Samantha take that were not included in the package that she delivered. When we asked about whether she had these photos Samantha did not reply. The bottom-line is that the photos Samantha took were ok. But Samantha actually created more stress during a time that is already stressful enough.
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    Ron Sent on 07/19/2016
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    As one might understand the wedding planning process can be quite anxiety inducing and the unfortunate reality of it all is that you will not know how well or poorly you fared in the decision making department until the day of the wedding or in the case of the photographer, a few weeks after. Our choice to hire Samantha Bonpensiero to photograph our wedding has proven to be a very poor decision for reasons which are listed below.
    1.) Lacks professionalism: Samantha took weeks to respond to emails during our initial communications, was 30 minutes late to the wedding (we had planned to take photos prior so it cut out 30 minutes from our expected photos), and did not come prepared with our picture list for family formals. As of writing this we have tried to contact Samantha three times within the span of 3 weeks to receive more information but have yet to receive a response.
    2.) Did not keep her written commitments: Samantha said she would take 1500 photos and deliver around 500 finished photos. We received less than 300 photos and not a single photo was from our reception or of our guests, despite our specific request to do so during the reception. We have 1 photo each of the bridal party during the procession, none of the bridal party during the recession, some photos of the room all set up, photos of the formal dances, photos of cake cutting, and photos from a 30 min photo session we snuck away for. That is all. It seems that from the time of the cake cutting she stopped taking photographs until about 2 hours later when we went aside for our private groom/bride shoot.
    We have unsuccessfully attempted to reach out to Samantha for a possible explanation as to why there are ZERO pictures from our reception in the hopes that maybe the website did not fully load them or another technological glitch, however all our requests over the past three weeks have been unanswered.
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