Any recently married couple will tell you, vendors can make or break your wedding. It’s worth every bit of time to shop around to find ones that share your vision, are professional and reliable and who will make your special day perfect. We had our hits and misses, but a definite hit was Abel Soria Photography. We found Abel courtesy of The Knot and contacted him via email. He was always quick to respond and very professional, so much so that we booked his services before we even had a chance to meet with him in person. That’s saying a lot, as our wedding was being held in the San Francisco Bay Area while we lived in Los Angeles, making the whole process much more complicated. When it actually came time to sit down with Abel, he was very flexible in finding a time to meet when we’d be in town. The day of, we were detained, causing us to be over 45 minutes late to our appointment. Abel was completely understanding and happily met with us as if we were perfectly on time. Once we sat down, it took only minutes for us to click with him. We explained our ideas about what the photography would look like and he immediately knew exactly what we were looking for and made suggestions that helped us make a specific plan. He also had a number of albums on-hand for us to peruse and get ideas from. He then very clearly explained his contract, his duties and everything we would get. We left sure that we’d made the right decision. As our wedding date neared, Abel kept in touch periodically, then scheduled a second in-person meeting so we could go over the plan one more time and make any last-minute changes. Though we mostly stuck with our plan, Abel seemed completely open to any new ideas we had for specific shots. He also offered to bring a second photographer, a student of his, to take additional pictures for a small price to be paid directly to the student, which we took him up on. On the day of the wedding, Abel, his Father/assistant and his student all arrived early and got straight to work. We had requested a paparrazi/journalistic style and Abel and his student quickly began shooting candid shots of the wedding party, the bride and groom, the families and the guests. They worked very well with everyone in attendance, easily getting whatever cooperation they needed for the perfect picture. We were even able to get some photography done before the ceremony, with the rest easily handled immediately after. During the ceremony, Abel and his student were able to get dozens of angles and shots without ever intruding on the ceremony. We barely even noticed them in the background. After our ceremony in Berkeley, CA, Abel’s crew packed up and followed us across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco where Abel met with us, the bride and groom, for a special photo shoot in Union Square that Abel had suggested. In the transfer time we had set aside between the ceremony and cocktail hour, we were able to do a complete photo shoot in and around Union Square before heading off to the reception. During the cocktail hour and reception, Abel and his student were again non-intrusive but always present getting pictures without ever getting in the way. We were only mildy aware of their presence throughout the night, but several guests commented on how dedicated the photographers were to getting their shots, going so far as to stand on chairs or lay on the floor for the perfect photo, but always out of the way.
