Frequently asked questions

We understand that every couple has a different budget, and different needs. We'll customize options uniquely to you: considering your guest count, wedding party size, ceremony and reception distance, and what coverage looks like with one vs. two photographers. Visit our packages to view our coverage options!

We are a team based in the Bay Area and Southern California. Sara lives in the Bay Area but she works between SF and LA, while the rest of our team is based in all regions.

Sara determines who will be the best fit for you from our team during a personal consultation. It's a very thoughtful decision, as she considers many factors (your venue, cultural/religious traditions, personal style, as well as your personalities). Since each member of our team is trained by Sara to shoot in the same style, and she edits their imagery, you will be in great hands with any member of our family. However, this pairing is very personal, therefore Sara hand-selects the team member for you specifically when she meets you. We have extensive galleries and portfolio links for each member of our team. When Sara pairs you with your photographer, she will share their private portfolio with you to explore.  
 
All of the photographs on the Onelove Photography website are the team's work. Sara personally photographs only a handful of weddings per year. View her work exclusively on this separate website! Sara lives in the Bay Area and works between there and Southern California year round.

Yep. Since we are based in Los Angeles and San Francisco we do not charge any kind of travel fee in the 100-mile vicinity of these areas. Outside of 100 miles, or with late night coverage after 10pm, we can discuss the arrangement for accommodating us with a hotel, or flight, if necessary. We’re simple – no hidden “fees”.

We focus exclusively on still imagery, and find that generally it is best to hire these services separately. We have worked really hard to create strong relationships with talented videography teams over the last 10 years in the event industry. We’d be more than happy to make an introduction for you. You can check out some of our favorites here.

Every image we deliver is edited to publication standards (as we work with magazines and blogs regularly). This includes: brightening/darkening, adding contrast, adjusting the color temperature and tint, as well as adding our special artistic recipe for Impressionistic warmth that we love so much. All of the images on our website are edited, and your images will arrive just as you see on our website. As the edited files you will receive are essentially publication-quality, and normally shouldn't need any more editing work.

On select occasions, further editing is available to remove objects or blemishes from an image. We refer to this as Post-Production. However, few couples ever need it as our editing and lighting styles are very flattering just in camera and combined with professional makeup, you may not even notice the blemish on your chin in most of the photos. Out of 100 weddings, we have maybe 1-2 requests for Post-Production per year. Nearly every image you see on our website has been edited without added Post-Production, and they look flawless. 

Post-Production is a service we offer which we will go down to the very pixel of the file in Photoshop to enhance and make the change look as natural as possible. It can be used for removing wrinkles/blemishes, or removing objects/people from images. It can take 10-30 minutes per photo at times. It is a service included for any images used in a wedding album, should you choose to purchase an album. This service is available for any images you need, and the rate is $20/file if you choose not to purchase an album.

May-September book very quickly around 6-8 months in advance. However, with our team we do sometimes have more availability, so it's always worth checking! 
 
We accept reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis with a 35% deposit. Venmo, Zelle bank transfers, checks and credit cards are accepted.

If you plan to use a photo from your session on a Save The Date, we recommend shooting at least 5 months before your wedding date. 

If you are not planning to use a photo for a Save the Date, then consider these factors:

- Location (If you want to shoot in an open field, do you want green grass or golden hills? It's only green in the spring! Or, if you want flowers or vineyards in bloom, consider when these are in season)

- Weather (Do you want warm sun? Stick with May-October)

- The photos are edited within 6 weeks of the shoot (unless you need a quick turnaround, we can provide a handful at 2 weeks upon request)

- If you want to wait to shoot your engagement session (for personal reasons, or weather), the latest we reccommend shooting it is 2-3 months before your wedding.

This is a common question we receive from couples. The truth is, whether or not your photographer has shot at your venue is not that important. 
 
Good photographers will be prepared to adapt to any situation that arises on your wedding day. Suppose your wedding photographer has shot at your venue a couple of times — thereby passing the “Have you shot here before?” test — but it was always on a beautiful, sunny day with clear skies. But, on your big day, it’s raining! Is it going to matter to you if they say, “You know, it’s always been sunny before, so I didn’t bring [insert crucial piece of equipment here]. Since I don’t have it, I can’t shoot your ceremony.” Yes, it’s going to matter! You trusted your photographer to be prepared, and they should be! 
 
Shocking as it may sound, it’s actually better if they haven’t been to your venue before. 
 
Do you remember the first time you visited a great landmark, or traveled to a new country? Do you remember the excitement in which you snapped away with your camera and absorbed your surroundings? The creative juices were flowing with your excitement for all the new sounds and sights. The same goes for a wedding photographer! The first time I shoot at a venue, I am thrilled with creative ideas and outlets with settings and backgrounds I’ve never used before. It’s often where I make my best pictures. 
 
After having shot at a venue 2, 3 or 4 times, we know the ropes – but the thrill is not the same as the first time there. 
 
In lieu of asking whether a photographer has shot at your venue before, you might want to ask, “What is your experience shooting an evening wedding inside a cathedral?” Or, “Tell me about a time when you were shooting outside in the middle of the day, with no canopy or shade.” This is how you’ll separate folks who are inexperienced from the experienced wedding photographers who will always deliver professional results.

You will see a sample gallery of 100 edited images in just 4 weeks after your wedding! Woohoo! That’s fast. And we edit the remainder of your photos within 2-3 months from your wedding date. This is written in contract, in stone. No worries, no wondering, no horror stories of not seeing photos for a year after your wedding! All of the files delivered are edited, high resolution JPEG files. 

Yep! We love to share our photos online – however please always remember to link to our website: onelove-photo.com or our Facebook page: facebook.com/1lovephoto

You have the rights to the personal use of your wedding images. This means you can print them, post them on Facebook, or use them in a Save the Date if you link back to our website. We maintain the copyright as the creators of the imagery, which means we reserve the right to authorize where the images can and cannot be used publicly. That being said – we will always be in communication with our clients before using images publicly. Please note that it is illegal to right click or screen shot online gallery images or other images featured on this blog, make copies from prints, sell or alter images received. If you would like to use the photos for any other purposes please contact Sara Cooper at sara@onelove-photo.com.

Yep. We have a $2M Liability Insurance policy with a certificate we can send to your venue if you need. Just let us know.

Our style is really a fusion:  
 
ARTISTIC (CREATIVE) + EDITORIAL (CANDID) = the “onelove” aesthetic 
 
We are a team of Neo-Impressionists: photographers inspired by Monet and Renoir. But you’re not simply left with artsy-fartsy photos that are so abstract you lose the story. With all of our Editorial/Newspaper backgrounds, we capture live-action with a documentary style. This fusion of ART + EDITORIAL is rare and wildly creative.

We do traditional portraiture at a designated time period within most of our weddings. Even the most modern brides still want the heirlooms that family portraiture creates. We do not, however, conduct portrait sessions in a traditional way. Instead, they are very loose, fun, and show off your personality. We will spend only 20 to 45 minutes on any posed photographs out of a typical 8 hour day.

We shoot digital to imitate film. Our Impressionist-inspired lighting techniques in the camera are soft and bright and our images are edited to resemble film. The beauty of this digital age allows us to create a film image in a digital camera with advanced editing techniques. 

With the modern digital age we are in, current professional digital cameras are superseding film in their versatility. For example: today’s digital cameras can shoot in extreme darkness (a pitch-black wine cave reception) without flash, whereas the highest film grains cannot reach to this level of darkness without being extremely spotty/grainy.

Also, you receive more imagery with digital. With film, we have to change our film canisters out every 30-35 frames, which slows us down and potentially miss a fleeting, important moment. With digital we never have to stop shooting and miss a moment. We also provide color and black and white versions of imagery with digital. With film, you often only receive a color or black and white version of an image, not both. These are just some of the reasons why we love shooting digital to imitate film!

Digital Negatives are the high-resolution edited JPEG files. We deliver the highest-resolution, edited images to our clients. These files are printable to very large wall prints!

Nerdy side note: Traditionally, in the days of film, a photographer would either keep or sell their physical negatives for a wedding. In this digital era, we provide these files to you. We photograph and create RAW digital files (Think of it like unprocessed film. Rather than letting the camera process the image for you, turning it into a JPEG image in-camera, shooting in RAW allows us to process the image to our liking on the computer later). From there, we edit the RAW file on the computer, applying all of our ✨super-secret and magical lighting techniques ✨ Finally, we export the RAW files into JPEG files - which are your "digital negatives."