Chris Werner Photography

Chris is a ROCK STAR with amazing personality and incredible talent. Do not even consider anyone else, BOOK HIM he is your photographer 100%. He is extremely professional, super fast in responding to emails and phone calls. But beyond that he has an eye for making your photos into small pieces of art that will stay with you for a lifetime. During the photoshoot he was very relaxed and extremely personal and professional with us. He also gave us suggestions what to wear, not to wear which was very helpful. From start to finish our experience was 100% perfect! Also he turned our photos with edits in just a week, AMAZING!!! My words can not explain how thankful I am for giving us these memories to last a lifetime! THANK YOU CHRIS for being so AMAZING!

Chris is a truly talented photographer, and beyond that, he has that rare balance of being easy going yet still incredibly responsive, punctual, and accountable. He is kind, patient, understanding, and willing to spend lots of time with you as you make all those important decisions that make up the wedding planning process. In addition, he is knowledgeable and experienced about Tahoe, timing, and weddings in general. On the day of our wedding in August, he was incredibly professional– we had a number of divorced parents and estranged family members and contentious family dynamics, and he helped manage all that and the family portraits better than we could have imagined. He works INCREDIBLY hard on the day of the event– it was pretty much an 11 hour day for him, and he was hustling the whole time. Many people commented on how our «photographers» had worked so hard– and when I told them there was only one, they didn’t believe me because he had seemed to be in so many places at once. Since we didn’t hire a videographer, we were really depending on Chris to capture everything that made up our big day, and he far exceeded our expectations. On top of that, our photos turned out absolutely gorgeous– it was clear he had taken a great deal of time and effort to make sure every single one was just right before delivering them to us. When we couldn’t decide which album to go with (basic or premium), we actually went back up to Tahoe and met with him at a coffee shop for a few hours so we could see and feel the various album samples he has. (By the way, we went with the basic and we are SO happy with it! The premiums are definitely gorgeous too, but we couldn’t be happier with our choice). And we just received our album this week, so we really have gone through all of the parts of the process with Chris, and he exceeded our expectations on every level. Since we worked with him for the better part of a year, we really felt like we got to know him, and we think he is all around a stand-​up guy. Anyway, the point is, you will not be disappointed– and you should go with Chris for your wedding without hesitation. He’s truly wonderful to work with.

Stop looking and book Chris already! Such a true professional and he has such passion for his work. He is very quick to respond to emails and voice messages and is very flexible and accommodating. Chris was very discreet and captured the moment beautifully. Cheers Chris!

When looking for a wedding photographer, we wanted someone whose strength was capturing the feeling of each moment and not someone who had too many staged/​posed shots. I knew finding the right one was going to be a large task since the groom is very particular when it comes to photo and video. We searched dozens of photographers ranging in ability and style, but in the end we found what we were looking for in Chris.
By browsing his site, we knew he took quality photos that not only looked good, but told a story. We liked that his photos weren’t overly dramatic or staged. We also took notice of his skill in capturing the tough photos (action and night shots) and that is what started separating him from the pack. (Geeky tech feedback from the groom: Chris is a master at using the flash to complement the natural light available. So for the majority of his photos, you can’t tell that a flash was used… It just looks like a gorgeous shot.)
Once we had our short list of photographers, we scheduled interviews with each to see who would be a fit. After our first meeting with Chris, we knew he was the guy for us. He was very easy to talk to, eager to learn about us and what we wanted, then told us a little bit about himself and how he typically shoots weddings. He was exactly what we were looking for: a good communicator (clear and quick to respond), flexible (catered to what we wanted while keeping the integrity of his style), we felt we could trust him to be professional (on time and prepared for anything) and to capture key moments, and most importantly, we felt comfortable with him (key since weddings hold very vulnerable moments).
The day of the wedding, he did not disappoint. He was all that we hoped for and it was confirmed when we received our photos. The photos he captured brought us back to each point in time. AND we were even able to catch up on everything we didn’t get to see ourselves!
Hire Chris! He is fantastic!

I have yet to receive our photos, so I’ll update when I do, but I have no doubt they will be fabulous. Chris shot our wedding and, (instead of engagement photos) our rehearsal dinner. He was such a trooper driving all the way to kingsbury grade 2x in one weekend.
But even before that, Chris was so patient and kind with us, making time to meet face to face when we were in town (we live in the Bay, got married in Tahoe), e-​mailing back and forth, speaking with our day-​of coordinator (Blue Sky events, also amazing) and so much more. Chris listened to all we had to say, which I’m sure was scattered and incoherent, and made us feel heard and respected. His style, which is what we wanted, is to be kind of a ninja and not get in the way of the actual event– We have been to way too many weddings where you can’t see anything because the photographers are in the way. Yes, memories are important, but the experience is more important! I’m so glad Chris felt the same way. We also did not want a lot of posed pictures which was good because we actually ran out of time to do these and Chris did as many as he could in a short amount of time and then let us go party (thankfully!).
throughout the ceremony and reception, I only saw glimpses of Chris running by to catch a great moment or trying to catch the sunset, but he really was a ninja. I never felt like I had to pose (except for, of course, the posed pictures) or move for him, he just shot things as they were. The only time he asked me something was when he wanted to find the groom and all the guys who were smoking cigars so he could get some shots of that. Otherwise he didn’t ask me for anything! Since I didn’t see him much at the wedding, it was nice to see him at the rehearsal dinner and chat a little then and have all the guests get comfortable with him around. I did feel like he was a guest as well and that made it so much more fun.
I’ll update when I get my photos, but it is the busy season so I’m guessing it will take some time, which is totally fine as he is awesome and should shoot as many people’s special events as possible! Thanks Chris, can’t wait to see the final products!

This is long overdue! Chris did our wedding and engagement photos; we could not have been happier with our choice to work with him. I loved on his blog how he captures the fun atmosphere of the dance floor; those are tough photos to get. — In addition to telling the story of the day, of the couple, in a natural and beautiful way.
Chris drove all the way to San Francisco to do our engagement photos. We liked getting to know him and he helped us feel comfortable. I love several of the photos; despite feeling super geeky about the whole thing.
At the wedding, he was nearly invisible. You know those weddings that you’ve been to recently where the bride walks down the aisle followed by the paparazzi hired for the event? We did not want that, but also did not want to sacrifice getting great images. In particular, one of my biggest priorities was to capture my fiancé’s face as I walked down the aisle — and at the same time capture me walking with my dad. Difficult to do with one photographer, but Chris nailed it! Now our families have beautiful images of that moment, as well as the rest of the day. He captured everything — people, tears, laughter, and all those details I spent sooo many hours perfecting (damn you Pinterest and Paper Source). Best part: we have all of the images as jpgs. Some photographers were asking hundreds or even thousands more for that! No thank you.
Chris also brought a photo booth with him to the wedding — SO fun. Guests just stand in front of the un-​manned camera with a shutter button. Hilarious photos; we just wish we’d advertised it more at our wedding so everyone remembered to play. :)
Some of our photos are actually posted here! We really are less good looking than Chris made us appear, but we don’t mind ;)
Thank you Chris!

Chris is brilliant! I found his photos on a venue page I was looking at, and knew he had to be our photographer. I called him before we had even set a date and could already tell he was going to be the best.
We shot our engagements photos months before our big day, and when we received them I was even more excited about how he would capture our wedding day.
His eye is exactly what we wanted. We wanted an easy flow to our day with photos that didn’t look posed, but still professional. We got married on the beach which is always hard with lighting, and somehow he set up the flashes he needed and placed us just right to make everything work! My guests told me they’d never seen a photographer work so hard. Going here and there capturing every moment perfectly. The best part was that I never even thought a photographer was taking my picture, so you get the real moments that tell people the story of the night.
Tahoe was good to us that night and gave us the most spectacular sunset you could want. Chris pulled us away so he could shoot us with the sunset, and what he got was epic!
He really is the best photographer I’ve ever worked with. Being a bridesmaid makes you realize what kind of photographer you would want when you’re the bride, and Chris was more than I could have asked for.
THANK YOU CHRIS!!!

Chris was our wedding photographer in December 2011 and he captured our special day in ways we never would have imagined! We knew he was creative when we met with him, but he exceeded our expectations when we got the link to our wedding pictures. (on Christmas Eve! He sent us our wedding pictures on Christmas Eve! So great.) Chris kept the photography fun with creative angles of us, friends dancing and laughing and some amazing shots of the kids that we love. Beyond being an inventive photographer, Chris was just great to work with. Punctual, easy going, fun to talk to and interesting. Several guests (my dad included) just raved about their interactions with him. Thanks Chris! We’re huge fans now! :) Lori and Todd

Chris Werner photographed our wedding in May 2011. My profile photo was taken by him :) Chris is an incredibly talented photographer, we couldn’t have been happier with his work.
Chris is professional, warm and a pleasure to work with. He is truly an artist, and is very passionate about his work.
We wanted mostly photographs with a photojournalistic feel, not posed, which he did an incredible job with. Chris put himself so wholeheartedly into capturing the day’s events that he seemed to be there for every poignant, cute, funny, crazy and magical moment.
Our photographs came out better than we could have imagined– Chris beautifully captured many spontaneous moments which we could never have planned out, and it was especially nice to look at the photos and see some of moments we missed because you can’t be everywhere at once!
We had quite a number of posed shots as well which he did a phenomenal job with, especially the ones of just the two of us, he gave us lots of ideas for cute things to do and was open to our ideas too.
We are so grateful that he flew all the way out from California to photograph our wedding for us in New York, we feel very blessed. All our friends have commented on the photos being the best and most interesting wedding photographs they have seen, and many recommended we submit them to wedding magazines. If you hire Chris to photograph your wedding, you can count on getting a beautiful and interesting chronicle of your special day to look back on.