Let me just say that planning a wedding was WAY more stressful than I had anticipated. The best thing that happened to me as a bride was stumbling upon Ariele Chapman. Ari has since day one gone above and beyond to literally do anything she can to help ease my stress and get through the process of planning. She has a wealth of knowledge in a variety of different areas related to the wedding industry and always has helpful thoughts to share.Anytime I am feeling doubtful or needing advice she has been my go-to gal! Now to get to the important stuff- her photos. Of course I did my fair share of stalking her Instagram (sorry Ari). And immediately loved what I saw. I was obsessed with her approach lighting and colors used but also the perspectives and how not one of her couples photos were those cheesy over done wedding pictures. After seeing her portfolio I was sold.  After taking our engagement pictures I was so blown away by what she captured. I have been told by SO many people that "these are the best engagement pictures I have ever seen". And we could not agree more!! They are absolutely stunning. She really took the time to get to know me and my fiance Kevin and made sure we felt comfortable and relaxed. We were both very nervous that we would be "camera shy" or not know what to do while having pictures taken of us. Ari made us feel completely at ease and we ended up having so much fun!! She is not only hilarious, but also gives great pointers and direction to help guide you in getting those perfect candid shots. We spent the afternoon hitting up all of our favorite local spots that have been apart of our daily lives for 4+ years. She was very creative with using the different locations we wanted to go to and got some gorgeous unique pictures of us. We will cherish these pictures forever as they will remind us of all the different stages of our relationship that helped get us to where we are now. To top it off- she had some edited teaser photos to us within 24 hours and the rest of them within the week. It was great to not have to sit and anxiously await getting all of these back! If you are thinking of hiring Ari - I promise you will not regret it for one minute. I absolutely cannot wait for her to shoot our wedding and be apart of our special day!!  (Ps- She is also amazing with dogs which was a mega bonus for us!)

- Alexa + Kevin

Ariele is not only an incredible photographer but she's one of the kindest people I've had the pleasure to meet. My husband and I have shot with Ariele a number of times over the last almost 3 years. We've hired her for couples sessions, boudoirs, our engagement and our wedding. Each and every time she blows us away. Her attention to detail and ability to draw true emotion out of her clients in her photos is incredible. Every time we shoot with Ariele we receive sneak peaks immediately, and photos are always returned in record time. I've never once not LOVED what she has created. She carefully takes the time to make necessary editing changes, chooses the best, most flattering shots and always always always makes me feel beautiful in front of the camera. At our wedding our guests couldn't stop raving about how professional and kind Ariele and her team were. My mom in particular has anxiety in front of the camera and Ariele took the time before and during the wedding to make sure she felt comfortable. She also followed up after to make sure my mom was happy with the result. For the first time in as long as I can remember, my Mom has photos of herself that she loves. Ariele works hard to communicate with you during every shoot to direct you to pose naturally and communicates honestly about what looks good in terms of lighting and makes necessary adjustments on the spot. She is incredibly reliable and is always willing to go the extra mile to make sure your experience with her is top notch. Beyond all that, her work is always flawless. I've shot in many different locations with Ariele under all different types of weather and lighting circumstances. She never disappoints. Her work is unique while also capturing all the traditional shots you'd want especially at something like a wedding. Her editing style is always flattering as well. If you are looking for a photographer for any reason, big or small, I without a doubt ensure you Ariele is the best choice. Thank you for all you do, Ariele!

-Christine + Jack

From the moment we did our initial consultation with Ariele, we knew she was the perfect fit for us. She is bubbly, outgoing, passionate, and was just as excited about the wedding as we were. When we started working with her, we knew we were going to get incredible pictures, but we did not realize we were making an even more incredible friend. She is there for you day or night to answer questions, give recommendations, and to talk about fun ideas. We were planning our wedding from out of state and she was so flexible with scheduling our engagement shoot and any meetings we wanted to have before the wedding. Once you see her pictures, you will understand when I say that I wanted any and every type of picture photographed by her. They are so vivid, portray such emotion, and she is so happy to make sure you one hundred percent love your shots. She is phenomenal about not posing you, but rather, giving you prompts to create a more genuine picture that you are having fun versus feeling uptight or rigid. Not only did we do our engagement pictures with her that turned out flawless, I booked a boudoir with her and it was such a unique experience. I was very nervous and a little uncomfortable going into it, since I had never done one before, but Ariele makes you feel at peace and I ended up having so much fun with it! She genuinely loves what she does and her clients and you can feel that with every experience. We really put her to work with a long, 11 hour day for our wedding and she was awesome! She was there for anything you needed with constant check-ins, communicating days prior and throughout the day with the timeline and any changes, and we could not have asked for a more perfect experience. To top it all off, we got our entire wedding album 24 days after the wedding. That is unheard of in the industry and that goes to show you how much she loves her work and wants to get the finished results to her clients! If you want a hardworking, caring, magnificent phtographer and potential friend for life, Ariele is the one for you!

- Martine + Chris

We've had our photos taken by a handful of different photographers but none of them have made us feel as comfortable and relaxed being in front of the lens as Ariele has! After having her take our family pics, it was a no brainer to ask her to be our wedding photographer. We had a destination wedding in Scotland and it was such a special experience having her there with us. Ariele immediately connected with our family and guests. We almost forgot she was there as our photographer because she fit right in! Ariele is so incredibly talented at what she does behind the lens while also balancing conversations with us and our guests to capture candid and authentic moments. She captured every detail of our special day! Her work ethic is unmatched and we received sneak peeks and our gallery so quickly - it felt like we were still living in the moment of our wedding. I cannot recommend Ariele enough!! We consider her a true friend and look forward to working with her again in the future.

Thanks,

Caitlin + Chris

After searching through many Instagram pages of photographers I stumbled upon that of Ariele. Her work was exactly what I had been looking for. A beautiful balance of moody, ethereal photos that have a polished, professional finish.

I started following her work and she messaged me congratulating us on our engagement. An easy, familiar banter began and before I knew it we were making plans for her to fly to Vegas for our engagement photos. She was so flexible and understanding when it became difficult to pin down a date to shoot. And when we were finally able to book something it was as if we had known her for years. She made the process so comfortable and fun. My husband and I are about as far from models as you can get and painfully awkward to boot, yet Ariele was able to capture beautiful photographs that truly depicted us and our love for each other. We were beyond thrilled when we were able to book her for our destination wedding as well. Throughout the whole process she was super accessible and was so sweet checking in to make sure all of my planning was going smoothly. She even offered to grab extra lashes or last minute things we might need on the big day. The efficiency with which she works is amazing. Her experience really shines when it comes to the orchestration of photos. She is so great at keeping on schedule and reigning in family members with short attention spans. She does it with a sense of authority and humor that is entirely unobtrusive. Our photos turned out better than either of us could have imagined and we are so elated that we can remember the best day of our lives with the most gorgeous photos! I can’t tell you how many compliments we have received already!

- Lindsey & Travis

There is so much I can say about Ariele. To start off, she is such a joy to be around. She will have you laughing in a matter of seconds upon meeting her the first time. Coupled with her quick wit, she is also extremely, and I mean extremely great at what she does both as a business woman and photographer. If we ever had a question, she would reply back immediately and thoroughly. She made herself available to meet to review what we wanted which meant the world to us since she literally was booked almost every weekend. She is in high demand! We appreciated her making time for us. Her turnaround time on photos too - can I just say, magic!! She was super super quick at providing us with our engagement and wedding photos so that we could enjoy and reminisce on great memories.

In regards to her work, absolutely gorgeous! We wanted a photographer that could provide a bit more moodiness in pictures and had a great eye for what looked phenomenal. Ariele sure did deliver! We have so many pictures that she spoiled us with that we adore. It is hard for us to pick which pictures to frame. I, the bride, have never really been photogenic and quite honestly would rather be on the either side of the lens, but Ariele jumped in and helped me relax. I had so much fun and can honestly look at my pictures and feel beautiful in them - thank you Ariele.

Thank you for capturing mine and Kevin's special day that we looked forward to for such a long time. As I've told you before, you are family now and will definitely be called for future milestones in our life. From photographer to friend - glad our paths crossed. Coffee date with our dogs soon please :) And for future brides & grooms - if you are looking for talent and are lucky enough to book Ariele, you are in great hands!

-Roxanne & Kevin

Ariele is amazing! From the first time I reached out to her to inquire about a quote she was quick, friendly, and helpful! She provided answers to all my questions and I lovedd that she had experience taking photos of dogs because we wanted our dog in our engagement shoot! We booked Ariele for our engagement shoot and our wedding and she went above and beyond!

From the beginning she gave me so much helpful information. She was the first vendor we booked (we didn't even have a venue yet) and she was so helpful and knowledgeable. She asked our vision and provided suggestions and recommendations for venues, caterers, and florists! Which, let me remind you is NOT part of her job but Ariele wanted to help in any way she could. I loved being able to bounce ideas off of someone with so much experience in the wedding industry and she was open to answering questions that I had.

For our engagement shoot, Ariele sent us a list of several places where we could take dog-friendly photos that matched the look we wanted. During our engagement shoot she was patient, made sure we were happy with the outcome, and had our photos edited and sent back within THREE DAYS. I don't know how she did it but she did. The photos came out beautiful!

Building up to the wedding Ariele remained in communication to answer questions I had and to work on a shot list and timelines. I didn't have a wedding planner and she took her time to help me build a timeline that would help make the big day run smoothly.

My husband is a big cars guy and had a couple nice cars at the wedding for Ariele to photograph us with. She did such a great job capturing my husband in his element and making sure that the groom felt handsome and special on his day too!

On the wedding day Ariele was organized, patient, and so friendly with our family and friends. We received multiple compliments on how friendly and outgoing she was during the wedding. Our guests shared with us that she took the time to chat with some of them while they were in line for the bar to ask stories about us as a couple that our guests wanted to share. I felt like that was such a special touch that she wanted to take time to interact and learn more about us as a couple! That night she sent us several sneak peek photos (literally hours after the wedding ended, I dont know how she did it). She was able to ALL get our photos back to us in a week in a half! I have never heard of any wedding photographer taking less that 3 weeks let alone half that time. She did such a beautiful job capturing our special day and all the moments that we can now look back at at cherish forever. Thank you Ariele for everything you do, you made the wedding day so much easier and we appreciate it more than you know!!!

Thank you,

Tiffany & Angel

From the moment we did our initial consultation with Ariele, we knew she was the perfect fit for us. She is bubbly, outgoing, passionate, and was just as excited about the wedding as we were. When we started working with her, we knew we were going to get incredible pictures, but we did not realize we were making an even more incredible friend. She is there for you day or night to answer questions, give recommendations, and to talk about fun ideas. We were planning our wedding from out of state and she was so flexible with scheduling our engagement shoot and any meetings we wanted to have before the wedding. Once you see her pictures, you will understand when I say that I wanted any and every type of picture photographed by her. They are so vivid, portray such emotion, and she is so happy to make sure you one hundred percent love your shots. She is phenomenal about not posing you, but rather, giving you prompts to create a more genuine picture that you are having fun versus feeling uptight or rigid. Not only did we do our engagement pictures with her that turned out flawless, I booked a boudoir with her and it was such a unique experience. I was very nervous and a little uncomfortable going into it, since I had never done one before, but Ariele makes you feel at peace and I ended up having so much fun with it! She genuinely loves what she does and her clients and you can feel that with every experience. We really put her to work with a long, 11 hour day for our wedding and she was awesome! She was there for anything you needed with constant check-ins, communicating days prior and throughout the day with the timeline and any changes, and we could not have asked for a more perfect experience. To top it all off, we got our entire wedding album 24 days after the wedding. That is unheard of in the industry and that goes to show you how much she loves her work and wants to get the finished results to her clients! If you want a hardworking, caring, magnificent phtographer and potential friend for life, Ariele is the one for you!

- Martine + Chris

Ariele was the perfect photographer for our elopement/micro wedding! She was always very responsive and very honest in terms of expectations. We built a friendship over the months planning even though we had never met in person and it made the process so much easier for when our special day came. After seeing her work through social media, I put my trust in her completely and I was not disappointed. She sent me amazing vendors to use and suggested the best spot for our wedding. During the day of she was such a pump up girl, telling me how beautiful I was and how much she loved my dress and all the details. She got along with our families well and broke the ice by making everyone laugh. I also appreciated her taking the time to instruct my niece to look forward on the windy roads on the way to our ceremony spot to help keep her from being nauseous! We got married in Yosemite National park and when others were surprised to see a wedding ceremony, Ariele respected our privacy and made sure to tell bystanders to ask permission before taking photos of us and even told someone no when I was getting ready to strip down and step into my wedding gown. Overall the experience was fabulous and while I told her to not worry about getting photos back to us anytime soon, she knocked them out in 48hours and absolutely stunned everyone with her magnificent work! Ariele, Thank you for taking the time to capture me and my husband’s love and for not treating me just like a client, but a friend.

Much love,

Payton and Stephen Acher

We've had our photos taken by a handful of different photographers but none of them have made us feel as comfortable and relaxed being in front of the lens as Ariele has! After having her take our family pics, it was a no brainer to ask her to be our wedding photographer. We had a destination wedding in Scotland and it was such a special experience having her there with us. Ariele immediately connected with our family and guests. We almost forgot she was there as our photographer because she fit right in! Ariele is so incredibly talented at what she does behind the lens while also balancing conversations with us and our guests to capture candid and authentic moments. She captured every detail of our special day! Her work ethic is unmatched and we received sneak peeks and our gallery so quickly - it felt like we were still living in the moment of our wedding. I cannot recommend Ariele enough!! We consider her a true friend and look forward to working with her again in the future.

Thanks,

Caitlin + Chris

Let me just say that planning a wedding was WAY more stressful than I had anticipated. The best thing that happened to me as a bride was stumbling upon Ariele Chapman. Ari has since day one gone above and beyond to literally do anything she can to help ease my stress and get through the process of planning. She has a wealth of knowledge in a variety of different areas related to the wedding industry and always has helpful thoughts to share.Anytime I am feeling doubtful or needing advice she has been my go-to gal! Now to get to the important stuff- her photos. Of course I did my fair share of stalking her Instagram (sorry Ari). And immediately loved what I saw. I was obsessed with her approach lighting and colors used but also the perspectives and how not one of her couples photos were those cheesy over done wedding pictures. After seeing her portfolio I was sold. After taking our engagement pictures I was so blown away by what she captured. I have been told by SO many people that "these are the best engagement pictures I have ever seen". And we could not agree more!! They are absolutely stunning. She really took the time to get to know me and my fiance Kevin and made sure we felt comfortable and relaxed. We were both very nervous that we would be "camera shy" or not know what to do while having pictures taken of us. Ari made us feel completely at ease and we ended up having so much fun!! She is not only hilarious, but also gives great pointers and direction to help guide you in getting those perfect candid shots. We spent the afternoon hitting up all of our favorite local spots that have been apart of our daily lives for 4+ years. She was very creative with using the different locations we wanted to go to and got some gorgeous unique pictures of us. We will cherish these pictures forever as they will remind us of all the different stages of our relationship that helped get us to where we are now. To top it off- she had some edited teaser photos to us within 24 hours and the rest of them within the week. It was great to not have to sit and anxiously await getting all of these back! If you are thinking of hiring Ari - I promise you will not regret it for one minute. I absolutely cannot wait for her to shoot our wedding and be apart of our special day!! (Ps- She is also amazing with dogs which was a mega bonus for us!) - Alexa Rae

Where do I begin? I’ve basically become close friends with Ariele due to this pandemic. She has been a strong, motivating force in strengthening Tyler and my relationship by helping us marry through all obstacles. I was introduced to Ariele’s Instagram page via my good friend and yoga instructor, Ellex Medina. It was during this time that Ariele recently photographed a magical and beautiful elopement at Carbon Canyon near Brea which is local to me. Let it be known that Tyler and I were originally planning a wedding in Hawaii where we are both originally from. All planning was set in stone by mid-February 2020. Deposits were made all over the place for various wedding vendors. Covid-19 pandemic hit the US hard, causing a lockdown to occur in mid-March for the state of California. We thought that time would speak for itself and allow us to have our originally planned wedding set for August 1st on beautiful Kaua’i. Oh, how we were so wrong! We quickly became one of the thousands of couples who’ve had to cancel/postpone their wedding plans in 2020 due to the pandemic. By mid-May, Tyler and I began considering the fact that we would need to elope in the mainland (contiguous states) rather than back home on the islands. The major reason for not being able to elope in Hawaii is the fact that any visitors from outside of Hawaii must undergo a two-week quarantine before traveling around the islands. I began to reach out to Ariele in June for elopement openings in July. We wanted to wait for an elopement on Kaua’i by pushing it to August when the two-week restriction would be lifted. Once the end of July rolled around, the state of Hawaii pushed the two-week restriction through August 31 for all visitors. This is when we’d had enough of waiting to be married to each other. Meanwhile, Ariele was there for us the entire time. She was very understanding of our unfortunate situation and wanted to help us genuinely. I was the definition of indecisive during our initial conversations over the period of two months. In the end, we swooped up an elopement date of 08/20/20 with Ariele once we found out Hawaii was no longer an option for the foreseeable future. Wow, what a great investment we’d made without truly realizing! We could see from Ariele’s social media and website the great content she is able to procure. When our actual wedding day came and we saw sneak-peeks at 4am the next morning from Ariele, we were sincerely amazed. She’d gone above any expectation we had imagined! It was because of Ariele’s work that we were able to get eloped in the beautiful location Big Sur. We decided we wanted to be married there as well! Ariele provided ONLY quality wedding vendors to help put together a new “Plan A” wedding in mini-mony style. She introduced me to Nicquel Zamora for hair and makeup on wedding day whose work was astounding. Both the trial session and wedding day were meticulously and effortlessly beautiful. - Best wishes, Maia and Tyler Hilsabeck

Working with Ariele as our photographer has been a dream! I was so obsessed with her work that I had pretty much booked with her before even getting engaged. The second we made it official, we booked with her before doing anything! She has been SO incredibly helpful with every aspect of planning, not just the photos. She has helped me with dresses, decor, and even found our venue single handedly! She is literally superwoman. We had SO much fun at our engagement shoot! She was such an angel with our dog, and made the whole experience hilarious. She even got into a nearly frozen lake with us, just to get the shot! This girl will do anything for you, seriously. Within hours of the shoot, we had sneaks, and within one day, we had ALL of our engagement photos. We are obsessed with them and have still made absolutely zero progress on picking a save the date. Thanks for complicating things Ari!If you are considering booking with Ariele, JUST DO IT! It will be the best decision you make for your wedding. We cannot wait for her to document our big day, and it feels so good to trust someone so completely! Thank you Ariele, we love you! - Emily & Joe