alyson levy PHOTOGRAPHY

uch an incredible combination of candid and planned photos. She also took pictures of everyone we requested, and so much more. We couldn’t be more grateful to have those beautiful photos from our wedding. Would very highly recommend.

rapher, and luckily, we were put in touch with Alyson. Alyson was an absolute pleasure right from the start, her communications were warm and kind, and I could tell she was genuinely excited for us. She answered all our questions, and was always prompt to reply on the same day. On our wedding day, Alyson was there when we arrived, she was kind and supportive, it was like having a friend take our photos for us. She even helped us get set up. She was unobtrusive throughout the ceremony, she is so good at her job, I even forgot she was there. Seeing as we could not have friends or family attend, Alyson even stood in as one of our witnesses. Following the ceremony Alyson walked with us to a nearby park, and took more photos for us, not once did she seem rushed, or anxious to finish exactly on schedule. The finished photos were breathtaking, she caught us at the most beautiful moments, and her eye for detail and lighting are spectacular. My wife and I are not the types who enjoy looking at pictures of ourselves, like a lot of people we're very self-critical, but there was not one photo that we didn't love, or made us cringe. Alyson is a gem. She's not only talented, but a lovely genuine person to deal with. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

ement shoot on the sand dunes). I really love how timeless her work is, nothing too trendy with heavy filters and such, just great quality photos. Thank you Alyson!

y contributed to the success of our wedding. Thru her brilliant photography skills, she captured a beautiful part of our lives that we now have forever at our finger tips thru beautiful photographs and a wedding book she designed with us. Want to preserve some special moments? Connect with Alyson - she's a class act all the way and her talent in photography will capture your special moments!

(laid back, flexible, super friendly). Plus her prices are reasonable for what you get. I knew she would be great to work with when we told her that instead of engagement photos we wanted professional photos of my husband in full armor for his fencing club, and she was totally cool with doing that. We talked to another wedding photographer before Alyson who refused. My husband and I don’t have a lot of experience with weddings and we were so glad that Alyson guided us through the process so we knew what to expect. We’d be lost without her. She and her assistant really went above and beyond, especially on our wedding day. We had a small wedding so we didn’t hire a day-of planner (big mistake) and Alyson and her assistant stepped up big time. My bridesmaid had a last-minute work emergency and couldn’t help me get ready. Alyson and her assistant helped me get dressed and out the door. I’m eternally grateful! Alyson’s assistant also helped out with music, fixed my hair, plus staged some of my favorite silly photos of the day. When it was time to review photos I think they took like 600+ throughout the day. Alyson composed a lovely album for us. We ended up splurging on the album because there were so many photos that we loved and we couldn’t decide. Alyson also did a leather cover with a custom symbol on the front. It was so awesome and I’m excited to share this album with our family. One thing I didn’t consider when I hired a photographer is that you are not just hiring someone for the big day, you are hiring someone for several months (engagement photos, wedding album, edits, etc.) I think we were working with Alyson for about 9 months. You want to hire someone you will enjoy working with over an extended period of time. Alyson is that person. She is responsive, extremely helpful, and a pleasure to work with.

xpectedly snowing but she was able to find us a lovely outdoor spot to exchange our vows and captured the moment perfectly. There was some drama over family members that had not been able to make it and Alyson was able to create beautiful individualized albums for them that downplayed the family that had been able to come, saving me the wrath of my parents.

h our wedding day so she could see our vision. She checked in with us throughout the year up until we said our “I do’s” and the day of, she was organized and efficient.

In addition, she made the entire day fun. She put us at ease immediately and is such a professional, she knew how to get the best shot immediately. I was thrilled with how seamless the entire process was. She kept everyone on schedule and I am so grateful for everything she did for us that day. I found the pre-wedding planning session very helpful to understand the information I needed to provide to Alyson so that she could meet our expectations and so that the day-of would be successful. Because she knew exactly which questions to ask and what information she needed, the photography before and during the wedding was effortless/perfection. She worked so well with the videographer we hired; they all worked together to get the shots they needed. She was such a lovely person too. Thank you Alyson!

yson did that and then some. Without a doubt, I would pick her all over again if I could. She was seriously the best. From the first email to well after the wedding was over, she was communicative, attentive, kind, and engaged. And professional and organized and just fun! She was with us all day long, and she knew how to direct things that needed directing, how to step back and let moments happen, how to become invisible and capture really special moments. And the photos themselves are so beautiful. She got everything down to the little details, and then she worked with us over the course of a few weeks to create a custom album. She also made us a custom thumb drive with our names and wedding date engraved on it, so we will always have access to our photos. We get so many compliments on our pictures because she captured our day so well. Gorgeous photos, great person. Well worth the money.

aphers I knew I wanted a combination of artistic photos and traditional wedding shots, and Alyson gave us both. Each and every photo she took was a unique piece of art, and she captured the emotion and feeling of our day completely. Alyson is professional, down-to-earth, and hilarious, and she really knows how to make people relax and look amazing in photos. We were so glad that she took our engagement photos before the wedding. This gave us a chance to get to know her and build a relationship. I knew from looking at her portfolio that I loved her style, but when our engagement pictures arrived I actually teared up over how beautiful and unique they were. From that moment on I knew our wedding pictures would be perfect and they absolutely were. Alyson was by far our favorite vendor to work with and we cannot recommend her highly enough. Alyson, you and your work are both such wonderful gifts, and we are forever appreciative of you!

NEW I needed Alyson for my big day! She is very responsive and easy to communicate with throughout the planning process. She is so personable and comfortable to be around, like she is just one of the gang, which is so important on the day-of. She has a lot of wedding experience which comes through on the day-of: I have a rather stressful family dynamic and Alyson was able to read and handle these situations when tensions were high perfectly. Her second shooter was also a perfect personality for the job. As for the photos, just WOW. I did not have ideal weather with wildfire smoke and fog, but Alyson managed to get the most beautiful shots. All of the shots look so natural, not awkward or super posed like so many wedding photos can look like. She truly knows how to “tell the story” and she 100% has “the eye”. I didn’t think I was going to care about “getting ready” photos or “first look” with my Dad photos or any of those details, but when your day goes by so fast it’s truly incredible to have everything captured by Alyson’s artistic eye. The photos exceeded my expectations and then some. Everyone I have shared my photos with has raved. A coworker said, “I’m speechless, these are WAY better than regular wedding photos!” In sum, go with Alyson, and you will not be disappointed!!

was very patient with him when he was distracted and not wanting to look towards the camera. She did a great job helping us before the wedding put together a timeline and shot list of the important photos we wanted, as well as being flexible on the day of with adding and subtracting photos. We decided to add a second shooter for the day of and we are so glad we did! The two of them combined were superstars at capturing every special moment of our wedding. We love our engagement and wedding photos and would DEFINITELY recommend Alyson to everyone!

d our vision to the letter. But first and foremost, our wedding photographs are absolutely astonishing. I don't know how she did it--the lighting conditions were not ideal, the space was challenging, our timeline was chaotic and condensed. But we are thrilled with the results and are *extremely* glad we chose Alyson Levy.

professional, organized, fun and friendly photographer, I highly encourage you to do so. From the very beginning of planning, when she anticipated everything and even helped us come up with a graceful blended families photo plan, we knew we were in good hands. And on the big day, she knocked it out of the park -- setting us up for the greatest couple shots, cueing our officiant out of the way for the first kiss to make for a perfect photo, somehow photographing everything from every angle (how DID she get to the balcony and back during the ceremony and get shots of us in the same conversations with people from both sides?). Pictures from the crazy, fun dancing in a poorly lit room looked just as great as the ones from brightly lit outdoor ceremony. Going through these with each other and with family members, we all keep saying, "Yes! This is exactly how it happened!" Can't recommend Alyson enough.

work with, fun, and immensely talented in capturing both the big and small moments of the day. We researched several photographers and found that Alyson’s style, creativity, portfolio and price matched exactly what we were looking for. We feel so lucky to have found Alyson. From start to finish, she exceeded our expectations and we have the most amazing photos (and photo albums) to prove it!

odies. Excellent communication and flexibility, a very easygoing manner and a high quality product delivered. I'm glad we trusted her with our photography that day.

odies. Excellent communication and flexibility, a very easygoing manner and a high quality product delivered. I'm glad we trusted her with our photography that day.

ls for our shoot, we were so nervous on what to expect. We thought the shoot was going to be or feel awkward and she just told us to be us, and that was exactly what we did. The shoot went so smoothly and was so much fun! Alyson was genuinely interested in getting to know us as individuals and as a couple. When we received our photos, she continued to impress us. We loved them! I instantly got various texts and comments from friends complimenting them. To all my friends who have been dating their boyfriends or girlfriends for awhile, I told them, THIS IS YOUR GIRL. After moving to Pennsylvania, Aaron and I were dreading the begin our hunt for a wedding photographer. We did not have a good experience and deep down, just wanted to have Alyson shoot our wedding. I decided to e-mail her and am so glad I did. Shortly after, I had her booked to come shoot my wedding 3,000 miles away! During the entire process, I was so stressed and had so much going on, that I was so bad at communicating with my vendors. Alyson was so understandable, patient, and incredibly kind. My wedding photos came out beyond beautiful. Having Alyson shoot 2 important moments in my life has been a blessing. I look forward to working with her for the next!

our wedding day - I don't know how she manages to grab the split-second of expression and emotion on faces, but it is magic what she did. So many special moments are perfectly represented in her photos for what they truly were and what we felt in those moments. And she's like a photography ninja - she got so many different and lovely vantage points during the ceremony in particular! So very happy with her work!

d and her poetic eye--she clearly was looking at her subjects in creative ways and putting them in creative settings. I was lucky when Alyson was available for our date since we only had two months to plan our small wedding. Our initial phone conversation helped me think even beyond the photos--Alyson has so much wedding experience (all different shapes and sizes and flavours) that we talked about many other details and timelines. This graciousness with her time continued on our wedding day. She arrived early and stayed late! She had also scouted out interesting locations for photos near where we were getting ready and near the ceremony/reception. Her kindness and professionalism and creativity continued beyond the wedding day as she created such a beautiful wedding album for us. Beyond all the details, everyone at our wedding had such a wonderful time working with Alyson. I'm so happy that she was part of our wedding day.

before. 3. She has a great personality and is SO easy to work and communicate with. Of all the people we worked with to make sure our wedding was the greatest day of our lives, Alyson really stood out. We affectionately nicknamed her "the Indiana Jones of photographers" as she followed us throughout our day with all her gear, capturing ALL of the memorable moments - not just the big ones. Alyson is very experienced and did a great job helping to wrangle our family members for the formal shots. She met with us a few times before the wedding to set the timeline and explain where all the best spots were to take pictures. Throughout the entire process she was very receptive to and respectful of all of our input and it was obvious in the final results that she took it all to heart. She is both professional and also very witty, which helped a lot to take the edge off and put smiles on our faces when my wife and I were a little stressed leading up to the ceremony. Our end result? Over 700 beautiful, professionally edited photos, an amazing wedding album, and we got an engagement session included in the package - that day and those photos were just as awesome. Our friends and family members who were at the wedding also had a lot of feedback (as wedding guests often do) - everyone who came in contact with Alyson throughout the day had nothing but spectacular things to say about her. A truly amazing value and we have NO regrets. We are so happy that we plan to work with her for family photography in the future. If you are getting married soon, do yourself a favor and reach out to Alyson - the planning process only gets easier from there!

g sure we were completely satisfied with our wedding albums, Alyson was everything we could have possibly asked for. We are from out of town, and Alyson was very flexible and accommodating to our schedules. She was extremely organized and made sure we covered all of the photo combinations that we wanted. This made our wedding day much less stressful and ensured that we had all the pictures we wanted. Prior to our wedding, she even drove out to our venue, which was nearly two hours away, so that she could scope out the best spots to take photos. She was an absolute delight to work with on the day of the wedding, and she was the perfect combination of fun and professional. She was also very easy to work with when it came to assembling our albums. And of course, the pictures were beautiful! Alyson truly has an artistic touch, and she really listened to what kind of photos we wanted. We could not have been happier with the final product. Her work is stunning! Her prices also seemed very reasonable, and she was flexible with giving us exactly what we wanted as part of our package. She even came for a quick pre-ceremony event and, once again, took amazing photos! All around, we could not be happier, and we would highly recommend Alyson to anyone. If we could give her more than 5 stars, we would... You will be happy that you chose Alyson!

n and did an amazing job capturing our day! I cannot express my gratitude or explain how highly I would recommend her! She was so friendly, non intrusive , and a phenomenal photographer. She worked so hard, thank you Alyson!

ograph my own wedding. My husband & I were so pleased with her skills on the big day, and are grateful for the beautiful memories she was able to capture. The google doc she uses is simple and is a huge help in getting things organized. Alyson is professional, straight forward, friendly and produces beautiful photos. She comes highly recommended from us!

finish. We only hope that we get another event that we want photographed so we can hang out with her again!

referred to Alyson by the designer doing our invitations, and was impressed by her portfolio on her website, so we set up a meeting. From the beginning, Alyson was communicative, collaborative, professional, and fun. She asked questions and made suggestions to help understand and solidify my vision for the photos, combining my ideas with her expertise. We were planning the wedding from out of state, which was a hassle for me, but I never had any issues while working with Alyson. She was flexible and enthusiastic, and extremely helpful in getting everything to come together. On the day of, she was organized and energetic, (despite the 100° heat!). She was unobtrusive during the ceremony (I didn't notice her at all), while still capturing all of the special moments. Her organization and direction made the formal photos following the ceremony extremely efficient: the family was out the door and on their way to cocktails in no time. What I appreciated the most was the way she was able to put my photo-phobic groom at ease, which resulted in beautifully natural expressions in the photos (unlike his usual stiff smile in photos!). Her attitude and energy kept us happy and relaxed, which is exactly the memory I want to have of my wedding day. And as for the candid shots: exactly what I had hoped for! When she sent the set over (in an adorably packaged flash drive), I cried all over again looking through them. I can't thank her enough for capturing the joy and love of our day - we will keep these memories forever. Alyson, thank you so much for everything. (P.S. Get the Selfie Station. The selfies our guests took were HILARIOUS, and some of my favorites from that day!! Don't skip it!)

he got amazing shots (both up close and from farther away), she was never intrusive and we hardly noticed her taking photos. We had a traditional Jewish wedding with many different parts, and we had a long list of different moments we wanted her to capture - she captured each moment beautifully! And finally, she was punctual, professional and always responded to our requests with enthusiasm. We highly highly recommend working with Alyson - she was one of the most enjoyable and easiest parts of planning our wedding.

hotos she got. Our guests loved the photobooth and we got a lot of great pictures from that too. Alyson has posted pictures from our wedding on her blog http://alysonlevy.com/weddings/portland-wedding-photography-lauren-grant-at-lewis-and-clark-college-estate-gardens/

us create a moving picture booth at our wedding instead of the traditional wedding video and it turned out beautiful. Such a fun way to capture he spirit of all the people who were there. She took thousands of pictures so we feel that between the amazing photographs and the video (and a second photographer) we certainly got our money's worth. The pictures even came in a wooden box on an adorable wooden flash drive engraved with our names and wedding date. If you are in the Portland area you'd be silly not to take the stress out of your big day by hiring Alyson.

over things and plan everything out. Her package included a free engagement session (what a great deal!) to get to know each other and practice shooting before the wedding. She's great at helping you feel comfortable posing, coming up with photo ideas, etc. On the day of the wedding, Alyson went above and beyond. She scouted the venue ahead of time and did a great job of noting good spots for lighting, incorporating our photo ideas, etc. She helped keep everyone calm, she was very personable with family and conscious of any conflicts going on, great with the little kids, and even had little extras on her like bobby pins and safety pins that we had forgotten. Our photos arrived sooner than expected and were great. She did an awesome job of capturing everything we wanted and incorporating different styles- my husband and I like completely different kinds of photos, and she accommodated both of our visions. She sent us an online gallery that we could share with people and order prints from and then later sent us a flash drive with high-res copies for print. She took hundreds of photos, did basic touch ups on all of them, and sent them all to us so we could have control over which ones to print and which ones we liked the best, unlike some photographers who pick out their favorites for you. Lastly, her pricing is extremely reasonable for the area. I looked through dozens of photographers and she offered the most complete and flexible packages for the price by far. Overall, Alyson exceeded our expectations and I would definitely recommend her for any event!

nd very professional. She even did a few engagement photos for us when we met with her to discuss wedding details. Her journalistic style of photography caught so many beautiful candid shots. She found all the small details of the wedding I spent so much time on and caught them in the photos. On a very HOT summer day, she made it all work smoothly... the posed group shots were quick and painless, and she captured a variety of personalities, scenes, and moments we didnt see in the rush of the day, and are so happy to look back on each of them. Her package prices are very reasonable, and quality is high! Alyson sent all the links for downloading our photos a few weeks after the wedding, and sent a beautiful package with the USB containing all our shots to us in Europe. The whole wedding party and my family recommend her too!!! Thanks, Alyson!

She gave enough guidance to create beautiful shots without seeming posed and then blended into the background when she needed to. Multiple guests asked if she was a friend or family since she fit right in. My husband and I can't wait to see all the pictures but the sneak peek is jaw-dropping.

otos had turned out amazing. She just consistently captured really beautiful moments between the couple, friends and family. We felt really confident hiring her for our wedding. Several of our vendors weren't the best communicators (like it took quite a while to get emails back from them), but Alyson was always prompt, professional, helpful, and awesome. Super easy to work with. We received our pictures back from our wedding this summer and we are just really happy with them. She did a great job. I'd highly recommend her.

ng she was also very prompt and timely in our e-mail correspondence. Overall I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a professional, friendly and highly artistic photographer. Thanks again Alyson!!

ges and, on the day of, was a consummate professional. She managed family and group photographs gracefully and efficiently, and took wonderful candid pictures as well. I had high hopes about the pictures themselves. In the end they were better than I had hoped.

ional and organized. Her process and tools are top notch, and she was excellent at communications. Photography is so important – a wedding day lasts for a day, but photos last forever and shape your memories of the day, and you send them out to friends & family. Finding the best photographer we could afford was very important to me. I wanted someone who had a talent for capturing candid photos of people that looked flattering. This is very hard to do! I also wanted someone who would give us high-resolution files which we could print ourselves. Many photographers only give you watermarked ones and if you want any prints you have to buy them through the photographer. Alyson provides high resolution files on a USB stick without watermark. Hiring Alyson to be our wedding photographer was one of the best decisions we made. Both my husband and I are delighted at the images she captured. Alyson had a prepared list of shots she recommended she take of the day, and was open to us adding and removing some shots. This was great as it reassured me that she would be capturing the moments that meant the most to us, and we could just enjoy the day without wondering if she was catching things. She took photographs of everything! And yet she never felt intrusive – in fact we barely noticed she was there and others said so too. This is great because it helps people just be themselves and enjoy the day, and look natural in photographs. I shopped around extensively for photographers. I attended a couple bridal expos, searched online, asked our wedding planners for referrals, and asked my friend who is also a wedding photographer for referrals too. I found about 6-7 I liked and priced them out. Alyson was ultimately another photographer's referral since they were already booked that day. Her portfolio had pics of people looking natural and "at their best" and she has lots of experience. And we could afford her pricing packages. In fact, we ended up adding an engagement photo session to our package. We wanted our engagement photos taken out in the Columbia River Gorge and Alyson was game to do so without charging us any extra fees for such a long drive outside of Portland. Alyson's personality is bright and cheerful (not in an annoying way at all), and was very accommodating to our requests. I felt confident that she had everything under control. We ended up engaging a second photographer who was a junior to take additional photos of the day, specifically portraits during the reception, and I was reassured that Alyson was there to guide and manage him if needed. The quality of the finished product that Alyson delivered exceeded our expectations. Her photos were delivered on-time and in organized fashion. She gave us the files on a USB thumb drive named in numerical order in the order that things happened throughout the day. This is so great because it helped me put photo books together in the order of the days events. She also gave us all the pics in color and in black and white. We had dappled sunlight for many of the pics and she did an excellent job retouching them to even out the lighting. She also had an online link we could send everyone to order prints if they wanted them which was great.

thout being in the way at all. She made everyone very comfortable, and I didn't realize how many photographs were being taken. I was at another wedding last summer with a photographer who was very much in the way, and very awkward, so I was extra impressed with how different this experience was. Also, I didn't think the lighting was great at the wedding venue, but the photos were spectacularly lit! Very impressed.

he took and she was very easy and flexible to work with. She really listened to our wishes and also had some great ideas of her own that we ended up loving (hello Selfie Station!). We would highly recommend Alyson to anyone needing engagement, wedding or baby photos (she was great with our one year-old).

long with. Bonus: she gives clients complete rights to the pictures so you can save a lot of money printing them yourself. My engagement session was really fun; I highly recommend doing one. Not only were the pictures insanely beautiful (we did it at Lower MacLeay Park), but also, the shoot gave us the opportunity to get to know Alyson and to get comfortable posing and kissing in front of a camera. This proved really useful later! Alyson was truly exceptional the day of the wedding. She fit right in and hung out with me and my girlfriends while we were getting ready. Since we were having so much fun I actually had no idea she was taking pictures that whole time. Those candid getting ready pictures are some of my favorites. During family photos, which I hear can be quite chaotic, Alyson did an excellent job directing everyone and the whole deal went really smoothly. We actually had an extra hour between pictures and the ceremony! During this hour, Alyson hung out with me, my very-soon-to-be husband, and my dad in the Pearl, taking some incredible photos and being a very relaxing presence as my nerves ramped up before the ceremony. Since I didn’t have bridesmaids she actually did quite a lot of extra stuff for me. She put my veil on, held my wristlet, got me water, bought me a brownie from Lovejoy Bakers(!)… I simply cannot express the level of gratitude I have for Alyson. I would have been seriously lost without her. And the pictures! My wedding day was the most full-of-love day I’ve ever lived in my life. This, mind you, is coming from someone who had wanted to elope! I cannot describe in words how that day felt for me. Because of the pictures Alyson took, I don’t have to! Every emotion was captured. That’s the thing that’s really special about Alyson… Yes, she took beautiful pictures of the tiny details that I had agonized over in the weeks preceding the wedding, but more importantly, she really captured the human element at my wedding. If someone cried, there’s a picture of it. If someone threw their head back in laughter, there’s a picture of it. These pictures do more than chronicle a day. They truly embody the feeling of the day. I just couldn’t ask for more.

ced between having fun and getting the job done. She captured the feel of the day beautifully. I now have countless "tender moments" captured of my friends and family. Alyson was very attentive during the day always at the right place at the right time. We opted to add the photo booth for our reception which was absolutely priceless. We now have a 5 min stop-motion video of the photo booth. It is full of precious family moments that we will forever cherish. Alyson more than exceeded our expectations and provided us with more memories than I could dream of having. She is professional and easy to communicate with. I highly encourage everyone to book Alyson, and don't miss out on the photo booth!!!

ur own crazy photo ideas. She did high-quality work for an excellent price. I also loved the way she delivered the photos - on an artistically-presented, custom-made flash drive. I would strongly recommend her, particularly for unconventional weddings.

ome beautiful pictures. We were more than pleased with the entire experience of working with her. I highly recommend her. Hire her, you will NOT be disappointed!

st and making us look super-fly. She was incredibly quick to respond, always helpful with questions, and gave us sound advice and guidance throughout the entire process. Photos were beautiful, advice prior was spot-on, and Alyson did an excellent job of blending into the scenery during the events themselves.... we can't recommend her enough.