About this vendor
You are my inspiration! Even after 17+ years of photographing 100's of weddings around the globe, I still experience the rush and excitement! I'm so grateful to all my fabulous couples. I wouldn't be where I am today without your love, trust, and appreciation for my passion of storytelling. Average spend for wedding weekends and engagement falls around $15,500 and ranges greatly depending on travel and heirloom deliverables, coverage needs, and more.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Boudoir
- Bridal Portraits
- Day After Session
- Engagement
- Trash The Dress
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Drone
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Printed Enlargements
- Printed Proofs
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Awards and Affiliations
5-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2021.2019.2018.+2 more.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Hall of Fame
Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.
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Reviews
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5
out of 5.080 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Claire is not only an absolutely incredible photographer—truly at the top of her craft—but she is also one of the most joyful, grounding, positive people to have by your side durin...
g wedding planning and on the big day. She radiates warmth, creativity, and calm in a way that instantly puts you at ease.
Our first logistics meeting with Claire was the first vendor meeting that actually made me excited instead of overwhelmed. She was so genuinely curious about our story and what mattered most to us, and she used that to shape how she would capture our relationship. She walked us through her portfolio, helped us figure out what styles we loved (and didn’t love!), and made the whole process feel fun and personal.
For our engagement photos, she worked absolute magic—wrangling a fiancé who normally taps out after 30 seconds of photos, two wild pups, a moving boat, and a storm rolling in. When we got the photos back, it was a dream. Not a single forced smile, perfect lighting, and images that just felt like us. From that moment, I knew our wedding photos would be nothing short of perfection.
On wedding day, the second Claire walked into the chaos of bridesmaids getting ready, I felt instantly grounded. She’s basically a secret wedding planner—keeping timelines on track, getting people where they need to be, and troubleshooting every hair, makeup, dress, and veil situation (if you know, you know). She was present for the intimate moments, talked me through nerves, and reminded me to soak it all in.
And as much as you try to be present, there are moments a bride simply doesn’t see. It was so special flipping through our photos afterward and getting to witness my groom getting ready, our guests settling into cocktail hour, and emotional reactions during impactful speeches. Claire captured every little moment that makes a wedding day so special.
She was professional, responsive, timely, and delivered above and beyond anything I could have imagined. Worth every penny—and I could not recommend her more!
Oh my gosh! Claire was just a pleasure to work with. I mean, she is the most talented photographer I have ever met, very professional, and is not afraid to assert herself to make s...
ure she delivers the best product! I also do not know how she does these long wedding days and is still smiling by the end. Claire was easy to talk to, laugh with, and made me feel so at ease during both the engagement photos and the entire wedding day. It sounds so silly, but a part of me is sad that my wedding is over because I do not get to talk and hang with Claire! Looking back, I would not change a thing. Wedding photos are so important and you will have them forever. Claire went above and beyond to bring our vision to life and "thank you" will never seem like enough. My family hopes to work with Claire again in the future! We love you, Claire!
Love, The Gaughans
First off, let me just say Claire is an absolute gem, a rockstar of a human and AN AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, TALENTED photographer! She always and I mean ALWAYS shows up with her A game...
! This woman loves her job and her clients! She sees you and wants to capture timeless moments you will cherish forever! She is truly a professional and I, as well as thousands of others, admire her as a human and professional! She has won countless awards showcasing her raw talent!
I am a wedding planner myself and booked Claire so far in advance because I knew I wanted her to capture my husband and I’s wedding day! She has always shown up ready to make clients happy and has done such a beautiful job even mentoring other professional photographers!
During my husband and I’s engagement session, Claire really made him and I feel comfortable and confident! After the session, my husband looked at me and said, “wow, that was pretty fun”. And sure enough, when the photos came back, we could not even begin to save a few.. we saved the entire album and wanted to print them all! Same with the wedding photos.. every picture was BEYOND AMAZING! The entire day, she managed to capture the beautiful moments we hold so close to our hearts!
All of this being said, you will absolutely love Claire and be blown away by her kind heart, her fun, down to earth personality and her true talent! You will cry happy tears when you see how your photos turn out! She makes you feel your best and look your best!! Hire her to capture your day beautifully and make an incredible friend!! ❤️
team claire!!!!
wow wow wow- she is SO talented at what she does, and makes you feel so comfortable and beautiful.
Her photography is incredible, and she has a personality tha...
t matches the magnitude of her work. We are so happy to have found her, and for her to have been part of our special day.
BRIDES, run fast, and book claire now!! you will be so happy you did!
I AM OBSESSED with Claire. She is so kind, knowledgable, considerate. Her photos are absolutely breath taking. She made us feel so comfortable during both our engagement photo shoo...
t and our wedding day pics. She made taking pictures fun. I truthfully cannot think of anyone better for this job.
Claire is an amazing wedding photographer! She makes you feel so comfortable and knows exactly how to pose you! My husband and I can not say enough good things about Claire! Her ph...
otos turn out breath taking! We have them hung up all over the house!
Totally blown away by the INCREDIBLE photos we just received. I honestly don’t know how she did it (magic???) Thank you Claire!!
I am SO in love with our wedding photos! Claire is extremely talented and an absolute joy to be around! She took our engagement photos and our wedding photos this past September an...
d I can not recommend her enough! She helped put me at ease when we were all getting ready, helped stage the group shots quickly and efficiently (we had a large wedding party) and went the extra mile to make sure we got all the unique shots we were looking for. We had a few issues with our hotel, and Claire came an entire hour early to ensure that we would be able to get photos on the rooftop for first look -- AND she ended up staying an hour extra at night to make sure we got some dance floor shots. She is amazing and truly cares about her clients. Her assistance even helped carry my dress -- I was blown away by her professionalism and her work. She made our day absolutely picture perfect.
Claire is simply AMAZING! She is kind, respectful, and so so talented. She gave us the most amazing pictures and was such a great addition to our wedding day. I would book Claire 5...
000 times over again.
I don't think I can come up with enough nice things to say about Claire. She is amazing! We hired Claire as our photographer after our original photographer got pregnant and was du...
e around our wedding date. Since that initial switch, I always believed that Claire was totally meant to be our photographer and I can't imagine not having her there for our big day. Our wedding party and us all agree that she made picture taking fun and easy. She knew exactly where to go, what to do and how to get the shots she needed. We ended up receiving SO MANY incredible photos that captured literally every minute of our wedding day.
Claire is the absolute best! Her work is magic!! She has the kindest, calmest demeanor that really makes you feel comfortable and at ease. She truly has a vision, she gives directi...
on and guidance to help move things along and ensure you get all the shots. She sent over SO many photos. Our family sat around and looked at them and we could not believe how many great photos she captured. It brought back so many memories and emotions of our special day. I would recommend Claire over and over!!
I cannot say enough good things about Claire! From the first time meeting Claire we were absolutely obsessed with her and are even more so now that we have received our beautiful w...
edding photos. It truly felt like we had a close friend taking our wedding photos and she was SO MUCH FUN to be around on our big day. She made us feel so comfortable and captured all the special moments that we will cherish forever. Claire was SO helpful and understanding during the many changes that COVID threw our way as well. Hands down one of the best decisions we made was having Claire as our wedding photographer!!
Our daughter’s number one priority for her wedding was the photographer and she spent a lot of time researching. It is easy to see now why she chose Claire. What strikes me the mos...
t as we reduced the wedding to 45 people and I can say that they were so discreet yet captured EVERYTHING that was going on. The outcome of every photo is truly spectacular and I see our daughter’s personality in every shot. Her style is exactly what we wanted and the comments we are receiving are incredibly positive and complimentary. We couldn’t be any more satisfied with Claire’s work.
I honestly don't think there is a better photographer in the Kansas City area! I was blown away by our engagement pictures and again when we got our wedding photos back in such a t...
imely manner. Claire is not only an artistic genius but she's kind and easygoing and just has a way of making you feel comfortable in front of the camera. I can't even tell you how many compliments I got but this one was one of my favorites "Those were the most beautiful wedding pictures of anyone, any wedding, I have ever seen in my whole life and I've been to a zillion weddings!!! Seriously I teared up, I'm blown away!" I'm so thankful I found her and have these memories that perfectly captured the best day of my life. Thank you Claire!!!
Finding a wedding photographer that was able to perfect candids and stills was my highest priority for wedding vendors. Claire Ryser met every single checkmark when we were researc...
hing photographers after being recommended by our wedding planner. First off, Claire is the sweetest person. You never feel uncomfortable or awkward around her. As our wedding is now over we are sad that we won't be seeing as much of Claire. Her photography is breathtaking. Find her on instagram and watch her work. You won't find many photographers with her creative eye and artistic talent. We are constantly blown away by the photographs she not only takes of us but of all of her clients. One of our bridal party members used to be a wedding photographer in KC and Claire was even recommended by them. Lastly, we had to move our wedding date from May to July due to COVID. Claire was easy to work with and flexible given this. If you are looking for the best photographer in KC Claire Ryser is it!
You can’t get better than Claire! She listens to everything you want, is efficient, can handle anyone in the group and at the end of the day, you have AMAZING pictures to last a li...
fetime! So glad Claire captured our special day - she’s the best!
I LOVED having Claire at my wedding! She made the day so easy and fun. She sent us our pictures and we had so many to choose from!
Claire was awesome! From the first time we reached out, she was responsive and open to our ideas. My wife fell in love with every picture on Claire’s website and knew she was the ...
one.
Claire’s handled every meeting and our wedding day with the utmost professionalism. I would recommend Claire if you are looking for great pictures!
We met with 2 other photographers and chose Claire because of her personality that put us at ease! We are awkward people in front of the camera (and in general!) but Claire put us ...
at ease and we LOVED how our photos turned out! She helped us find the “good light” and gave us plenty of easy and fun direction during our off site photo time. She also somehow captured so many secret moments that we didn’t even know she was there for. Everyone raves about her at the reception because she just blended so well with our families! Highly professional and great communication thru the whole process. Totally give her a call for your big day!
We were looking for a photographer with crisp bright style that did a good mix of posed photos as well as lots of candid photos. Claire and her team did such a great job. She came ...
highly recommended to us. Our whole family was impressed with her professionalism and how she handled the family photo portion of the day. She was magically there when we needed any guidance but was also very stealthy at taking the candid images! She responded quickly to every call and email. We're so glad we used her because our experience was amazing and such a smooth process! TOTAL PRO! thanks claire!
Claire did our engagement and wedding photos and was absolutely fantastic throughout the entire process! She was able to keep our puppy entertained long enough to take incredible e...
ngagement photos is 90 degree heat and also had the perfect outdoor covered location for our wedding photos during torrential downpours. She was prepared for every scenario and the photos came out absolutely stunning.
Met with Claire as a recommendation from our wedding planner. During the first meeting we were sold. Claire talked about putting together a photo schedule for the day of, as we bot...
h have larger families. Because of Claire's prior planning, everyone knew exactly where to be and when. The day went amazing and nobody felt left out of photos. Also Claire took the time to send us emails when she was on vacation. She is amazing and highly recommend.
Claire was absolutely amazing and I'm convinced she's the best photographer in KC. She did so much more than just capture beautiful photos. She created our day of timeline, made su...
re everyone was posed and every curl was in place, and captured some many special moments that could have easily been over looked. On top of all that, we had over 2,00 photos of our big day, that were back to us in under a month. We seriously can't thank her enough for everything!
I love working with Claire at The Gallery Event Space! Her editing style is SO beautiful, timeless and elegant! She knows exactly how to pose couples, as well as give cues so that ...
you can have candid and genuine photos too! Because of this, not only will you be so thankful that you hired her on your wedding day, but you will get your wedding album back and be SO in love with all the memories that she captured for the biggest day of your life. I highly recommend hiring her to photograph your wedding!
McCall Bodenhamer
past bride & KC venue manager
Claire is the BEST! Where to start?! Claire is kind, professional and talented. I’m convinced she was born holding a camera. My husband and I utilized Claire for the engagement pho...
tos, ceremony and reception. Claire met with us before the engagement photo session and twice before the wedding day. We left these sessions feeling comfortable and confident, Claire has a plan and runs the show. She has an amazing eye for angles, settings/backdrop and lighting. Working with Claire was so easy, the final product was a perfect blend of our requests and her creative ideas and suggestions. The day of the wedding, Claire kept us organized and on time. Claire learned everyone’s names in the groom’s party, and I am in awe of her ability to herd the rowdy bunch into the most amazing photos. Claire is great at styling the photos in real-time and is not only prompt but skilled in editing. Our engagement photos are some of my favorite pictures we have ever taken. During the wedding Claire caught every moment and smile, and truly captured the love that filled the event space. We will treasure these photos for the rest of our lives. I would confidently recommend Claire to every engaged couple.
We are thrilled with the work Claire did. Not only is she incredibly talented, but she was a joy to work with and was a big part of making our day wonderful. She worked seamlessly ...
with our wedding planner, videographer, DJ, and other vendors. I did a lot of research before hiring a photographer and I'm convinced that Claire is the best there is!
She was AMAZING! We live out of state, but would find a way to hire her to capture all of lifes most precious moment's going forward. I sent her sample images prior to the wedding,...
and she took time to review them. Her pictures are the most precious items I now own. They are truly the most gorgeous pictures I've ever seen. The love and tenderness she captured with our son (as well as bride/groom pictures), is far superior than what you will get from any other photographer. She exceeded our wants, hopes, and expectations; and i can't thank her enough for the work she did on one of our happiest and most joyous days.
Big thanks to Claire & her team for making this process a breeze. Leading up to the engagement session, I was anxious and nervous and just wanted everything to be perfect... Claire...
put me at ease with how good she was at directing us and giving us ideas for poses and where to look. It feels funny doing all the poses but the photos turned out amazing and we could not be happier. The wedding day photogtaphy was beautiful too! We had a dark church and she brought good lighting for inside family pictures (it was raining outside) and then managed to find good awnings Arlund the downtown for some wedding party photos! We are so happy with her creative ideas and how she captured our desire to have clsssic but fun wedding photos! Thanks Claire!
We hired Claire for our spring wedding! She's basically a magician and her knowledge of posing us and using lighting was stunning! She showed me the back of her camera of a few pho...
tos and I was blown away! Our day was amazing, but somehow the photos make it look even more like a fairytale. She was a bit out of our budget, but at the end of the day, it was worth it because our day did have several challengers that I won't get into, and having Claire's expertise saved us! My only regret is not having her do our engagement photos too!
We contacted Claire when we got engaged after being guests at a wedding she was photographing. She was so professional and great with our friend's wedding that we were really impre...
ssed...Then we saw their photos and it was a done deal! She photographed our engagement session and our wedding day. We were running behind with getting ready and she caught us up to speed, working very efficiently. I'm a laid back person, but on the wedding day I was feeling all the nerves and Claire kept things fun and easy and kept everyone calm and happy! I just wanted classic, happy, bright photos that showed the celebration and us interacting with our friends and family... Claire and her team accomplished that AND MORE. We couldn't be happier with our entire experience!
If you are looking for a photographer who captures the real moments, Claire is your gal! I honestly could not have picked a better photographer for our wedding and engagement pictu...
res. Claire is beyond amazing, her talent is out of this world and her personality is the cherry on top!!! I would recommend Claire to anyone and everyone, if you are able to have Claire as your photographer you will not regret it, trust me!
Claire was great to work with and always made us feel comfortable (even when we are bad at pictures)! She is just such a sweetheart! I would definitely recommend her!
Everyone tells you to not cut corners on your wedding photography and it's SO true. Claire is so talented and her work is very classy, natural and timeless. She is also very easy t...
o work with and has a very fast turn-around with her pics. We got ours in 30 days which was great! Lots and lots of pics with many in both color and black and white. Book Claire! She is amazing.
Claire was absolutely WONDERFUL to work with! She kept everything moving according to schedule and accommodated last minute changes like it was no big deal. We would highly recomme...
nd Claire and can't wait to see our final photos!
If you’re thinking of going with another photographer, STOP what you are doing and go to Claire! From our very first meeting, her kind and energetic vibe had us at ease and really ...
excited! She gave us a lovely welcome packet and guide to what our upcoming wedding-planning months had in store, and assured us that through her experience she would capture everything that was important to us. Her attention to detail, especially the girly stuff-like when a seam is making something bulge you want hidden, a flyaway hair, or not-so-hot angle, Claire was always there to set us straight. Not only did she produce flawless pictures that we will forever treasure, her passion for photography shines through her work and her presence. Claire is a gem and we highly recommend her!
We used claire for our summer wedding. She did a great job. It was a hot day and she kept things flowing and found shaded spots that turned out amazing. She was very professional b...
ut also down to earth and friendly. We felt like she was one of our wedding party members by the end of the day. We highly recommend her to everyone.
Stop the search for the best photographer! Hire Claire! She is the sweetest most helpful and talented photographer! We were looking for someone with attention to detail as we had a...
n elaborate reception and a lot of special elements at our wedding. She covered our day for over 10 hours and was so joyful and energetic all day! She never stopped taking photos. Everyone loved her. We are thrilled with our wedding photos!
We loved our entire experience with claire! She did our engagement session and wedding photos. She had the locations printed for our limo driver and was so organized! We had a very...
crunched timeline, but claire was able to get so many photos! We are beyond thrilled with the quality of her service. Thank you Claire.
I’m so glad that we found Claire! She is so organized and made this experience a breeze! We had her do our engagement session, rehearsal dinner, and wedding! We had our photos read...
y in just a couple weeks and they were GORGEOUS! we were amazed that she was able to capture so many moments ! We will love our photos forever! Hire Claire if you are looking for a true professional who is an EXPERT AT WHAT SHE DOES!
Claire did such a great job all day. My wife-to-be was nervous because we had rain in the forecast, but Claire kept her calm all morning. She even kept my groomsmen on their best b...
ehavior, haha! Definitely go with Claire if you are looking for a stress-free day!
Claire was such an amazing photographer to work with! We were planning our Kansas City wedding from another state and She went above and beyond to ensure a seamless wedding day! Sh...
e sent us multiple options of photo locations around the city with real wedding portfolios as examples. She provided guidance on timing of photos and number of locations, which was incredibly helpful in setting up our day of timeline . She was always available during the planning process to answer any questions and offer creative insights. One thing we loved was her effort to get to know our story and background. This really contributed to the comfortable vibe throughout the whole process. The day of the wedding Claire was super energetic and genuinely happy to capture all aspects of our festivities. With her bubbly personality, she fit right in with the wedding party and family which helped captured some great candid photos and provide a relaxed feel to the picture taking process. She was quick in providing us with our gallery and the quality of the pictures were unreal! Her attention to details and ability to portray each persons personality gave us photos that we will treasure for a lifetime. My wedding party is still buzzing over how amazing our photographer was and how fun she was to be around! We are so thankful Claire was our photographer and lucky to have amazing photo keepsakes from our day! Thank you Claire!!!
Claire and her team captured our day to perfection. We were looking for a photographer who did a combination of posed, candid, and fun images. We also wanted photos of our flowers ...
and all of the elements we had spent so much time designing and planning. She went above and beyond to make our dream day PERFECT. Not only do we have magazine-worthy flower photos, but she captured a first look with my dad that I'll cherish forever. So many moments I barely remember are not frozen in time for us. The day goes by so fast, and I love that we have these photos to look back on forever. Thank you Claire!
Just want to say Thanks to Claire for making the photography process so easy. I am not a fan of posing long for tons of pictures. Claire kept things moving at a good pace and kept ...
everyone on track but still making it fun so we could enjoy the day and our friends. We had a lot of people come in from out of town, and I didn't want to feel like I was missing out on our party. She was able to find spots around out venues so we didn't have to go on a long excursion all of the the city. We love how our photos turned out and the dance floor photos are just great. We highly recommend claire if you want modern photos and things to not feel like a chore. All my groomsmen loved her and she felt like a friend by the end of the day.
Claire was the best decision I made for my entire wedding. She is the most outstanding Photographer and I feel so lucky to have had her capture our perfect day. She has an outstand...
ing eye for capturing the special moments that can easily be overseen. She did an outstanding job, was very friendly, extremely professional and very helpful in getting us any photo we could have ever wanted. I am SO thankful we hired Claire for our wedding day, now I will forever cherish that day thanks for her photos!! I HIGHLY recommend her if you are looking to have each and every moment captured to live on forever. She is very talented and lovely to work with!
Amanda Berndt
Claire is INCREDIBLE! She is truly talented and creates an amazing photographic experience! We did our engagement pictures with her, which was the perfect warm-up for our wedding d...
ay! She is super calm and personable, all my bridesmaids remarked about how fun she was and how in control she seemed! Claire did a great job directing the pictures and creating awesome scenery to get incredible shots!
Claire was super committed to making sure my husband didn't see me before the ceremony, which was very important to us. She made it her personal mission to honor our wishes around that, and that was super meaningful for us!
Her photography is unbelievable! Super real and natural, not too edited and actually looks like us, which is amazing! It was truly an honor to have her as our photographer; I am so thankful we found her!
If you are looking for someone who is professional, extremely talented, knowledgable, fun, and dedicated, it's Claire! Look no further! Her prices and packages are way more reasonable than most, and she will make sure she is doing everything she can to make your day memorable!
Simply giving Claire a Five Star rating just isn't doing her justice. Jeff and I said our vows on June 4th of this year and I have put off writing this review, not because I didn'...
t think she was deserving, but because I just don't know how I am going to put into words the ethereal experience she has given us from the very first day we met her. From our engagement photos in October of last year, to the delivery of our final wedding package a few months ago, I have been in awe of her work. She took our love and excitement for each other and managed to show it in every single photo. Our friends and family have been blown away by Claire's work and I cannot wait for one of them to get engaged so that they can have the same experience we did! Saying "Thank you!" to Claire will never express all we grateful for from her. These photos are not just pictures of our engagement and wedding day with friends and family, they are a gift of a lifetime full of memories that Claire has given us. We are so lucky...... xoxo <3
From our very first meeting Claire was all that we could ask for and more. She was incredible in every way. Not only were our photos amazing, Claire was able to do so much more f...
or our wedding experience. She helped create our wedding timeline, kept all of our bridal party on track and on schedule, cleaned Natalie’s dress when I decided to spill red wine on it…I could go on and on. Claire is not only the best photographer in I’ve ever seen, but she’s a great person too. She is definitely a perfectionist and it shows in everything that she does!! Our wedding couldn’t have been as perfect as it was without Claire. I literally can’t say enough for how awesome she is!! If I could give her more than 5 stars I would! THANKS CLAIRE!!!!!!!!!
I literally cannot say ONE bad thing about Claire. She was perfect from the first day I contacted her. She did a boudoir shoot, engagement shoot, and our wedding photos. Some wor...
ds I would use to describe Claire as a person would be sweet, complimentary, accommodating, detail oriented, fun, and organized. Some words I would use to describe her photography would be: classy, modern, vivid, stunning, bright, and timeless. I would not change even ONE of our photos or anything about our experience with her as our wedding photographer. Claire is worth much more than she charges. In this review, it is hard to explain how she is so much more than a photographer… She WORKED for 12 hours on our wedding day, cleaning red wine off of my dress, helping with other vendors, and making sure my day was absolutely perfect. I could go on and on, and I would give her more than 5 stars if I could!
Claire was awesome! She captured our love so well throughout our special day! Claire is extremely creative and very good to work with!!!
I wish there was a way to give more than five stars! Claire was absolutely AMAZING!!! From our first meeting, to engagement photos, to the wedding day, and every strange question ...
or request I had in between, we could not have asked for a better photographer! Our photos turned out amazing and we got so many compliments on how amazing, modern, and natural they looked. Claire was hands down the best decision we made on our wedding day, besides the actual "I do's" :) We cannot thank her enough for giving us these beautiful memories forever!
Contact
106 W 14th St, 1807, KANSAS CITY, MO | Greater Kansas City Area
Claire Ryser's photos