Bella Pictures Wedding Photography

This review is long overdue … my husband and I got married a couple years back, and just thinking about our photographers still irks me! They sent two photographers who had never worked together, so there was no rhythm between them. One of them was SO rude and made very inappropriate comments on how much the wedding cost. That same photographer thought it acceptable to sit in the middle of the dance floor while the speeches were being given — without even taking one photo! Then we had to battle with them to get what we paid for. All in all an awful experience and I would never recommend them to anyone!

If I could give this company zero star I would. Contacted to get pricing on their wedding packages, first they didn’t answer the phone, I left them a voicemail. Second, send them an email, which they never responded back until 12 days later. I said that I hired someone already because I never heard back from them, the lady on the other line just said «yeah, yeah» and hung up. Avoid them, very unprofessional.

I contacted her to get a quote and now i get tons of spam emails from them. I wonder if I actually hired them how many more junk emails I get. Im planning a wedding the amount of emails is overwhelming and now I have added stress by someone who I didnt hire and now wouldnt hire.
Do not even call for a quote or the nightmare will begin!

Nope.
After illegally purchasing my contact information, this company then proceeded to spam my email inbox. Super unprofessional. Would never recommend such a shady business.

EVERYTHING EVERYONE SAYS IS TRUE! DO NOT HIRE THEM.
I hired Bella PIctures Wedding Photography for my wedding last year (September 2011) except I was getting married in Northern California. I am assuming this is the same company because the website is the same (they likely have different locations all over the place).
When we met with the consultant we had TWO VERY CLEAR CONDITIONS:
1. A photographer who knew the Santana Row location extremely well because we were not getting married at a typical venue and taking photos was a challenge because you had to do it in the downtown area.
2. The photographer is friendly and communicates well.
We got NONE of that. They hired a photographer who did not speak English very well and he made all my bridesmaids nervous because he kept harshly talking to them. All seven of my bridesmaids told me they thought he was rude. ALL SEVEN.
The photographer knew NOTHING about the venue. When the ceremony was over, we went outside to start taking photos and the first thing he said to me was, «Where should we go?» Are you serious? YOU SHOULD BE INVESTIGATING THIS BEFOREHAND AND WE ASKED FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER TO KNOW THE AREA. He then said he’s never been to that location before. It’s like the consultant completely ignored our requests.
When we got the photos back, it was the most awful set of photos I have ever seen. First off, there were only THREE PHOTOS OF MY HUSBAND AND I. THREE! And he only too five photos of our family. He took way too many photos of the guests. And want to know the worst part? HE TOOK PHOTOS OF ANOTHER BRIDE WHO WAS GETTING MARRIED AT THE SAME VENUE. And no, it wasn’t because we looked alike and he was confused, he KNEW what I looked like. And I know it wasn’t from another set of photos from another wedding, I was there when he took photos of her and then he had the balls to put them in my wedding photo folder. Stupid, stupid man.
We finally chose the photos for our album (which were horrible photos, my guests took much better photos), and they sent us a proof. The proof looked fine and we gave the approval. The wedding album showed up months later and guess what? THEY FORGOT THE LAST PAGE TO THE ALBUM. I called customer service and she said, «Well, didn’t you see and approve the proof?» Stupid girl. I emailed her the proof just to throw it in her face and said, «Yes, I did approve the proof and you’ll notice that the last page of the proof has been forgotten on the album.» She said that they would redo the album and that I needed to mail it back to her but she couldn’t send someone for a week to pick it up.
Anyway, we finally got the album back which was beautifully made (except the photos sucked — they were dark, dimly lit).
Customer service emailed me and asked me for feedback. In a very constructive, professional manner, I told her the pros and cons of my experience. And just like someone else who wrote a Unilocal Review, THEY NEVER WROTE ME BACK. Basically, they only write you back if you give them all positive reviews. Here’s some proof, notice that every single person on here has a negative review and Bella Pictures hasn’t even bothered to reach out to us and ask apologize or try to fix it. This just goes to show that they try to ignore negativity. That’s not good customer service.
All in all, I will NEVER recommend Bella Pictures to anyone. I’ve been asked by three brides and I told them all, STAY AWAY FROM BELLA PICTURES.

I wasn’t impressed at all with Bella Pictures, the photographer was extremely pushy and didn’t take important pictures I requested.
Don’t get the moments that were very important for me, especially my ring and my husbands rings and my whole family portrait. I didn’t get that 100% guarantee that Bella pictures says you will receive. Sucks because this was one of the most important days of my life.

Save yourself and do not hire this company.
I made the grave error of hiring them and if I could get married again– I wouldn’t have!
They were a problem every step of the way. I intitially decided to use tehm because the consultation was so good. I loved what they were offering and they set themselves up to be true professionals. Hwoever, after you sign and pay they are basically done with you. I had to call them and inquire about every tiny thing. As a bride, that is why I hired you! I don’t want to have to do everything– that is what your job is.
Abput 4 weeks before the wedding (And I booked them 1 year in advance) they still hadn’t contacted me to tell me who was gonna be my photographer, when I could meet this person, or anything else. Planning a wedding and working a fulltime job is stressful so I expect a company to work with me… not mae it harder.
After the wedding was over, they didn’t publish all of my photos online. Come to find out there were 1000’s of «outtakes» that they decided (on their own w/​o any instruction) to omit. When I inquired about this, they wanted me to pay another $ 200 for my outtakes. I had to drop the bomb on these people. They were so trippin…
As of today, they are still doing things wrong. They messed up my wedding album =(
Like I said, save yourself the hassle and go with someone else.

I was initially attracted to Bella because of all the reasons that made it seem great — artistic photographers, a design team, and professional quality. Little did I know what I was in for!
VIDEOGRAPHY: Bella changed videographers on us at least 3 times. Finally, a week before the wedding, they assigned to us some young, inexperienced videographer who did not have a wedding portfolio on his website. When I asked Bella whether he had any wedding experience, they did not answer me. Desperate because of time constraints, I believed that Bella knew what it was doing and resigned to the videographer they had assigned to me. Boy, was that a mistake. The videographer arrived late, missed out completely on the ketubah signing, didn’t have time to pin microhpones on us, and did not use his own lighting/​lamps. The result: we could not hear our vows, and could not see our guests’ faces!
PHOTOGRAPHY: Bella also changed photographers on us once before the wedding. We were not unhappy with the photographers, but they were not proactive enough in terms of making sure that I looked my best in the photos (my veil was blown flat against my head by the wind in my bridesmaids photos), and in making sure that we got through all the pictures in time. They kind of just stood around and waited for me to direct the next photo.
ALBUM DESIGN PROCESS: This is where it gets ugly. Bella sent me over 4,000 photos on 3 discs. There was a folder called «Your Story.» another called «Your Wedding Day,» and the remaining called «Outtakes.» I was confused as to what the significance of «Your Story» and «Your Wedding Day» were. I finally learned that they were the photos that Bella «selected» to be the best, but knew that I could not trust them to be the judge of that! Then I realized that each folder contained pictures of my entire wedding from beginning to end — which meant that I had to go through my entire wedding 6 TIMES in order to pick out the photos I wanted for my album! The process was painstaking and took me literally 2 YEARS, as it was very difficult to keep track of which photos I had already selected from a given event and how they differed from each other. It would have been much easier had Bella NOT assumed that they knew best and set aside the photos that were so obviously NOT what I wanted in my album. I would have much preferred to go through those 4,000+ photos twice (once for each photographer) than 6 times!
Bella also misrepresented the album design process. The consultant we initially met with told us that we would be able to design our own album using a special program. She told me not to worry, that touch-​ups wouldn’t be a problem. Instead, after our wedding, Bella sent us an initial draft and told me that we could only revise the album 2 times — after which we would be charged $ 100 per hour. Nowhere in our contract does it say that we were limited in the number of drafts, and never did they notify us of this before the wedding. In all, I submitted 3 revisions, and Bella attempted to charge us for the 2^nd and 3^rd. Both times, I asked them to specify what they were charging me for and where our contract allows them to do that — and they backed down. The whole album design process was like pulling teeth. Every time I sent them an e-​mail, a different person would respond. They had a lot of canned responses — it was like communicating with robots!
Bella claims to have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. I have sent Bella several e-​mails detailing my complaints and they have never addressed them. I am still waiting to see how they will make good on this «guarantee»!
My advice: Go with a photographer who will be willing to work with you face-​to-​face to streamline the album design process!

I was so disappointed with this company! The photographer they hired was not what I expected or anticipated. He was extremely chatty with guests therefore wasting precious time taking photographs, did not take the shots that I emailed him and wrote on the planning page, and was passing out his business cards to guests. When I emailed Bella my complaints — the only thing they offered to do was to use the photoshop dept to tweek the photos to make them as I want — seriously?! You can not go back and tweek photos when you didn’t even get the shots you wanted in the first place! Then I asked if I could meet with someone personally to go over the photos and tell them exactly what I want and they claimed that their office is in San Francisco so that was not possible. It’s funny how they have someone accessible when they want your business but as soon as the wedding is over — nothing. Long story short — my husband and I ended up hiring another photographer that my friend recommended and we did an after wedding session and I finally got the artistic shots that I wanted.

My fiancé and I are not residents of Orange County. We live on the other coast (NYC), but decided to have a wedding in her home town. Knowing that the photos capture the moments we will keep for a lifetime, we set out to find a top-​rated photog. Speaking to friends, family and internet searches lead us to Bella. We meet with Rona, who was wonderful. She had full photo albums, not just a shot here or there like others. We saw actual products (albums, videos, etc). This was very beneficial in understanding what we were going to get.

There website after we decided to go with them was great too. The rating of photos really helped us find out style. Additionally, the site outlines types of photos we might want and more.
However, their biggest problem is the photog. We were less then impressed with the end result. In fact not a single photograph was taken of the cocktail hour! Plus some photos had some people with sunglasses on and others not. The photog should have seen this and corrected it. He only took one photo and moved on. I was hoping that several photos were taken of the same thing, so we could pick the best one.
After finding photos that we really liked, the end result was great. The album is amazing. The team that put it together did a great job. They group the photos for you to assist which is beneficial too.
If you do use Bella, I would suggest you meet with the photographer. Ask to meet with others who used him/​her. This will give you a balanced view and allow you to adjust photographers before the wedding.

I found Bella Pictures while searching online for a great photography company for an affordable price. Their website posted free consultations, and a chance to win a photography package, where they pick winners every month! After meeting with Selina, and finding out about their packages and pricing, my fiancé and I were sure we wanted them to cover our wedding. Selina has been extremely sweet, attentive, and helpful – she is always available to us! We also received a complimentary portrait session with our package! Our complimentary photo session, though brief, was lots of fun. Our photographer for that day was very professional and really helped us to relax and feel comfortable in front of the camera. Another great perk about Bella Pics is they have a unique matching process that allows them to select a photographer that suits your style!
For any bride and groom-​to-​be, having full access to your digitive negatives is a plus and Bella Pics definitely allows you this option. I would definitely recommend Bella to anyone on a budget!

8 Months to go until I say «I do» to the man of my dreams in front of our friends and family. What an incredible moment and amazing day that will be. Bella pictures will be there to capture all of those moments for my fiancé and I. To be honest I had not heard of Bella pictures prior to searching for photography for our wedding day. They were the first and only photography company we met with. We met with Rona Graf. She is the best. She is very knowledgeable about the company yet didn’t try to sell us into one package. She also brought her real life experiences into the consultation and was able to point out aspects of the one special day that Bella Pictures would be able to capture for us. The best part is that Bella is dual company. The photographers and the graphic designers can do what they do best! We are so happy that we found Bella!

As mother of the bride I have been very impressed with the work Bella has done for us before, during and after my daughter’s wedding. Bella was careful to assign the right photographer to my daughter, changing the person until they got it right. And it was right! The day of the wedding the photographer spent so much time with Kristy that it was essential that they got along well. The bride and groom enjoyed their day, were very relaxed during the photo sessions, and were able to enjoy the ceremony and the reception without being distracted by the photographer. We especially appreciate the way Bella works, giving us access to the digital pictures shortly after the wedding. And we love the website which allows our friends to view the pictures. Our consultant, Selina, was very helpful and professional. She got back to us promptly whenever we had questions, she listened carefully to our concerns, and she took time to help us with our specific needs. Our photographer did a beautiful blend of artsy and traditional photos, as well as a photojournalistic style, so we have the whole day chronicled. Everyone has raved about her photography. She captured personalities and special events, as well as décor and details. Our hope was to find someone who would give us the digital pictures after the wedding, but maintain the highly professional services we were looking for. We are grateful to have found Bella and highly recommend them.

So far our experience has been great. Our rep Jennifer has been very helpful and attentive to our questions and needs. We are looking forward to our big day. I will be writing all about it soon.