Russ is the absolute best. Not only was he super professional and easy going throughout the wedding planning process he was absolutely INCREDIBLE on the day of the wedding. He found a way to get AMAZING shots only using a very short amount of my time (I was one of those bratty brides that didn't want to deal with pictures and just wanted to party :) ) and he was so kind and so supportive of me on the day. I felt bad because I really gave him a short window to succeed and he went ABOVE AND BEYOND. The end result is gorgeous- feel free to check them out on his website :). I had so many guests saying how he and his assistant were everywhere, capturing every moment while simply blending in and making everything seem so effortless. And even better- HE'S FUNNY! He makes the group photos seem like a piece of cake and his humor makes the anti-pose people such as myself and my husband feel at ease during our couple shoots. He really is the best and such a support to any bride on their special day. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!

RUSS IS THE BEST, HANDS DOWN. He captured our engagement and wedding day photos better than we could have ever imagined. The amount of excitement, love and happiness from what he was able to capture is so evident, it's almost tangible. If there's one vendor you can rely on without a doubt, it's him. He was our favorite wedding vendor and worth every. single. penny. Throughout the entire planning process, he was extremely professional - he was always the first to communicate and respond to our inquiries/emails (even when he was out of the country shooting for other weddings), he was honest, gave great suggestions, he was always punctual when meeting with us, and he was especially flexible when the wedding timeline did not go as planned. Most of all, his talent is unparalleled. Being able to view our wedding day through his perception is such a special experience because of the different angles he chooses, his ability to find the best lighting, and his quick adaptability to any situation. We never had to worry about him getting the right shot because we placed our full trust in him. From the moment he stepped in to meet my husband for wedding prep to our sparkler exit at the end, he was constantly taking shots so all of the unforgettable details and candid moments we will cherish forever and can now relive anytime we want. A suggestion for future brides: Consider hiring a second shooter. We absolutely do not regret opting for a 2nd. Russ chose a photographer with a very similar visual aesthetic compared to his own and the combination of both of their photos were perfection. Overall, HIRE RUSS. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.

Russell was the easiest and best decision we made during the wedding planning! His work is absolute perfection. We couldn't be happier with our photos. Russ is professional, extremely easy to work with, funny and just amazing. We didn't have a vision for our engagement shoot so we let Russ pick the location, best decision! He gave us outdoorsy, casual, fun and glamour all in a few hours. Annnnnd the wedding photos! I didn't get off the couch for hours because I had to look through the amazingness over and over and over and over again! So if you aren't catching my drift... stop your photographer search now because no one is better! Russell you are effortlessly talented. The Beyonce of photographers!

Russ was one of our favorite parts of our day. Yes, Russ is amazing. Look at his photos. He's so easy to work with, super organized, responsive, funny, and calm. He got our required family and group photos with ease and an ability to direct large groups of people kindly and quickly so we could get back to enjoying time together. He has created treasures for us, for our families, and friends. We look at his photos and are instantly transported back into that specific moment, with all the emotion, love, joy, and tears. I have never felt my heart fill, overflow, and expand with joy and love as I did on that day. Each photo ignites that feeling every time. Thank you.

We used Russ Levi Photography for both an engagement shoot and our wedding day and we can't say enough wonderful things about working with him! He has a very unique, editorial style that sets him apart and well above most wedding photographers. His photos are both beautiful and striking; they capture the moment perfectly and look like they belong on magazine covers. Russ is amicable and kind, so rapport develops almost instantaneously - something very important for someone who will be right there capturing your most intimate moments. He effectively provides polite feedback and guidance to get his subjects situated for the perfect shot.

Talented. Hard-working. Enthusiastic. Professional. I could continue with a long list describing Russell and his wondrous ways; simply put, he is, as someone else mentioned here, as good as it gets. My husband and I were blessed to have him photograph our wedding in the Eastern Sierras (and our engagement photos), and have been absolutely blown away with not only the finished product (i.e. AMAZING PHOTOS!) but his demeanor throughout the weekend. Russell has the unique ability to have a clear vision of what he wants while being flexible enough to go with the flow and read the situation. Really easy to work with throughout the whole process, from start to finish. Looking through the photos, again and again, we have found ourselves saying, "wow, he captured (fill in name)'s essence perfectly!"

I’ll preface this by saying I’m a graphic designer/art director based out of New York, and I am extremely particular with photography, so trying to find a photographer to document the most important day of my life was very stressful! With that being said, I could not be happier with how my experience with Russ panned out! Russ is extremely nice, and very easy to work with. He contacted us soon after we reached out to him, and provided clear and accommodating package deals, which we were able to tailor to our unique schedule (my wife and I are Mormon, so we had two ceremonies in two different locations on the same day). On the day of the wedding, Russ was efficient, friendly, and more than patient! He worked the different group shots quickly and effectively, never missing a beat, or losing a detail. He’s also really funny, so it was super easy to feel natural and comfortable when he was taking pictures. We were also fortunate to have Russ’ girlfriend there to assist. I would strongly recommend having Russ bring a second photographer, cause as a team they were dynamite! While Russ was taking the essential wedding shots, she captured awesome candids of our friends and family! After the wedding, when we received our images back, we were over the moon! Russ’ style perfectly captured the heart and soul of our wedding, with beautiful lighting, authentic emotions, and highly conceptual compositions. Absolutely stunning! I could not recommend Russ more. He is extremely talented, and deserves more exposure! (Pun intended...)

OK. To start with, let me just say this man is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is prompt, charismatic, funny, patient, genuine and an absolute professional. How he manages to embody all these things at once I'll never know. Seconds after you meet him (once he's given you a giant hug), you'll feel as if you've known him your entire life. Honestly, there's a good chance you WILL want to know him the rest of your life after you see the pictures he's taken. He has an absolutely incredible ability to, somehow, be right there to capture those moments you want captured (a wink, a fleeting expression, wiping a tear away) that otherwise would be gone forever. It's pure magic... but also, he just REALLY knows what he's doing. My husband and I were married at Jack London State Park, which is an absurdly picturesque place....old stone barns, giant oaks, vineyards... it's almost too much. Russ and his equally amazing 2nd photographer Alex, however, managed to capture every aspect of the site's beauty with no trouble at all. Again... because he's pro. I'm convinced Russ could be dropped on Mars and still shoot stunning photos through his astronaut helmet with a disposable camera. :) Thank you again!! The. Best.

Russell was so great to work with, we had him for both engagement shoot and wedding day. He is on top of everything, ideas, communications, timeline, and energy! There were two parts of our wedding that I labored intensely over, the photographer and videographer, since they would be the ones helping us remember our day. I loved Russell's portfolio and there were tons of candid photos which I liked, but most of all, I loved his signature look in his photos. I don't know what this looks is called, but it's gorgeous, romantic, dramatic, yet intimate. I also liked that Russell was comfortable working with a huge wedding party of 300+ guests and had a second photographer with him too. Russell was amazing to work with and even my husband who is super uncomfortable in front of cameras, got pretty comfortable with Russell behind the lens (his grimace-smile turned into a smile-smile). He hiked through the woods with us for our engagement shoot and kept our shoot super fun and relaxed. One thing that stands out is Russell's professionalism and dedication to getting the perfect photo day for his clients. Our wedding day was extremely long (12+ hrs) and complex with multiple stops, meaning our timeline was very tight. Russell made sure to have a phone meeting with us the week of, to make sure everybody was on the same page. He went over the timeline in detail and helped adjust certain areas to make sure we got all the key photos we wanted on our very tight schedule. Day of, Russell was amazing and despite many of our family getting in the way of his shots with their phones taking pictures, he kept his cool. Post-wedding, he sent some teaser pics to hold us over the week after, but literally, jut a month later, he had all of our wedding photos ready to be viewed! The photos stayed true to his style, were candid, and looked amazing. He really helped capture all parts of our day. Thanks again for everything!!!

We could not be any happier with our pictures and his work. Russ and his team are absolutely amazing, professional and talented. I didn't have him for my engagement and our wedding was our first experience. He made the whole process so fun and easy and comfortable. He is really patient and flexible ( I know it's hard to manage big bridal party of Persians!). Pictures are one of the most important things in the wedding and you can NEVER go wrong with Russ!

Russell is simply fantastic and extremely talented, so much so that one of my bridesmaids has also chosen Russell as her wedding photographer and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to any of our other friends! My husband and I first met Russell and his girlfriend Alex (who is also amazing and was our second photographer for both our engagement shoot and wedding) at his SF office and immediately saw his passion and joy for photography. Russell is charismatic, funny (or should I say pun-ny - because he loves puns!) and a blast to talk to and hang out with. We lost track of time at our first meeting and ended up chatting with Russell and Alex for almost 2 hours. It felt like we had been friends for ages and we decided on the spot that we wanted Russell as our photographer. Wedding planning can be chaotic and stressful, but selecting our photographer was one of the easiest decisions we had to make! For our engagement shoot, Russell and Alex drove out to meet us at Yosemite for the day. I became pretty nervous after seeing how many park visitors were around and staring at us taking photos. Russell was able to make me feel a lot more comfortable by telling jokes (and puns) and had an eye for finding all these beautiful spots with less people around. I will forever cherish our engagement shoot because for most of the day, Russell was able to make us forget that we were even taking photos and it felt like it was just my husband and I enjoying sweet moments together surrounded by towering trees and granite mountain cliffs. Fast forward 2 months to our wedding in July of this year. Russell and Alex arrived on time to me and my bridesmaids running behind schedule for getting ready. Russell immediately started telling jokes and was able to lighten the mood in the bridal suite. Before I even finished getting ready, Russell had already gone ahead and taken pictures of the flower girls, my dress and jewelry, etc. Russell and Alex were able to capture every joyous, tearful, funny and cute moment throughout the day and was open to trying every picture idea that we had. Unlike most wedding photographers we’ve seen, Russell didn’t try to pose us too much. Instead, he allowed real moments to develop and knew exactly when to capture the most genuine of emotions. Initially following our wedding, we felt somewhat regretful for not hiring a videographer to capture all the cute flower girl mishaps and moments that we missed. But after receiving back our wedding photos, that regret has completely diminished. Russell didn’t just capture photos, he captured stories and memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. My mom even said going through all the photos was like watching a movie of our wedding! Even though we are still in the midst of wedding season, Russell was able to deliver our photos weeks earlier than what was promised. If you have spent the time to read this entire review, then do yourself a favor and contact Russell immediately! Your wedding photos by Russell will no doubt make you smile ear to ear and help you relive the happiest moments of your wedding day for years to come!

We chose Russell for his absolutely stunning photos, but working with him unexpectedly turned out to be so much fun! We knew we had made the right decision after our engagement session - Russell is so easy to work with and completely focused on the couple having a great experience (and finding some great light!). He made us comfortable and put us at ease, and our engagement photos came out so naturally and really showed our personalities as a couple. Fast forward to a few months later, and while Russell hadn't been to our wedding venue before, he managed to find all of the perfect places for photos, and really made use of the expansive space and multiple beautiful vineyard backdrops. To top it all off, Russell was extremely responsive and prompt through the whole process - and even managed to get us our photos a month early during the height of wedding season! We can't say enough good things about working with Russell and just hope we have an excuse to use him as a photographer again in the future!

If I had to describe Russ in one word I'd go ahead and use TALENTED. Ever since I got my photos back I have had SO many compliments on the quality of the photos. People keep telling me they should be in a magazine and to be honest, I can't stop myself from hard-core swooning every time I look at the photos. Russ is super amiable and is great at giving direction. He's easy going and fun to be around. 10/10 would recommend :D

My husband and I got married at Nestldown in the Santa Cruz mountains in Los Gatos, CA. We lucked into finding Russ and he did a fantastic job with our wedding photos - totally above and beyond.
A few days before the wedding we talked about specific photos we wanted and how we wanted the day to go and the photos to feel when everything was said and done.
Day-of he showed up on time (actually early), and made my bridesmaids and me feel at ease right away. I’m not used to having much attention on me, and I was pretty nervous about having a photographer but there were lots of jokes through the first shots and enough direction when we were taking posed pictures that I got over my nerves quickly.
Another thing I was grateful for was how fast we moved through our posed family pictures after the ceremony, which meant my husband and I got to enjoy more of our cocktail hour and reception! I wanted great photos but I also wanted to enjoy my guests and Russ was totally on board with that.
During the party, Russ did a great job of being around when we needed him and blending into the party the rest of the time – once I looked down and he was sitting on the dance floor to get some shots, that’s dedication!
If all the work at the wedding wasn’t enough for one day, Russ sent us a few processed photos the NIGHT OF the wedding! He went home after a long day and made sure that we had some amazing shots to share with everyone that same day.
I can’t recommend Russ highly enough. He was professional, fun to work with, and his work is absolutely beautiful. Check him out, you won’t regret it.