Absolutely Loved: Stefanie Riedel Photography

Stefanie and her son Lucas were a dream to work with. Everyone that has seen my wedding photos have said they look like they are straight out of a magazine. She is truly a skilled photographer! It was obvious to my family and myself that she knew what she was doing and without direction from anyone she was able to position us to get the most unique shots.
I originally hired Absolutely Loved for my wedding, but ended up adding a boudoir shoot in addition as a wedding present for my husband. Stefanie was professional and well prepared for the shoot. I never felt awkward or uncomfortable in any way. Needless to say, Stefanie made me look like a model! My husband loved the photos :-)
All in all, I couldn’t be happier with the results from the boudoir/​wedding shoot. I am glad we trusted Stefanie– we have wonderful pictures that will last a life time.

Stefanie and Anna photographed my sister’s wedding in 2012, and when my fiancé and I set the date for our wedding I knew I had to see if they were available! My prayers were answered and they were available and I booked them right away. Their work was amazing for my sister’s wedding and again was amazing for mine! I love them and always recommend them to my friends who tell me they’re planning their big day.
These ladies are creative, personable, professional, and just make the whole experience easy and memorable. They were quick to get me dvds of all my digital prints and it’s so fun to relive that magical day by clicking through the pictures. They have lots of creative suggestions for shots to take and are open to take pictures that you want also. They caught details of my day that I didn’t have a chance to see, and the photo book they created is so special. I also ordered one for my parents and my in-​laws and they love it too!
You can’t go wrong with Absolutely Loved! They’re the best!

We purchased the total wedding package at Turtle Bay Resort and it included her as photographer. We declined her off to upgrade to her premium package at a few thousand dollars more which we paid for later. She was 30 min late due to «traffic» and missed the opportunity to get the beginning of my wife’s prep. most importantly as part of our wedding package we were promised a photo album of course. Again, as a result of nit upgrading, we received a crappy scrapbook style piece of garbage that my four year old son could have done. Literally pictures taped to construction paper! We through it away. The photos on disc were outstanding but service and final product was horrible.

As with most other people, it was a destination wedding so I was only able to meet the photographer a few days before the wedding. However during the planning process, Stefanie was always very responsive and seemed very personable on the phone.
I met Stefanie and Anna for the first time for our engagement shoot. They made us feel very comfortable upfront. The entire shoot was fun. They were very creative and picking spots here and there so we ended up having a wide variety of different scenes and backgrounds which I really liked.
On our wedding, it’s also good to have 2 photographers onsite to capture things at different angles and from different perspectives. And they made up for each other for things maybe one had missed so that was really nice. Later in the evening when we were at the reception site at Waikiki, Stefanie pulled us out for some sunset pictures overlooking Diamond Head. Those were AMAZING pictures and showed that Stefanie is a really experienced photographer and knows when and how to take the best pictures.
They also didn’t keep us waiting long to see pictures. Stefanie started posting pictures on Facebook and her blog as they were working on the pictures and got me all excited! It also didn’t take long to receive the digital copies of my pictures so I am very satisfied with their service.

Stefanie was an absolute pleasure to work with. She is a true professional in every sense of the word. Prompt responses to questions, available to speak any time, very professional personality and most importantly amazing at what she does. My husband and I did a «trash the dress» session with her on the north shore. We didn’t meet her until the shoot, which was slightly worrisome, but totally unnecessary as she was perfect. The best thing about trashing your dress is that anything (within safety restrictions of course) goes! With her wide variety of experience, she takes your ideas, turns them into reality, and makes you look amazing in the process. Just look at her vast portfolio, it speaks for itself. As this was a «trash the dress», my husband and I want some «traditional» looking photos, but we also wanted to take some photos that were more fun/​romantic/​sexier (but tasteful) that you can’t take on your wedding day because you’re afraid your dress will get dirty. I’m not the most comfortable person posing in front of a camera, but she struck the perfect balance between keeping it natural and making the small suggestions that we needed to turn a photo from great to spectacular! I absolutely love the photos that she took, they were exactly what I was hoping for. My husband and I had so much fun during the shoot, we still talk about it. It was the perfect send off to one of my favorite garments that I’ve ever worn.

Stefanie is the Best decision we made during our recent trip to Hawaii! She was referred by a friend of mine and I knew I wanted her to be our photographer the moment I saw her work. It speaks for itself. She was very professional, punctual, and kept things moving so we didn’t end up spend long hours of our vacation taking photos. She’s funny and charismatic and will make you feel comfortable, even if you’re a little camera shy.

I had the pleasure of working with Stefanie for my wedding last summer. As a corporate executive working an extremely busy schedule, the last thing I had time for (or so I thought) was planning for wedding photography. That said, I found Stefanie very accommodating with my schedule and quite cooperative throughout the entire process. Also, my wife can be a bit of a bear at times (everything has to be PERFECT), and I found myself stunned when she agreed with almost everything Stefanie had to say or recommend. The pictures came out great (minus the one of me with my face covered in mashed potatoes (thanks Alfred)), and my wife and I couldn’t speak any higher of our end-​to-​end experience!

Picking a wedding photographer is one of the most important aspects of planning a wedding and can seem endlessly daunting at first. The photos are basically all you are physically left with in the end, so you want to make it count. After looking at many different portfolios of Hawaiian wedding photographers, Absolutely Loved was the only one that really stood out for me on an artistic level, as most others seemed very «cookie-​cutter» with not a lot of differentiation between them. However, taste is very subjective, and I cannot emphasize the importance of closely looking at and ultimately loving the portfolio of the photographer you decide to go with. As for me, their style and aesthetic is so beautiful and unique that there really was no other choice.
Stefanie was my primary contact, and she is an absolute pleasure to deal with. She always replied immediately to any email correspondence and is very kind and accommodating to work with while also being very upfront and honest. We did an engagement shoot a few days before our wedding as well, and Stefanie and Anna are both genuinely great people aside from being fantastic artists. We could not have been more pleased with how awesome the photos turned out for both the engagement and wedding shoot and have received nothing but the highest praise from everyone who has seen them. I should also mention that Stefanie was very cool and perceptive to the idea of allowing me to select a lot of photos to be edited from the raw footage rolls since I am very hands on with an eye for photography myself. We cannot wait to receive our copies of the book to see the final results!

Stefanie and Anna are amazing. We have albums and albums of weddings, bridal showers, baby pictures, family pictures, photos with close friends and of our beloved pet. As long as you are willing to take the time to develop a relationship with the people that you are working with and relay to them exactly what you are looking to achieve you will not be disappointed. My husband and I met Stefanie back in 2001 and just fell in love with her images. We will have all of these beautiful images to remember our milestones forever.

Still waiting for Riedel to contact me on my make-​good album.

My husband and I worked with Stefanie for our engagement and wedding photos. Everyone — near and far — absolutely love our wedding photos — honestly, they are almost legendary. People have made comments years later after seeing them. Personally, I uploaded them to Flickr and return to them from time-​to-​time to enjoy and reminisce about the event.
It’s important to note that Stefanie is an artist who offers clear direction. My recommendation? Listen to her direction and solicit her advice. She has a wonderful sense for settings that will bring out both your personality and the vision of the event.
Further, if you’re concerned about getting specific types of shots or scenes, then make a list and familiarize Stefanie with your wishes ahead of time. You wouldn’t expect the caterer to show up without a menu — it’s helpful to think of your photographer in the same way. Put together a plan; there’s no better way to ensure that you get the photos you want.
Last, but certainly not least, Stefanie’s daughter Anna is incredibly talented. Some of our best shots were from Anna’s camera. She’s poised, confident, and has a wonderful eye.
If you’re considering Stefanie and Anna from Absolutely Loved, please feel free to message me directly.

Stefanie Riedel is an amazing and skilled photographer.
I have always wanted to have professional photos taken, but am very shy and nervous around the camera. I’m also an engineer so am very detailed and critical and need the artistic eye of someone like Stefanie.
Stefanie worked with me for hours on our first shoot and discovered the most amazing locations on the North Shore with perfect lighting. She also was able to get me to pose and catch me naturally. It was really magic.
Stefanie has such an amazing eye that only someone who has been a trained photographer with years of experience could have. I was hoping for some good pictures and she surpassed my greatest expectations. She even made personal copies of the photos right away; I was thrilled.
I’ve received so many compliments on this one photo alone, I would hire Stefanie again anytime.

I recently joined Unilocal to review industry services and was blown away by the reviews for Absolutely Loved. Admittedly, both 1 star experiences sound awful and I feel compelled to talk about what an artist/​photographer is, and how not every piece of their art is the greatest if the inspiration is not there. Not to say every wedding party should worry about being an inspiration to their photographer, but to say that if you are paying high prices for the best, be prepared to approach them as a revered artist that will react poorly to non reciprocating subjects. (Believe that Stephanie has shot a multitude of satisfied clients to earn her title. Being painfully German and having precise understanding of her camera’s lens potential I’ve witnessed her rely on only shooting and perfecting the joy and beauty she sees around her with that camera, and will not use it on anything less. Thus the bad reviews.)
This is coming from someone in business for themselves that relies on Absolutely Loved to photograph well during product shoots and events. As a customer I gave them 4 stars. I can advise prospective clients on how to get your photographer on board with you before the shoot even begins, regardless of who you hire.
Stephanie Riedel is the best for a reason and her award does not come without merit. She has photographed many weddings that I have been at, and I was amazed at how professional, attentive and no nonsense she was with her daughter doubling as a fantastic prodigy. While her daughter is 17, she shares a passion for people and photography that is unheard of at her age. Keeping the business family is respectable and I personally look forward to the kind of photographer her daughter will become at peak prowess.
As for price, all photographers are expensive and without much overhead the prices honestly do ring high. Any service is going to cost you above average the more acclaimed that service is. A good surgeon is paid for what his hands are capable of and you wouldn’t take a chance on a bargain surgeon in your critical hour. I have seen her hand’s work at it’s best and you simply can’t find better.
The photo book does sound cheaply made and that leads me to believe Stephanie probably didn’t make it herself (bad) or was lowballed on that budget (worse.) In our age of digital materialism, plan on spending large on your only wedding book with original film. For anyone still considering Absolutely Loved (after two terribly awful reviews,) ask to see an example of the book you are paying for and have that same material and layout in your contract. There is no reason not to get a good artist in on your terms.
Having said all that, we all know that people can suck too when it comes to taking pictures while acting entitled. You can’t polish up a shot if the moment was not there to begin with and if the client and photographer are not on good terms chances are the best moments will happen exactly when the photographer is not around. With all the negativity excreted by the reviewers, it sounds like one of those all around negative situations between client and company that began with money… unfortunate. No artist can save or remedy their work once that one bad feeling perpetuates into the flow of their work. Sadly, instead of scrapping your piece of art you are basically scrapping someone’s wedding shots. So I feel really bad for those two poor people out of hundreds.
Lastly be sure to have everything in writing. Take the negative Unilocal review on any service and bring it to their attention. Then understand that an artist needs you as an inspiration if you are the subject. Then approach your dealings with them accordingly, especially if they are going to have a camera in hand on an important day of your life.