This review is long overdue, but better late than never! My husband and I were married in Kauai in September of 2012. We got married at the Grand Hyatt near Poipu, and after looking at the sample photos of the photographer the hotel normally used, I knew i wanted to find someone better. After reaching out to another local photographer who was already booked, I was referred to Jen at Island Echoes. After immediately looking at her website and photos I knew she was perfect for our wedding. Throughout the process Jen was extremely easy to work with and patient. Because she was an outside vendor, there was a lot of insurance and legal paperwork and Jen responded to them efficiently. Back then, Pinterest was relatively new and Jen was already familiar with the social sharing site. Before our wedding day, I sent Jen a list of photos I wanted and links of images that inspired me on Pinterest.
On our actual wedding day, Jen came to the Grand Hyatt with her lighting assistant. Throughout the day both Jen and her assistant were cheerful and told us exactly how to pose. Jen was very easy to follow and her attitude was amazing. After the long day that seemed to fly by in the end my favorite pictures were of my husband and I near Shipwreck beach. The pictures were intimate and not posed in a old family portrait type of way. They looked like they were from a high end magazine, and the beautiful Kauai background just pulled everything together.
Overall I was highly satisfied with Jen's work on our wedding and with the package we purchased, we received a beautiful wedding album that we will cherish forever.
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Now fast forward 3 years, just this past September 2015, my husband and I returned to the island of Kauai to celebrate our 3rd anniversary and to have one last trip as a couple before our baby boy arrives in December. I contacted Jen to see if she could doing a maternity photo shoot and I got an immediate yes from her. When we arrived in Kauai I reached out to Jen via email to coordinate where we'd do the shoot. Originally I was thinking Ke'e beach however, Jen did mention that sometimes there are other people there at sunset trying to catch a glimpse as well. After rescheduling 2 times due to rain storms, we finally decided on Tunnels beach which was perfect because it was more secluded and in my opinion, had a better back drop.
We me Jen at the Hanalei Colony resort and drove together to Tunnels. This time her husband was her lighting assistant and my husband really enjoyed talking to him between shoots. Jen again during the shoot was extremely creative and wasn't afraid to try new things. Our session was only supposed to be ~45 mins but I'm pretty sure we went over as Jen wanted to capture the amazing hazy sunset we saw. We not only got shots on the beach with the vines, but also in the water. Again, after viewing the gallery of our shots there were over 100 to review and it's so hard to decide which one is our favorite.
Overall, I highly recommend Jen as a photographer. If she lived in the Bay Area I'd hire her again to do newborn photos for me. Since I can't, I look forward to returning back to Kauai and doing a family photo shoot with our little one. Mahalo Jen! We look forward to seeing and working with you again! read more