My husband and I went with Scott MacDonald for our wedding and could not have been happier. Scott has such a calm, happy, and overall lovely demeanor. When stress levels got high, as they can as weddings, Scott was a beacon of light. He knew where to be to capture the perfect moments. I love that Scott didn't charge from "X" time to "X" time. He told us he planned to take photos of our wedding and arrived when it started and didn't leave until it was over. He got some amazing shots of my husband smoking a cigar at the end of the night. Scott was great with details. He remember family member's names. He provided great instructions ahead of time to list out all the group photos we wanted to make sure we captured and had us point out who everyone was to make sure he rounded them up during the day. We went with Scott for the engagement photo shoot, and had SO much fun with him. He took us to various spots around San Francisco and spent a good amount of time making sure we had the "perfect" shots. We used those photos for our wedding save the dates. Scott's rates were much more reasonable than other photographers around San Francisco, especially for everything he provides with his pricing packages. Go with Scott - you will be happy you did! read more

Scott was a dream photographer to work with. My husband and I chose him because of his friendly demeanor, photo journalistic style, and artistic professionalism. He and his second shooter almost felt like guests at our wedding, rather than invasive cameras in our faces all day. While seeming calm and integrated at the wedding though, he got EVERY shot we wanted, plus so many shots we didn't even know we wanted (those are the best!). Scott is willing to travel pretty far within the Bay Area without travel fees (for now-I could see this changing once everyone starts fighting over hiring him!) His rates are very reasonable. I felt like the quality of his work was high for his rates. He stays until the end! He doesn't have time limits or extra hourly charges. I was so thankful for this when our quests made an impromptu arm arch for us to run through at the end of the reception. Scott was crouched at the end of the arch to get the shot. Impressive. He's classy and cool. All of my friends commented on how cool he and his second shooter were and asked where we found them. I know photos aren't about your photographer being cool, but it certainly made our guests feel comfortable and excited to get their photos taken-which is reflected in our beautiful photos. Additionally, Scott sent us our engagement photo disk in this classy box with a few of the best shots printed out. It was super classy and unexpected. I highly recommend Scott. We loved our experience working with him, and we love our photos! read more

Scott just completed an engagement photo set for me and my fiance. We saw he'd been to the Santa Cruz boardwalk before, and it sounded fun, so we asked him to do that again, and he did an amazing job. He helped us find interesting shots all along the pier, in rides, and he even brought a Go Pro on the rollercoaster to take shots while we were riding. Absolutely recommend hiring Scott! read more

We chose Scott for our engagement photos based off his previous work we saw online and loved the creativity in all of his work. We were absolutely blown away by the results of our shoot. We never felt pressured for time and he went out of his way to make sure the locations we picked were perfect. The pictures speak for themselves, can't recommend him enough! read more

Scott photographed our wedding back in 2006 and we were very pleased with his services. His professionalism came through during every aspect of our wedding from the pre-wedding planning, the big day itself, and after the wedding. We are very happy with all of the photographs he took and still get positive feedback from family and friends. He was really able to capture our big day in a special way. I would recommend Scott for any wedding. read more

Scott did a wonderful job with our wedding photos in Carmel a few years ago. As the other reviewers wrote, very professional, easy to work with, captured some great moments. Scott's background is in editorial/newspaper photography and he is clearly comfortable thinking on his feet (every wedding has a surprise or two). My favorite photos of our wedding were the more creative pictures at the Highlands Inn on a foggy morning and also moments away from the spotlight that he captured of relatives and friends. He struck the right balance between being unobtrusive during the ceremony and supervising/directing us during the more formal pictures. Highly recommended. read more

My husband and I are so pleased that we chose Scott to be our wedding photographer and so grateful he agreed to be part of our event. We found Scott online where we were attracted to his photo-journalistic and documentary-style approach to wedding photography. We poured through his images and reviews and thoroughly read his blog and resonating biography. We engaged in many back and forth emails which succinctly answered all our questions and put us at ease. Scott was always timely in his responses and patient with my barrage of questions. We never had a face-to-face interview. Instead, we met in person for the first time on our wedding day. From the beginning, his presence was calming and we were confident we were in good and capable hands. While I provided much direction beforehand, I was able to relax and enjoy the day because I knew Scott had my back. He knew what we wanted and I knew he knew how to get the shots and feelings we were looking for. Scott fit seamlessly into our day. I thought he might feel like a bit of a third wheel, as my husband-to-be and I prepared for and made our way through the day, but he was more like a never-obtrusive, always-thoughtful and ever-watchful fly on the wall. Even my mother said she didn't remember Scott being everywhere to get the shots he got, but clearly he was. This, she said, is the sign of a good photographer. Looking through our images now, I am most impressed with two aspects. Firstly, Scott has a great eye for detail. He captured all the touches we worked so hard to achieve and even got every single shot I asked him to be on the lookout for. Making a wedding look and feel effortless in theory is certainly not effortless in practice, but Scott's photos capture that effect remarkably. Second, Scott is observant. His candid shots are the most sweet, thoughtful and touching moments where his subjects display genuine, heartfelt emotion. He captured this emotion, whether in a look or a gesture, in us as well as our guests. We highly recommend Scott and his talents. We speak from experience when we say Scott will take care of you. read more

We spent a lot of time looking for our wedding photographer, probably more than any other vendor. We looked through tons of portfolios and met with several in person - there was always something off. I had a gut feeling when we first met Scott and we pretty much hired him on the spot. Our engagement shoot put us at ease with our uncharacteristically impulsive decision - he had studied my pinterest and was very matter of fact when stating which photos could or could not be done. He had a very quick turn around time and the final set he delivered was amazing. Everyone RAVED over our save the date photo. But our wedding day was when Scott really shone. If you need reasons beyond his portfolio to hire him, here's what I most appreciated about working with Scott. 1. The professionalism. As soon as we booked him, he sent us a "what to do" document, so I knew what information he needed from us. He gave suggestions of what worked best from his experience but said he was happy to do whatever we wanted. I appreciated the suggestions but also the flexibility to work with some of our more oddball requests. 2. The attention to detail. Scott visited our venue in the week leading up to the wedding to scout out photo spots and looked up the sun timetable to make suggestions for our day of schedule. He and his second shooter (Nathan) had both studied our pinterest and were constantly pointing out "hey, remember that photo you pinned? This would be a good spot for it." On the day Scott had printed a document with the shot list we made and checked off each one as we went along to make sure nothing was missed. 3. The equipment. For the daytime shots when the sun was too intense, Nathan pulled out a massive umbrella flash to adjust the lighting. For the night shots Scott and Nathan set up flashes all around us. The best thing is his work appears minimally post processed - he showed us one result on his camera screen immediately after and it was already magical. My husband really hates the highly processed look that's been super trendy lately, so this was very important. Also in case you were wondering, Scott is meticulous about backing up everything - he reassured me again about his backup methods when I told him my uncle had lost his memory card and all the photos he'd taken at the wedding. 4. The energy. Scott climbed all over wave breakers for our engagement shoot in Santa Cruz. Our July wedding day was 80 degrees and brilliantly sunny - he and Nathan were sharply dressed and carrying neatly packed bags of equipment while walking with us all over the grounds in the blazing sun. They alternated between balancing huge flashes over us or laying prone on the ground taking photos from various angles. They were with us from 8am til nearly 11pm. Even I was exhausted by the time Scott left, and I was just standing around getting pampered all day! 5. The calm experience. At the end of the day, choose a photographer you trust. I was worried over some wet, wilty looking flowers, Scott grabbed a towel to dry them off and assured me it would look fine. He knew family formals in a sunny location would mean squinty eyes, which we didn't realize until we saw guest photos in which everyone wore sunglasses. And he was the only person who knew how to pin a boutonniere. :P We've only gotten back a sneak preview of our photos so far, but just wow. I've already printed enough to replace the photos in every frame we own - my biggest complaint now is that we don't have enough wall space to display all the photos. read more

Scott MacDonald is the best kept secret in Bay Area wedding photography! I found Scott originally through the Wedding Photojournalist Association. We picked Scott after interviewing a few photographers that covered a range of price points and styles. Ultimately, we went with Scott because of his authenticity and his integrity, which really shines through the way he interacts with his clients, his reasonable pricing packages, his incredible eye for telling moments, as well as the stylistic consistency I saw in his work. Scott is no hype and all real! For us, and for me (as a documentary filmmaker), authenticity, talent, a human approach towards his clients, and lack of hype were all extremely important, and also surprisingly, NOT EASY TO FIND. Scott started out by meeting us over drinks and chips. He listened while we told him our wild dreams of having both our city hall wedding and big wedding banquet documented like a photo essay. We really emphasized that we wanted him to tell a STORY of our day, avoid posed portraits beyond the necessary family portraits, but most importantly to capture EMOTIONS and HUMAN MOMENTS. Over the course of the months leading up to our wedding day/s, Scott was responsive, available, well-organized, and we felt like he was as invested in the success of our wedding as we were. He followed up on certain details that he had questions about, and was really flexible when we wound up changing the plans at the last minute. Most importantly, he was the witness to our wedding ceremony, and really stepped up to the plate when emotions ran high. So you get a wedding photographer, friend, and family therapist in one! Ok, family therapist might be going a little too far, but he is great with people and putting them at ease in a highly charged emotional environment. He was present and able to direct action, took our creative direction well while asserting himself and making his own contributions, and was very good at becoming invisible when it was called for. Overall, we trusted Scott completely, and the pictures came back better than we had ever imagined. I honestly think some of it belongs in a contemporary art gallery. We are EXTREMELY pleased with our entire interaction with Scott, AND made a new friend. We would HIGHLY recommend Scott and his photographic services, and look forward to having him document the special moments to come in our future together. read more

Scott did both our wedding and engagement photos in Monterey and he is the absolute best! He did a fabulous job with making us feel natural and comfortable for the engagement pics and the pics just blew us away with how good they were. He also did a wonderful job for our wedding. He was everywhere at once and captured some great moments of our friends and family. He was prompt with delivery of the pics and the albums we ordered are a great keepsake for us and our families and of high quality. If I ever had a need for any more pictures of anything really, I wouldn't hesitate to go with Scott again. read more

Planning a wedding is obviously stressful, so many vendors to chose from. However, from the moment I contacted Scott until the moment he sent me the wedding photos, I never had to worry about my photographs turning out perfect. He was a pleasure to work with, understood the various limitations, what was missing from our planning and seamlessly negotiated the entire day finding the amazing vantage points. I highly suggest you contact him right away, he books fast! THANKS Scott!!! read more

Scott is absolutely amazing! My wife found out about Scott as he was the photographer for one of my wife's friend's wedding. Scott was so awesome to work with. He came up to San Francisco to meet and have lunch with us to learn more about us. We saw his calm and friendly demeanor right away. You can tell how passionate Scott is about his work, which is absolutely beautiful. Throughout the entire wedding planning, he responded right away, was so professional, and nice. A week before the wedding Scott created a timeline with our vision of what we wanted. He was so thorough in making sure we got all the pictures we wanted and ones we didn't even think of. On the day of the wedding Scott and his assistant Bree exuded a sense of expertise, organization, and humor throughout the day. They executed ours and their vision perfectly! Being around him instantly relaxed us during the wedding. As soon as we returned from our honeymoon Scott sent us a sneak peak of photos! Words cannot describe how wowed we were by the beauty of the photos and how he captured our special day. We have already received so many positive comments from our family and friends about how incredible the photos Scott took are. We cannot wait to see the rest of his work. We highly highly recommend Scott for your wedding. Don't look anywhere also! He will be our friend for life! read more

Scott took our engagement photos for us and they came our perfectly (we're having a destination wedding or else we'd use him for the wedding too!). We just used the photos to make a collage for our save-the-dates and I'm so happy with them. He spent hours with us finding the perfect spots for our shots and it really shows in the photos. He was also really reasonably priced. We got quotes from several photographers before going with Scott and I feel like we got an amazing deal. read more

I have been in numerous weddings (five at last count) and have to say, that after working with many different photographers- I was really impressed by Scott. His demeanor was professional, relaxing and easy to be around-which helped make taking pictures an enjoyable and natural experience. I love his perspective, and the ways he catches the honesty of the moment. I highly recommend him! read more

Scott is one of the best photographers out there. He captured our wedding in a spectacular way and very professional. Very easy to work with and had a great eye which created some outstanding pictures. Also was great with the family and weeding party. I highly recommend his services. HIGHLY!!!! read more

Scott photographed my wedding in October 2008 and I was totally impressed with his professionalism during the wedding and the beautiful pictures we have as a result. I had forgotten to include and entire side of my family on the list I had given to Scott prior to the wedding and he was wonderful about accomodating these pictures last minute. Scott was calm and cheerful throughout the event which definately helped my nerves. The pictures turned out beautiful and Scott captured many of the details and candid moments we likely would have forgotten about in a few years. Scott made us a wonderful DVD that was set to our favorite music from the wedding and laid out the most gorgeous hardcover book that sits on our coffee table. We were able to order extra books and give them to people in the wedding party which was a great bonus. I hope I never have to get married, but if I do, I wouldn't want any other photographer. read more