Tess Mayer is the head photographer and a full-time freelance photographer living in NYC whose clients include The New York Times, Interview Magazine, The Cut, and the New York Knicks. She has previously worked at Saturday Night Live and Interview Magazine as a photo assistant and producer. She has three cats, Jared, Jimmy, Tilly, and a dog, Frances. When not photographing, editing, or walking the dog she’s making ceramics.

Julia Wang is a full time immigration lawyer in NYC. She still finds time to second shoot weddings on weekends. She has taught photography at the International Center of Photograph’s Teen Academy and at NYU’s Summer High School Program with Tess. She has a small orange cat named Spicy, and also loves ceramics and knitting.

Maral & Austin

“We knew Tess personally and contacted her about photographing our wedding because we were fans of her professional work. It was one of the best choices of our no-frills wedding. We chose to get married at the courthouse in downtown Brooklyn on a Friday morning with family and then have a separate party in Williamsburg the following night with family and friends. With Tess, we were able to put all the photography stuff on auto-pilot and never worry about it. The planning process was extremely easy. Once we got her price (which was more than reasonable and a really good value) and paid half for a deposit, she blocked off the two days she would join us. Other than planning to take an extra hour or two after the Friday ceremony, that was all the preparation that went into it. She may have scouted the area in person or via map or just known the area. Either way, she was really in control with a plan once we got there. On the day of the ceremony, Tess came to the courthouse and basically just worked her magic. We were able to go on with whatever we had to do and Tess just moved around and through us taking photos opportunistically. She got some action shots of us in the waiting room and signing the papers and some portraits with our flowers and family. Tess's major strength is finding amazing scenes in the moment, and you don't even know they're happening. She has an amazing eye for pictures. And best of all, she captured them with us being able to go on with our day, barely noticing her darting around us. She of course photographed the little ceremony in the courthouse and then we took about an hour in the big hallway for family portraits. She was fast at organizing us and snapping through all the necessary combinations of people. Very efficient. Then we went outside with a smaller group and went to a few nice locations nearby. On the steps of a municipal building, crossing the street to a little park, and then the subway. It was fast, it was efficient, and we didn't even know until later how amazing the photos really were. They are not average photos. They are unique and artistic and beautiful. Once again Tess found the little scenes happening in front of us. She really has a great eye for framing and light. We didn't know just how cool they were until we saw them later. We then took a 30 minute subway ride getting some classic New York shots. On the second day, Tess arrived at the location of our party, and once again it was stress-free. She spent 2-3 hours weaving through the crowd capturing action shots of talking, eating, drinking, dancing, and also was very good at putting groups together every now and then and taking group portraits. It was the least hassling part of the party. Maybe a week or two later she sent us a link to the photos. She sifted through all of them (somehow), got rid of the bad ones, and touched up the good ones. We were able to download the folders of photos so we could share with our friends. Later, we ended up printing some glossy pictures of our favorite artsy shots from outside the courthouse and on the subway to put up in our apartment. And from time to time we print some little ones for little frames too. Whenever we want, we can tap into our repository and remember the great weekend. All in all, there were 500-600 photos that amazingly captured everything we would've wanted without us worrying if anyone was there to capture it.”

Caroline & Phil

“Tess & Julia are literally the BEST!! They photographed my brother's wedding and that is when I first fell in love with their work. Therefore, when I got engaged a year later, I knew I had to have them photograph my wedding. I have been a part of many weddings and I can say for certain that nobody captures the moment quite like Tess & Julia. Every time we look at our photos we feel like we are back at our wedding day and get to relive our happiness through their work. I cannot say enough about how professional they were but also how fun they made our day (and calmed us down the months before our wedding- answering any questions we may have had immediately). If you truly want the best photographers to capture your perfect day, you will pick Tess & Julia and you won't regret it!”

Katrin & Alex

"We got very lucky when we found Julia and Tess - both very talented photographers, they agreed to come out to document the best day of our lives, even though they were only a week or so away from graduating from NYU. They did a wonderful job capturing everything from the biggest moments to the smallest details, along with a couple of awesome candids along the way."

"Tess and Julia, our wedding photographers who listened patiently to everything we hoped the day would include, and then did an incredible job taking pictures of every moment: from church, to garden, to reception, they were professional, unintrusive when it called for it, and best of all, lovely and fun."

Jasmine + Kevin

We hired Tess to photograph our wedding and the experience was wonderful! When choosing a wedding photographer, you’re choosing someone to spend the day with you at some of the most emotional moments of your wedding day. Tess was an amazing choice for that role. She was kind, easy-going, and became a great friend throughout the day. We met over FaceTime well before the wedding to communicate our photo goals. She asked us to curate a Pinterest board for her and to set some “must have” photos. In addition to standard photos, we also got film photos. Her style throughout the day was to be a “fly-on-the-wall” but to also intermittently direct us to make sure we got the photos we had asked her for. My husband, who’s not much of a “photos guy”, was so impressed when we received the results. We loved working with her!

Raphael & Larisa

“Working with Tess and Julia was one of the highlights of the whole wedding-planning process. They're consummate professionals, absolutely lovely, and will take beautiful photos of your wedding. Once we had met with them for the first time, we knew we didn't have to stress about wedding photography. They're incredibly organized and responsive and prompt. They formulated a whole game plan for the day, including strategizing on how to manage the complex politics of family photos, and they executed the strategy seamlessly at the wedding. They're also just genuinely good and fun people, and it was a pleasure having them at the wedding. And, of course, we love the photos! They got great shots of every part of the event. On our recommendation, friends of ours hired Tess and Julia for their wedding, and they were also thrilled with their work. They really are the best.”

Annie & Joey

"My husband and I are so happy to have worked with Tess and Julia for our wedding. We felt like they went above and beyond our expectations. They took the time to meet with us beforehand to get a sense of our vision for the wedding. This really helped to put my mind at ease. On the day of the wedding they had so many great ideas and really took charge during our portrait session. Everything felt effortless on our part and the photos are FABULOUS!! They really captured the vibe of our big day and our guests are still raving about the photos. Tess and Julia are outstanding and truly talented. Thank you both for your positivity, professionalism, and for making us look gorgeous on our big day :)"

Laurel + David

Tess was amazing the day of our small courthouse wedding. She was communicative ahead of the event, had great ideas for locations and poses, was easy-going and kind, and got our pictures back to us within a great time frame. I'd recommend her to anyone!

Katrin + Alex

"We got very lucky when we found Julia and Tess - both very talented photographers, they agreed to come out to document the best day of our lives, even though they were only a week or so away from graduating from NYU. They did a wonderful job capturing everything from the biggest moments to the smallest details, along with a couple of awesome candids along the way."

"Tess and Julia, our wedding photographers who listened patiently to everything we hoped the day would include, and then did an incredible job taking pictures of every moment: from church, to garden, to reception, they were professional, unintrusive when it called for it, and best of all, lovely and fun."

Katrin & Alex made an adorable website featuring our photos!