We are Helena and Laurent, a couple of award-winning San Francisco Bay Area Wedding Photographers. We shoot documentary style photography and specialize in telling love stories, capturing authentic candid moments, and taking beautiful unposed portraits. Get in touch if you're looking for a San Francisco wedding photographer for your engagement photos, elopement, minimony, micro-wedding, or raucous wedding party.
We love working locally but we travel throughout California, the United States, and destinations worldwide in order to take awesome photos for rad couples.
We love working locally but we travel throughout California, the United States, and destinations worldwide in order to take awesome photos for rad couples.
Services
We are Helena and Laurent, a documentary wedding photography team out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Really though, we're just two crazy kids in love, with a passion for telling stories and playing with our cameras. Laurent is funny and talkative, loves his motorcycle, and he's a magician with computers - so he handles all the emails and works with all our couples.
Put simply, we love love! As San Francisco Wedding Photographers we're very proud of our diverse city. We feel incredibly honored we get to share in the love of so many amazing couples and we are 100% committed to supporting love in all its forms. Enjoy these amazing love stories below, all of them real weddings, elopements, and engagements.
As documentary wedding photographers in the San Francisco Bay area, we get the pleasure of working with couples from a diverse group of backgrounds and cultures. Each couple goes through the process of planning their wedding in their own way and the resulting event is always one of a kind - as unique as the couple.
Big weddings aren't for everyone. For many, a wedding is all about having tacos with friends in your backyard, or walking out to the ocean with your immediate family, or just on the cliffs saying your vows alone. Whatever a wedding means to you, we love shooting elopements and smaller intimate weddings.
On the Coney Island boardwalk, against the Atlantic Ocean, Helena bought a chili mango and offered Laurent a bite. Exactly one year later, against the Pacific Ocean, Laurent leaned into her as they sat on the beach watching the waves. He asked her to stand up and she said "no way, what are you up to?"
Reviews (10)
Kimi Lee
Oct 18, 2021
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Like all the other reviews, our experience with Helena & Laurent was simply perfect. They not only helped us feel comfortable during our engagement session and wedding; but they also gave us sound and thoughtful advice on how to approach our wedding and setting us at ease. Helena was our photographer for both events and it's hard to describe how thoughtful and amazing she is. She captured the most intimate moments that we would never had seen; in a way that evokes so many emotions whenever we look at them. We couldn't be happier with our photos and overall experience working with them.
Amy McMurchie
Oct 14, 2021
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Laurent is the best! He photographed our wedding in the Santa Cruz mountains and we had a great time, not to mention got some incredible images. Besides your partner, the photographer you choose is pretty much the person you spend the most time with the day of your wedding, so it's important you like them. Laurent had a chill vibe, is a goofy dude and was very attentive to us getting shots we wanted while also allowing us to be present in the moment and have a damn good time. Our priority wasn't really detail shots, more so him getting the overarching feeling of the wedding and our love, which
Kathryn Dudum
May 28, 2021
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I asked a friend who is a professional photographer to recommend a wedding photographer, and he immediately recommended Helena & Laurent. After reviewing their portfolio, we knew that our backyard elopement would really be taken to the next level in their capable hands.
Remember that your photographer will be with you for one of the most emotion-filled days of your life... Helena is a joy, and her enthusiasm and focus brought a calming presence to the whole party. H&L were so fun to work with throughout the process, and we are truly stunned by the quality and quantity of photos we received! Best
Remember that your photographer will be with you for one of the most emotion-filled days of your life... Helena is a joy, and her enthusiasm and focus brought a calming presence to the whole party. H&L were so fun to work with throughout the process, and we are truly stunned by the quality and quantity of photos we received! Best
Steven Olimpio
Nov 27, 2020
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From the initial email to final photo delivery, Helena and Laurent are the. Best. They are friendly, funny, relatable, supportive, flexible ... and their entire online booking, reviewing, contracting, etc. system is so tight and efficient. They exceed every expectation in the little and the big moments. H+L's personalities are great complements to one another, and we had a great time getting to know them. They just don't miss!
Wedding photography can feel like a big expense -- when we got our photos back from Helena and Laurent, we immediately knew it was so much more than worth it. The editing
Wedding photography can feel like a big expense -- when we got our photos back from Helena and Laurent, we immediately knew it was so much more than worth it. The editing
Anna Chandler
Nov 08, 2020
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Really just, amazing. We can't stay enough positive things about them as very talented photographers and genuinely kind humans. We had to postpone our original wedding to next year due to COVID-19 and came up with an entirely new, last minute game plan to elope on a beach in Point Reyes. Helena and Laurent, (who are truly down for anything), were so kind, supportive and accommodating during all of this. They put any anxious energy or nerves we had at bay and were there for us every step of the way. We felt completely at ease, it felt like working with good friends.
We wanted to share the email
We wanted to share the email
Daisy Linden
Oct 08, 2020
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I honestly can't say enough good things about Helena and Laurent. From the first interaction, both are warm, disarming, knowledgable, and of course, incredibly talented. H&L shot our engagement just before 2020 got crazy, and joined us for the micro-wedding that we knew we wanted, despite all the wrenches the year threw at everyone. Having them as part of our lives, and the art of their art, is literally the highlight of the year (aside from the actual matrimony part of it). I couldn't be happier to have these photos as wonderful reminders for the rest of our lives.
Briana Winter
Aug 21, 2020
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Helena and Laurent exceeded our wildest expectations. We knew the photos were going to be good (their portfolio is beautiful) but we were still in awe. Helena figured out how to capture the essence of our guests very fast, the day she met everyone. She is a master. Many, many artistic beautiful shots. And we actually received more photos than I expected.
We had a small outdoor ceremony this past June. Our wedding was very different than originally planned due to the pandemic, but Helena and Laurent were so easy to work with, reassuring, and professional. Looking forward to working with them again
We had a small outdoor ceremony this past June. Our wedding was very different than originally planned due to the pandemic, but Helena and Laurent were so easy to work with, reassuring, and professional. Looking forward to working with them again
Megan Meo
Jul 15, 2020
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We hired Helena and Laurent for our wedding in August 2019 at Fern River Resort in Felton, CA. From our first meeting over Google Hangouts to the moment we received our photos in October, Helena and Laurent were a pleasure to work with. The moments they captured will allow us to relive our wedding for many years to come. In the days leading up to our weekend, we got on the phone with Laurent and he gave us a pep talk, bestowing upon us the wisdom that only comes from someone who has attended hundreds of weddings. During the day itself, they struck the perfect balance of blending into the background
Nick Purves
Sep 29, 2019
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We were very fortunate to have Helena and Laurent taking our engagement and wedding photos. They were a delight to deal with, both before meeting and when taking our pictures. My wife and I loved their aesthetic and how Helena made us feel at ease during the two shoots. Helena has a great sense of style and composition. Our parents love the pictures and can’t stop watching the slideshow that was put together!
Anna Y.
Aug 22, 2017
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Helena and Laurent photographed our tiny weekday elopement at City Hall and we be happier with the final product. I found them through the vendor list on A Practical Wedding. I emailed them and Laurent got back to us almost immediately.
From the get-go, Helena and Laurent were flexible and so easy to work with. They found some great spots to shoot around Potrero Hill & Golden Gate Park before we went to SF City Hall. My husband and I are not frequently photographed but Helena and Laurent made us comfortable and never put us in poses like dips or jumping.
We got our photos back within 6 weeks
From the get-go, Helena and Laurent were flexible and so easy to work with. They found some great spots to shoot around Potrero Hill & Golden Gate Park before we went to SF City Hall. My husband and I are not frequently photographed but Helena and Laurent made us comfortable and never put us in poses like dips or jumping.
We got our photos back within 6 weeks
