I met Ian Martin at a friend's wedding, where he was the photographer. My friends have wonderful taste--one of them is a product designer--and I had planned to check out their photographer, see if I liked his style, and probably ask him if he could photograph my wedding a few months later. When I met Ian at their wedding, he was so unobtrusive and laid-back, I assumed he was a guest at first! When I realized he was the photographer, I immediately got his card and booked him. I could not have been happier about the results. He was charming to work with, and my entire extended family was impressed with his kindness toward them. Both of the event coordinators I worked with, at two separate venues, liked him so much they put him on their preferred vendors lists. He is completely flexible with scheduling and traveled from Oakland to Los Altos/Palo Alto two different times for us. When we got the proofs of our photographs, they were in an album for us to keep--a classy touch. We have shown them to many of our married friends, who all have commented that they love Ian's style--he is a photojournalist, so he captures moments and people's true facial expressions to tell the whole story of the event. There is a picture of my mom and me that day having a conversation, and the expressions on our faces are so totally ''us,'' that it made me laugh out loud. Similarly cool is a picture of me with my dad, trying to tie a balloon to a sign--my dress, the balloon, and his tie are all the same color, and the result is one of the most unique photographs I've ever seen, especially for a wedding. Ian also took some lovely traditional portrait shots of our families--he was very willing to take any shots we asked for. If you want a photographer who is easy to work with, who will capture your event and your family with a mix of traditional portraits and unbelievably great candids, I highly recommend Ian!

-Katie Ginder-Vogel