Here are a few answers to some frequently asked questions:

1) How do you pronounce your name Theilen?

Thee-Len...sounds like "Feelin'"

2) Where are you located?

We photograph the majority of our weddings in the Tahoe Basin; however, we have traveled all over to photograph. We live down the slope from Lake Tahoe, in North Carson City, nestled against the mountains.

3) What is your style?

What makes you different? We like to think we are always evolving as artists and storytellers. Our photography can be best described as creative documentary. We pride ourselves on always bringing 4 creative eyes, 4 professional cameras, 2 fit bodies, 2 huge hearts and 13+ years as a married couple to your wedding celebration. Each being internationally awarded photographers in our own right, we are never photographing the same thing. If Matt is focused on the couple, Tara is scanning the rest of the celebration to tell that part of the story. After so many years working together as a couple, we have developed a unique dance that puts our couples and their guests first. Your wedding day is a celebration, not a photo shoot. We want to give you your wedding story back to you with images that feel and are genuine. We do this by letting the day unfold authentically. We also want to give you portraits that are more than pretty people in a pretty landscape. We do this by artfully crafting the perfect landscape and then setting you as a couple free in that space. The result is portraits that evoke a sense of place and your connection to that landscape. At the end of the day, it is most important to us that your memories of your wedding celebration are joyous and genuine and our job is to give you images that reflect that.

4) How long have you been photographing and how many weddings have you photographed?

Matt began photographing as a climber bum living in his van in Yosemite National Park and wintering in Joshua Tree National Park back in the mid-90s. He went on to get a BA in photography and continues to teach photography at our local college. He photographed his first 100 weddings on film and then the digital camera came on the scene and he has been shooting digitally ever since. He will occasionally bring out the Tachihara cherry wood 8x10 film camera for portraits if it is the right fit for the couple. Tara joined Matt in 2008 and we have been photographing weddings as a couple ever since then. Together, we have photographed over 600 weddings.

5) What equipment do you use?

I-phones... just kidding. We each carry 2 cameras: professional Nikon bodies that we are continually upgrading to meet the demands of growing technology. We currently use a combination of these bodies depending on the wedding event: Nikon D4s, Nikon D850, Nikon D750, Nikon Z6. Our lenses compliment our professional bodies and we use mostly fixed lens lengths such as 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 85mm, 105mm but also bring out our workhorse the 24-70mm as needed. Our use of lighting compliments our documentary style. We have a long relationship with Tahoe light specifically and because of this relationship, we are experts at using the harsh highlights and shadows to create artful imagery as well as adjusting quickly to constantly changing light conditions. We use on & off camera flash to enhance our portraits as well as the reception space as we see professionally necessary to give our couples the best images possible in any given lighting situation.

6) Will you travel to photograph our wedding?

Yes, we love to travel. It is a big part of our lifestyle as a family. We try to take one domestic and one international trip a year as a family to show our daughter the amazingly unique world in which she is a part. Our travel fees are customized for each wedding depending on the location and logistics. For weddings that are driving distance, we typically ask for hotel accommodations. For weddings that require that we fly, we ask for airfare as well as hotel accommodations.

7) Do you photograph the details & posed family photographs at our wedding?

Absolutely. We always photograph the details that are important to you. We don't show those images on our website as we feel those are standard images and we prefer to showcase other work on our website. Yes, we most certainly make posed family photographs as well. We actually work closely with each couple to get a list of any posed shots you want taken at your celebration. We feel strongly that those photographs are heirloom images so we take pride in making those look professional but also go efficiently so you can get back to celebrating and we can get back to documenting candid moments between you and your guests.

8) Have you photographed at our venue?

Having photographed over 600 weddings, we have also photographed at almost every venue in Lake Tahoe. Honestly, given our years of expertise photographing, we feel confident photographing at any venue. It is after all, about you the couple and your guests. The venue is just the back drop and professionally, we can adapt to any location.

9) How many photographs do you take? How many photographs will we get?

Due to our documentary approach, together, we may take up to 10,000 photographs at a full day celebration. We may only take 5,000. We approach every wedding with no expectations, rather with the goal of documenting your story so we photograph what we see and what needs to be documented. This results in varying amounts of photographs taken. After the celebration is over, we begin the post-production process. We each cull down our photographs which means we select only the photographs that you would want. We then do a basic edit in Lightroom and followed by further editing in Photoshop to photographs that require a little extra. We strive to get each photograph as right in camera as possible. We believe in classical editing and avoid any trendy filters. We always say that we aren't photographing for now, we are photographing for 20 or 30 years from now so we want the look of the photographs to be timeless with good exposure, tones, and density. The post-production process generally takes anywhere from 4-8 weeks. We typically deliver about 10% of photographs shot so for a full day wedding, we generally deliver anywhere from 500-1000 photographs depending on the event and what unfolds. We don't have a set number of photographs that we must deliver, we let the events and people of the day determine the number. Once we have your photographs ready, we set up a video chat to guide you through how to use your gallery and reveal your finished photographs to you.