I'm melissa, a travel wedding photographer based in San antonio, tx
I am a Long Island, New York native who took a bold move to the Lone Star state in 2016. My company, Stella Shots Media, LLC., formed a year later as a direct result of over a decade's worth of photography exploration and passion combined with a love for observing life's most beautiful moments within human expression and interaction.
for a living.
So why “Stella” ? Derived from a family surname, it directly translates to “star” or to describe earthly things as “heavenly bodies” in the Italian language. I have a firm belief that in front of a camera, there is a brilliance about you that shoves its way outward, and I strive to bring that “Stella” confidence out in all of my clients.
Non-photography things to ask me about when we meet!
I am confident in my innate need to make sure my customers are satisfied, informed, and valued, and it is something that has come natural to me over the years.
will make your experience one that you ll not regret investing in.
My Promise
Voted Most Likely To:
start a group chat with you and your fiancé
venmo you $ for your bachelorette party drinks
ask what your zodiac sign is
bring a coffee or snack to the bridal suite
quote Parks & Rec or New Girl during a session
show off in the dance circle at the reception
"More like you're hanging out with a friend"
"I wouldn’t trust anyone else to capture such important memories more than I trust her. She makes you feel so comfortable in front of a camera, more like you’re hanging out with a friend than posing in front of a stranger, and her pictures always come out AMAZING. She’s easy to reach and always happy to help with suggestions for locations, outfits, and knows how to pose you to get your best angles. Truly a phenomenal photographer and person, I couldn’t recommend her more!
"Extremely passionate about the work she does."
"Melissa is such an amazing human who is extremely passionate about the work she does, and it shows! She always has the best energy, and makes photo shoots fun and exciting. I can’t say enough good things about the work she does, and she always goes above and beyond to help bring our vision to life."
"One of the best decisions we made..."
"One of the best decisions we made during the wedding planning was hiring Melissa as our photographer. Not only is she so nice and easy to work with but the work she does is AMAZING. I get teared up just thinking about the wedding photos and how beautiful they turned out. We could not be happier. She was so confident and professional and managed our large wedding perfectly. RUN to hire Melissa."
"Photography is so important, and you can put your full trust in her!"
"Her work is impeccable, the quality and coloring of her photos is stunning. Her personability, direction, and creative vision to capture the most beautiful moments have turned our engagement and wedding into physical memories we will value for the rest of our lives. Photography is so important, and you can put your full trust in her!"
"Exceeded not only the expectations of a photographer, but the expectations of a human being."
"She made every effort imaginable to not only get to know us, but our story, our personal likes and dislikes, and LISTENED to our ideas. From the first FaceTime call, Melissa has exceeded not only the expectations of a photographer, but the expectations of a human being.
Melissa is without a doubt the best photographer anyone could ask for."
"She was WELL WORTH it."
" She was there for every moment… she didn’t overwhelm me with questions, needs, or anything really- she just knew what to do, when to do it, and when there was no direction, she figured it out. I received many compliments from my guests of how great she was AT my wedding and said they were the best pictures they’d ever seen of a wedding. I’m so glad we made the investment, she was WELL WORTH it."
"If I could give more than 5 stars, I’d give an endless amount."
"If I could give more than 5 stars, I’d give an endless amount. Over and over again Melissa has shown how incredibly talented she is in our photos we’ve received. We had our engagement shoot, boudoir shoot and our wedding with her and all I can say is WOW. "
"The MVP of our wedding!"
"I cannot gush enough about how phenomenal Melissa is. She is so bubbly, passionate, hard working and talented. The photos she captured for our wedding are such a treasure to me and my husband. All of our family and friends raved about her after our wedding. I am SO grateful I found Melissa to be our wedding photographer. She is an absolute rockstar and was the MVP of our wedding!"
"She truly has a gift and is so talented at what she does."
When I tell you she is the BEST at what she does, I absolutely mean it. Our favorite part of working with her (besides her becoming part of our family) was totally trusting her to work her magic. She truly has a gift and is so talented at what she does. Not only did she help us feel comfortable, but she helped us feel so confident in front of the camera!
"Melissa's photos are literally breathtaking."
“I might be totally biased, but our engagement session was nothing short of AMAZING. Melissa’s photos are literally breathtaking! I always tell my fiancé he’s beautiful, but Melissa was able to catch on film my once in a lifetime love and to me that is priceless. I highly recommend working with Stella Shots Media.”
