Jess Onesto

About Jess Onesto

Jess Onesto (formerly Cheers Babe Photo)

Founder & Principal Photographer

Jess is a wedding photographer serving couples from Los Angeles to New York City. She specializes in documenting moments with honesty and optimism to showcase her couples’ love for each other, love for their people and their love for a damn good time. “My work is bold, enduring, and honest.” With more than a decade of experience as a photographer and a background in fine art and film photography, Jess approaches each wedding with intention and a sense of novelty. She works in both digital and film mediums and her work has been featured in publications including Martha Stewart Weddings, Destination I Do and Brides.

Onesto means honest in Spanish. Jess is here to tell the honest, giddy, teary, story of your wedding. She has an emotionally-driven and artfully directed approach, creating customized experiences for each of her couples. Your wedding day isn't another photoshoot. She's efficient and non-intrusive so that you can truly experience and enjoy the event you've dreamt of for so long. On top of this, Jess brings double exclamation point energy (!!) to every room she enters and can melt away your nerves within moments.

Best of Zola 2025
Best of Zola 2023

Services

Services

  • Bride-only session
  • Drone photography
  • Engagement session
  • Extra hours
  • Image editing
  • Online proofing
  • Printing rights
  • Second photographer

Photo formats

  • Digital
  • Film
  • Hybrid

Deliverables

  • Digital files
  • Digital rights
  • Online gallery
  • Printed enlargements
  • Wedding album

Reviews

Write a review
Rating: 5.0

5.0 out of 5

14 reviews

  • J

    Jennifer

    Rating: 5
    •Oct 13, 2025

    INCREDIBLE!!

    Jess Onesto is an absolute dream to work with! If you are looking for a wedding photographer who will make you feel completely comfortable and capture the most beautiful, authentic moments, look no further. My husband and I have always felt awkward when we have to pose for professional photos. Jess completely changed that experience for us. She seriously made me feel like I was a model throughout my entire wedding weekend. She has this innate ability to put everyone at ease and guide you so naturally that you forget you are even being photographed. Her direction feels effortless, and somehow she captures these genuine, intimate moments. We are absolutely obsessed with all of the photos we have seen thus far (I have included some here)! Every single shot is stunning, and our entire family has been raving about them non-stop. Throughout the wedding weekend, we received so many compliments from our guests about how much they loved Jess and her warm presence. She truly became part of our celebration. Honestly, I am already thinking of excuses to hire Jess again for family photos because working with her was such a wonderful experience. I truly cannot recommend her more highly!

  • JF

    Jessica F.

    Rating: 5
    •May 28, 2025

    Love working with Jess!

    Jess is a true professional and a pleasure to work with! I am a planner in LA and recently worked with her for a clients wedding. I've worked with many photographers and with Jess, you can really see the difference in her as someone who has years of experience and brings both artistry and professionalism to her events. Jess was communicative and helpful throughout the planning process and on the day. She is fun, easy to talk to, and truly a pleasure to be around on the wedding day. Her work speaks for itself. I was so happy with the photos and her attention to all of the details we planned into the day. I know my clients were also so happy and grateful to have her document their wedding. I can't wait to work with her again!

  • V

    Violet

    Rating: 5
    •Dec 17, 2024

    AMAZING

    Jess is amazing, she takes such great photos that exemplify the joy of the day so naturally. She captures the emotions in such a perfect way and it shows in the shots. I should know I’m a hair and makeup artist and I know faces and looks and she gets the shot every time!

    Jess Onesto•Dec 17, 2024

    Violet, this is so kind! We love our beauty partners 🫶🏼 Looking forward to working together again soon.

  • NM

    Natalie M.

    Rating: 5
    •Jul 3, 2024

    Jess is the absolute best!

    Since receiving our wedding photos from Jess, several of my friends and family members (including 2 professional photographers!) have asked me for her contact info because of how amazing her photos are!! When we started looking for a wedding photographer, we knew that we needed to find someone with a great eye for candids, who wouldn't make our pictures feel too staged, who had a fun/funky vibe like us, and who could handle wrangling my extremely large family (full of very opinionated people) for family photos, and Jess handled everything with ease! I feel so lucky that we found Jess, and I cannot recommend her more. Jess made everyone feel comfortable throughout the entire wedding day, and even gave guidance to family members who are normally awkward in photos (e.g. suggesting ways to pose to make them more comfortable). Jess went above and beyond throughout the entire planning process, checking in with us, getting to know us, and even coming to a venue walkthrough so she could get a sense of the space! I am so grateful for all of the work Jess put into our wedding, and the photos turned out better than I could have ever imagined. I rarely even like photos of myself, but I honestly am so in love with the ones that Jess took that I jump on every opportunity to whip out my phone and share them with friends!

  • JJ

    Jeff & J.

    Rating: 5
    •May 17, 2024

    Jess is the best!

    My wife and I are very awkward photo subject, so we were looking for a photographer who would be able to take great candid shots, pose us naturally, and make us feel comfortable. Jess came highly regarded by my sister, so we were pleasantly surprised that she was available for an engagement shoot in San Diego. Jess was professional, thorough, and fun! She spent so much care on the little details, and was able to take a quick look around our locations and the perfect spots to shoot in. She managed our awkwardness so well, and made us feel like we were just casually taking photos with a close friend. Prior to the shoot, she even sent outfit recommendations, and got to know us over a video call so that she could get some ideas about what types of scenes we could capture! Our favorite part of the experience was seeing the previews for the first time. Jess truly went above and beyond for us, turning around a quick set of photos so that we could put them on the wedding invitations on a short timeline, but without sacrificing an ounce of quality. She made all of the pictures look effortlessly beautiful, elegant, and full of love. We loved our experience with Jess so much, that we asked her team to shoot our wedding photos as well. Unfortunately, she wasn't available personally, but her team did an amazing job, and Jess even personally edited the photos in her style afterwards for us. If you're looking for a photographer with enormous talent, a detailed eye, and who will treat you like a member of her family, Jess is the best in the business. We feel so tremendously grateful to have worked with her, and would recommend her to anyone for any occasion! Thank you so much Jess!

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Engagement sessions are delivered 3-4 weeks after the session and weddings are delivered 10-14 weeks after the wedding.
Beyond removing duplicates or test photos, I don’t limit the number of images that I deliver to couples. As a general rule, you can expect around 80-100 images per hour of coverage. All those images are color corrected in the style consistent with what you see on my website.
Jess Onesto is headquartered in Los Angeles and works regularly in LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Napa, and Sonoma. We travel for destination weddings domestically and internationally, but additional costs are involved.
A second shooter is an additional professional wedding photographer who will be at your wedding capturing all the fun. Your lead wedding photographer can only be in one place at a time, and almost always needs the extra support unless your wedding is very small. I pull second shooters from a strict, pre-approved list of wedding photographers who match our style seamlessly.
It’s possible! However in the case that I haven’t, I always visit the venue ahead of time to scout it out & get a lay of the land. Experience doesn’t always = preparation. I will always come prepared. Not to mention, if your venue is new to me, I will have ultra-fresh & creative eyes for the space!
I live for this! YES YES YES. My couples will tell you that they legitimately had fun taking photos. I accomplish that by ditching traditional “posing” and instead using action-oriented direction and prompts to get you interacting in a natural & easy-going way.
I do! Just let me know if your venue requires a certificate of liability, and I’ll send that over to them.
In the very rare event that I’m unable to shoot your wedding, I’ll make sure you’re covered by one of my colleagues or my contracted assistant. I’ll also provide you with a list of photographers from my vast network, so you can find the perfect replacement.
Typically, couples book me about 9 to 14 months before their wedding date. I encourage you to reach out as soon as possible about my availability, even if you’re planning on a shorter time frame.

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