About Fidelio Photography

Jessica Weiser + Lyle Koehnlein

We met in New York City in 1999 and eloped August 11, 2000 on the top of the World Trade Center in NYC. Our shared love of photography (Jessica's degree is in Photojournalism and Lyle had been shooting film most of his life) was one of the things that drew us to each other when we first met. Interestingly we didn't hire wedding photographers when we got married and just had our family take a few photos (and you can imagine how well those turned out!), which is one of our biggest regrets. We consider it a huge honor to spend one of the happiest days of your life with you and document it for you and your families.

For 13 years we lived and worked in the Portland area which we loved but in 2020 purchased a farmhouse built in the 1800’s in lovely Washington, Maine and are excited to explore and work more in the mid-coast area. We will still continue to work in southern Maine as well.

When we're not working we both love traveling, the beach, gardening, working on our house, antique shopping and watching shows like The Office. We are also crazy cat people and are obsessed with our 4 cats (don't worry, we like dog people too!).

Follow us on Instagram at @fideliophoto

Where The name “fidelio” came from

We started Fidelio Photography together in 2005 and chose the name after a vast search for a unique word and came across "Fidelio," which was Beethoven's first and only opera which is about love and freedom. It sounded interesting and also had to do with music which, besides photography, is another of our great loves (we both play multiple instruments).

Our Philosophy

We believe your wedding day should be documented in the most authentic way possible so that when you go back through the photos you can re-live all of the moments as they happened and that the images evoke the feelings and mood of the day. We are photojournalists who document everything as it happens and love to tell stories through our photos. We love the "in between" moments too--those candid, unexpected things that only last a second but are special and unique. Our goal is to deliver images that evoke the same emotions when you look at them as you felt on the wedding day.

Our clients are generally really laid-back and fun and put their trust in us to work our magic on the wedding day. We love to be involved in the planning process so that we can guide you to the best times for the greatest light, the easiest way to structure the day so you are getting the most of out it and to support you through the process with our experience. Instead of posing people we try to just give some direction and guide you so nothing looks awkward. Our style is very laid-back so wedding days are never a big production and though we are there for guidance throughout the day we are very unobtrusive and just working in the background documenting moments as they unfold.

If you have more questions about our style and how we work please check out our FAQ

"I cannot recommend Jess and Lyle highly enough. We got amazing photos but equally important was the experience that we had with them being present for some incredibly important, intimate moments with us. Their photos speak for themselves -- my words can't even do them justice -- but on top of that is just how extraordinarily professional, consistent, and absolutely lovely they are as people. We almost didn't want to hire a wedding photographer because we worried about feeling uncomfortable having our pictures taken all day, or having someone with an imposing personality telling us what to do in front of the camera or in the room for special, private, once-in-a-lifetime moments...but I fell in love with Jess and Lyle's artistic style and their personalities could not have been further from all of the fears that I had! They were ready to tailor their approach to how we wanted to feel on our wedding day and to let us feel natural and comfortable in front of the camera. Jess has such a calm and reassuring presence, which I just can't express how important that is now that I've experienced a wedding day. They both went with the flow no matter if we were running behind schedule or if there was a change in plans. We had a ton of fun with them doing engagement photos and portraits, they gave us just enough guidance while just letting us be ourselves in front of the camera. Their approach to the engagement shoot was also really nice as they had the intention of getting to know us and helping us get comfortable in front of the camera. All of my worries about feeling uncomfortable were never an issue thanks to their approach, and it was so worth it to have a collection of breathtaking photos of our wedding day.” -LAUREN + OMI