About this vendor
Cukini Studio is a wedding photography business based out of Orlando, FL.
Michael enjoys creating photo stories for weddings. It is nice to have planned and posed shots now and then. But, the most heartfelt memories are spawned from candidness and spontaneity. Michael looks for those special moments and captures them. Michael started his photography journey when it was all film. He is still addicted to the chemical smells of the dark room. Then, Michael met Kathryn, and life got busy. Years later, Michael received an online message:
Michael got hooked again, and Cukini Studio was born. Michael likes to travel and find new places to photograph. When not shooting weddings, he enjoys any photography having to do with the night sky, fire, and performance art. Not necessarily all together.
Kathryn is Michael's partner in crime and his irreplaceable muse. She is a professional costume designer and bridal seamstress. Beyond creating gorgeous outfits for actors on stages and brides in weddings, Kathryn dabbles in regional theaters and had roles in various performances. When her schedule allows, Kathryn joins Michael on wedding outings as an assistant and second photographer. She is a proud "Disney adult" and readily drags Michael to Disney World and Disneyland every chance she gets. Her favorite ride at anything Disney is the Haunted Mansion.
One More Thing #1: A picture is worth a thousand words.
We can instruct AI to spout off a flowery prose for our Studio. Or we can brag about the workshops we did, the classes we took, the publications we were in, and the contests we won. Or we can just let you know that our lead photographer, Michael, is a crazy cat and hamster guy, and his partner, Kathryn, is a proud "Disney adult", and just let our photos from real weddings speak for themselves. Check out our photos here and on our website.
One More Thing #2: The many kind words from our clients.
We can spend a couple of paragraphs telling you how great our service is. We can describe how awesome our photos look. We can tell you that if you work with our lead photographer, Michael, you will have to endure many bad "dad jokes", and that his partner, Kathryn, will feel very sorry for you. Or we just let our many reviews speak for themselves. Check out the reviews here and on our website.
One More Thing #3: Wonder how long we have been doing wedding photography?
10+ years. And more than 170 weddings. And countless cake calories.
One More Thing #4: Like what you saw and read?
You made it this far! Let's chat! Send us a message, email, text, or call. It is very easy to get hold of us.
Details
Business Attributes
- Asian-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Packages
Photo Shoot Types
- Bridal Portraits
- Day After Session
- Engagement
- Trash The Dress
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Drone
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Printed Enlargements
- Printed Proofs
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Awards and Affiliations
3-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2023.2021.2020.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
5
out of 5.039 reviews
Went above and beyond, from start to finish! Loved how many photos he took! Easy to work with and made it fun! Thank you!
Michael was great to work with and gave us amazing pictures we will cherish forever.
Michael was an absolutely amazing photographer, and was especially understanding and flexible with our numerous reschedules during the pandemic. Easy to work with, great price, res...
ponsive to all requests, will make you feel comfortable no matter how much you hate taking photos, and just an all around good and fun person. We are extremely pleased with every session and our wedding photos!
Michael was great for our rainy wedding day! We had fun jumping in and out of the rain for photos. Michael captured all the photos we wanted and more! Thank you, Michael!
Our original photographer had a family issue and had to cancel. We were lucky to find Cukini Studio with very little time to spare. We met Michael over a Zoom call and he showed up...
on the wedding day to take care of the photos. We were on schedule and very pleased with the photos!
Michael was amazing! He was super chill and helped keep me sane the whole day. He remembered every small detail I completed forgot. He understood the aesthetic and vibe we were goi...
ng for and found it in every photo. I’m a self conscious/shy person and he made me feel like a complete beauty queen. I will definitely be contacting him for every event that needs photographed. If you want a personalized and comfortable experience choose Michael!
I can't say enough of how incredible it was to work with Michael. He was patient and flexible with us. Our engagement pictures were amazing, and our wedding pictures were the icing...
on the cake. My husband and I are so glad we got lucky and found Michael. Michael is not only personable, but he also has great dad jokes. We couldn't have asked for a better person to help us take pictures of our special day. Thank you Michael and the Cukini team!
I would absolutely recommend Cukini Studio for anyone looking for a photographer! Michael was great to work with. We hired him in a panic when our original wedding photographer d...
ied suddenly 6 months before our wedding, and I’m so happy we chose Michael! Even though we already had engagement pictures with our first photographer, Michael set up a mini engagement session with us so we could meet and work together before the wedding, which I thought was really nice of him to do. He was very helpful and quick to respond whenever I had a question. On the wedding day, he showed up early to make sure he got pictures of us getting ready. He worked seamlessly with our videographer and directed us in a way that made it fun. And we couldn’t be happier with our pictures! He gave us SO MANY, and they were all stunning!! The picture quality, the variety, everything was amazing. He really went above and beyond and captured our day perfectly. Thank you, Michael!!
Thank you sir!! Our gallery photos tells me that you’re awesome at what you do!! Looking forward to sessions with our new family!!
We had a very short engagement time so felt very lucky to find Mike and his studio. He was very flexible and understanding in working with our orthodox wedding traditions. Highly r...
ecommend!
These look great, thank you so much! This was such a fun, memorable experience.
We were recommended to hire Michael through another local photographer and we couldn't be happier with this decision. Michael is very professional, gave us his time, assisted us in...
planning, and helped us relax and enjoy such a special day!
From the beginning, Michael met with us (virtually) to understand who we are as a couple, what we were looking for throughout our day, and give us a good overview of how wedding photography really works.
From there everything was seamless! Michael's payment system is through PayPal and his invoices are detailed so we never questioned what we paid for and were comfortable with the pricing of his packages. He sent us access to a few albums of other weddings he's shot and we really enjoyed the way he captures candid moments, which meant more to us to capture than formal photos. He also does great work with portrait and formal photos, we just place more emphasis on the candid moments.
Our package included an engagement session, which Michael was very flexible in planning with us. We moved out of state and were only back in the area for a short 24 hours, which he worked around and also worked around the weather for outdoor photos. The photos are excellent for us being so unprepared - we even got to include our pup!
Michael then helped us plan the timeline of our day, which was more then helpful and kept everyone on the same page! We also reviewed certain shots we wanted to ensure he would get before the day came and he provided us a shot list to review and add too if we desired.
The day of Michael arrived and started right up - I didn't even notice he was photographing! He kept right up with our group, moved us along throughout the day, ensured we got all the people in the photos that we needed. He directed us pretty well too - I'm an awkward photo taker but for my bride portraits, he made me feel comfortable and provided me with direction on how to pose. He did this with our wedding party and families as well, which was all the more helpful so you aren't thinking of what you need to do in the photos!
Michael was our only photographer and he was everywhere! We got married at Hotel Millwright in Amana and he was all over the campus getting shots. He got all of our detailed photos too and gave us time to rest between photo groupings. He captured the best moments for us without us having to continuously ask or provide direction, making the day stress free!
Michael is a great photographer and has excellent "dad jokes". He's got a great family of humans and pets and is fun to follow on facebook - he's very personable and we enjoyed every minute of working with him!
Michael and Anna were so great to work with!!! They were super responsive through the whole process. They did our engagement photos and our wedding photos. We've almost been marri...
ed a year and we love taking time to look back at the memories and remembering the JOY of those days! Thank you for capturing those special moments!
Micheal is hands down the best wedding photographer out there, he was the photographer for our wedding and his attention to detail and professionalism is second to none!
Michael was so amazing!! We are still working with him and he is such a great guy and easy to work with! He has done so much for us and we will refer him to anyone ever!
Michael did a phenomenal job photographing our engagement and wedding(s). We chose the four seasons package, and I couldn’t recommend it enough! Michael is always up for an adventu...
re and finding unique places to shoot. I loved the four seasons package because he really got to know us as a couple and was able to capture those little moments during our big day. We are a COVID wedding couple and Michael was able to shoot our small wedding in June and our larger reception last weekend. If you are looking for a wonderful photographer, unique photos and an affordable price...look no further!
Michael was a blast to work with, he made sure that each picture he took was perfect. The wife and I had fun with him for the pre-wedding shoots and he was able to work around our ...
busy schedule. When the big day finally arrived, he was there and even helped calm some of our nerves. The both of us loved working with Michael and would do so again in a heartbeat.
Had a lot of fun with Michael for engagement photo shoot and has been so great during this covid-19 pandemic
My husband and I had an absolutely fantastic and wonderful experience working with Michael at Cukini Studio! The photos were exactly what we were looking for and needed to perfectl...
y remember the experience and special time through our engagement to the big day! Beyond the pictures, we actually get to have two big days because of some unexpected military plans. Michael worked with us to change and adjust everything flawlessly. He was available to add our first ceremony to his schedule and again take some amazing pictures for us and the family short notice. We’re only halfway through our experience but I cannot recommend Cuikini Studio enough! Michael is so easy to work with and is 110% determined to make your special day everything YOU want and have imagined. If you’re our looking for the perfect wedding photographer, I would absolutely recommend and encourage you to go through Cukini Studio!
Michael at Cukini Studios was amazing! Our wedding was on Mother's Day and so we were worried about finding a photographer that could work on the holiday and within our budget. Tha...
nkfully, Michael was able to go above and beyond our needs. We met with him before our wedding to plan out photos for the day and he was very thoughtful and detailed about what we were looking for in our photos. He was professional and prompt. Michael was considerate about how the lighting would affect the look of the photos and how much time we would need for various photo shoots. He captured all of the photographs we wanted including photos of our ketubah signing, family photos, and candid photos of us cutting and eating our wedding cake. We even had time to do a few on-the-spot photos with close friends who arrived to the wedding ceremony early. After the wedding we received our photos quickly and we could not be happier with how they turned out. We are so grateful to have the photos in a digital format, so that our photos can be shared with loved ones for years to come. We loved our experience working with Michael. If you're looking for someone in the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City area for your wedding photos, I would highly recommend Cukini Studio @ Studio Reserved.
We could not have asked for a better photographer. The knowledge and experience that he brought to our special day made every photo a cherished memorey.
Michael is the best! He is punctual and easy to work with. My husband and I are both pretty awkward but he helped make it fun to take pictures. He captured every picture on my list...
and even pictures I didn't know I wanted!
Michael was wonderful to work with! Before the wedding he made sure he was familiar with the venue and was very open to discussing pose ideas. As the day grew closer, he did everyt...
hing he could to make sure that I felt taken care of. This included coordinating a schedule for photos, and the day as a whole! (He was better at this than my actual wedding coordinator from the venue! ) I felt very at ease as we went through the day because of this schedule, and it meant a lot to me that he was very flexible with everything if we took longer at one point than planned. My family can be a little stiff for photos, but he was very good at making them feel right at home, and as a result our photos are absolutely beautiful. I would definitely recommend working with him! I have since recommended 2 other brides to him and both loved working with him as well!
Michael was wonderful to work with! He took such amazing photos and captured so much more than we ever thought. Not only is he a great photographer but he is wonderful person. ...
Strongly suggest for all of your photography needs.
Michael is a very talented photographer. He is always enjoyable to work with, very good sense of humor and relates well to others. His photography is gorgeous, unique and often ele...
gant. Knowing his abilities and the trust I have in him and his work made our wedding day a breeze. He is great at capturing the natural beauty and details of people, animals, fire, snowflakes and stars! When planning our wedding we had only 3 requirements for our big day- an outdoor ceremony, our kids in attendance, and Michael as our photographer. He is the best! 🙂
Michael was so easy to work with! We were planning the majority of our wedding from a few states away, and Michael was still so flexible, so helpful, and just great. We loved worki...
ng with him leading up to the wedding and on the day! We got so many amazing photos, and he captured all of the right moments for us. We can't thank him enough!
We looked at several photographers before picking one and both agreed that Michael was the best fit. We liked the all day coverage, his easy going personality, and we were very hap...
py with the pictures we received. My wife wanted several specific pictures and he accommodated all of them, he also helped us plan a timeline to get every thing she wanted photographed.
I would 100% recommend Cukini Studio. Michael was easy to work with and flexible, and of course took great pictures. I really appreciated the all day coverage and not having to wor...
ry about start and end times and what parts we wanted coverage of several months in advance. He did a great job of taking the pictures we wanted and capturing the day. Thank you Michael!
Cukini studios brought made our dream wedding pictures a reality! Michael and his crew were so professional and often we didn't even realize they were there. I highly recommend Cuk...
ini for any couple looking to capture the beauty and emotions of the wedding day
Absolutely wonderful photos! We had engagement photos and wedding photos done with Michael and ALL of them turned out beautiful. Talent and skills definitely seen through every pho...
to and he captured every moment for us to remember. Thank you!
The pictures are simply amazing! Michael is very professional and easy to work with. We are extremely happy to have such a great and talented photographer!
Michael from Cukini Studio at Studio Reserved captured some pretty awesome shots from our wedding! His expertise we're exactly what we needed for our outdoor night time wedding. He...
listened to what was important to us (capturing not only us in the moment throughout the evening, but also our loved ones in their special moments) we will cherish the photos he captured, forever. Thanks so much Michael!
-Nikki & Ben
Our pictures turned out perfect! Michael was easy to work with and very professional. Would definitely recommend Cukini Studio to a friend!
Amazing photographer, with great ideas to make our wedding photos feel unique.
We have and will continue to recommend to everyone.
Always a blast to work with! Michael is easygoing, friendly, and totally fun to be around. He makes sure models and clients alike are happy with his work and happy with him!
Cukini Studio is by far one of the most incredible photo studios I have ever worked with. I adore them. I have a difficult face to light due to my skin tone and bone structure, and...
they always manage to keep me from having awkward shadows on my face in my pictures (: I did a couples shoot with Cukini Studio, and they went above and beyond to make my boyfriend and I's photos beautiful works of art. I love how creative they are; they push the envelope and go beyond cookie cutter photography practices. They want to project your vision, but will guide you and not leave you alone to figure it out. Michael also happens to be one of the most down to earth easy to talk to photographers in the area. If you're looking for someone who is going to be easy to work with, and not make you feel morally uncomfortable in any way shape or form, he's your guy. I would 10/10 recommend using Cukini Studio for all of your photography needs (:
We had worked with Michael on our engagement photos first. Due to our busy schedules, we had to settle for a less than pleasant time of year. I was sure we were wasting our time wi...
th a gray and dreary day but he was able to pull off a series of photos that had people commenting on how great they were and how he captured our unique personalities. We rehired him for our wedding photos and we came away with several stunning photos. My favorite memory and photo from the day was taken on the roof of a building. We snuck away to catch the sunset and snap some photos, which gave my husband and I a private moment to just be together on our wedding day. I didn't know it at the time, but that would be one of my favorite moments-and we have the picture to prove it!
Cukini Studio was absolutely wonderful to work with! Michael was so easy to work with and he was so i sightful in regards to the wedding in general. Photography was the one thing I...
did not have to worry about during my wedding and the photos were BEAUTIFUL! 100% recommend!
Michael was so great to work with!! The photos turned out to be so beautiful!!
Contact
Orlando, Florida + Travel the World
Cukini Studio's photos