Essence Photo & Video

rked closely with Chris Sigl (General Mgr of Orland location) and he was great! He contacted me in less than 24 hours. He made the entire process stress-free for me. We ended up hiring everyone; our photographer, Nora, the videographer, Augustine and the DJ, Clint. They worked together like a well oiled machine. Nora had such a great personality and came with an abundance of energy. Augustine was always around but because he is the videographer he stays quiet...until there was a break in the action and we had a chance to chat. Augustine is a very nice person and we enjoyed talking with him. Clint, the DJ, and I worked ahead of the wedding on my playlist which I built myself. Clint was so easy to work with and helped me with my song for me and my Dad; my Dad's knees would not last a 5 min song, so Clint cut the song three different ways and sent them to me so that I could choose which one would work best. That was great! I knew we were in the right place when we had our engagement session with Peggy. She was great. She had the best suggestions and even taught us how to do a proper dip! The pics were amazing!! Last but not least, we also used Essence for the men's formal wear. Gerry Avi (formal wear director) was great and easy to work with as well. He's been in the formal wear business for some time and his expertise showed through. Essence has it figured out...one stop shopping. Their bundled package was the best price out there vs. hiring individuals from different companies. I highly recommend them!!

t everyone dancing all night. Our photographer was Ben! Absolutely amazing. Great to work with and helped ease the stress of the day and make things go smoothly. We were able to preview our photos and they turned out great. We have seen the video yet but the videographer was awesome also. I would recommend Essence to any family or friends.

d was always snapping photos at the right moments. He made us feel so comfortable and was always making me laugh. Our second photographer was Jolanta and she was amazing too! She was was also very professional and helping us with our schedule. She captured all of our table photos and was very patient with my crazy family which I greatly appreciate! They were both amazing and we are so happy they were our photographers! Thank you both so much and we cannot wait to see our photos!!

e type of photos we wanted (or didn't want.) The photos were beautiful and the turnaround time was quick! Pur dj was great. We gave him a few specific songs and some guidelines, but he filled in the rest. We had some unusual requests he was able to find and he read the room to see what the crow responded to. He kept the party going! The sound system was perfect for our space: clear, but not overwhelmingly loud. We also used their photo booth. The attendant had a lot of props, and kept the photo booth running smoothly. We had our photos quickly too! All around a great business for your wedding services.

e extremely lucky that Peggy who did our engagement photos also photographed our wedding almost two years later. We were already familiar with her and she made it a great experience!

ur photos hours after our shoot. All of the photos turned out amazing!!!! We look forward to taking our wedding photos with this awesome company next year! Thank you Peggy !!!!

reception footage that was more appropriate for the dance montage, there was blurry footage, the sound did not match when people were speaking, during our ceremony, the sound completely changed in the middle of our officiant speaking, the video did not contain any footage of our cocktail hour (which the videographer went to cocktail hour instead of taking video of our group photos), and our video did not contain chapters as we were told during initial discussions. After requesting the video be fixed to remedy this list, one month later, we received a revised video that changed the slow song, removed the blurry footage, and added 3 seconds of cocktail hour. The video is extremely disappointing, especially when considering how much we paid for it. Our guests took better quality videos. As for the mens apparel, the shoes were extremely uncomfortable - everyone was in pain. The photos turned out great. We loved our 2 photographers: Amanda and Stephanie. We loved that we got a large group photo of everyone at the wedding early into the reception. This review would have been 1 star, but the photography was great.

d. Now they stated they are weeks behind due to a COVID delay and will not provide an updated time line on when we can expect to receive our video. It is extremely upsetting that we are still waiting!

Man I'm so glad I did, because meeting with Ron gave me such confidence in this business. Thank you to everyone who helped and was a part of our wedding, shout out to Noell our incredibly awesome DJ who got our requests and made sure everything was just right, and also to Tommy our photographer for capturing amazing moments and having fun at our reception. All the best to everyone there! Go with Essence!!!

up receiving an album of about 1,000 photos, and we are very happy with how the photos turned out. Thank you, Kari & Essence!

nd staff. I am blessed to come across such a loving environment of staff who truly care about their clients. Not only are they caring, but they are extremely fast. Mike reached out right away when I requested a quote, contacted me about packages, offers, etc, booked my wedding and engagement session within a few hours. Not only was the process fast, but Peggy had previews and engagement photos done so quickly as well! Impressed is an understatement to how we feel so far, and we are so grateful and excited for our wedding photos to come!

g! We were matched with Thomas and he was nothing short of AMAZING! Me and Thomas were on the same page from the first time we spoke. We agreed on the types of pictures we wanted to be captured and more. When I saw Thomas on the wedding day, I was so excited! He was the perfect mix of professional and fun! I cannot say enough great things about Thomas and the whole Essence team! We are about a week and a half from our wedding day and we are still having people rave about how great Thomas was! Thank you to all the Essence team for helping make our day PERFECT! And Thomas, thank you for being you! You truly have a gift! Alyssa & Brandon Conkle

ges that had to happen before the wedding, but Peggy and the rest of the team were very helpful with working all of the details out. The day of the wedding, the photographer showed up early to the location and got all of the shots we asked for. Both photo and video were very professional and prepared. We love how the pictures turned out and can't wait to share them with our family and friends!

h easier, as the photographer already knew exactly what pictures were most important to us. We also worked with their partner DJ company, which made setting up audio for the video so much easier! Our photographer, Kamil, was incredible. I have not stopped raving about him to friends, family, and even strangers online. He was professional and polite but did not shy away from letting people know exactly what we needed from them. I told him that I was a little nervous about having pictures taken, and he really helped make me feel comfortable and gave me direction when needed. He also was the one who calmed me down when we had a weather scare. While everyone who loves and knows me was trying their best and it just wasn’t working, he told me some silly joke that made me laugh and put things into perspective. He went above and beyond the whole day to make sure we were happy and getting all the pictures we wanted. I highly recommend anyone looking for a photographer in the Chicago area check them out.

the wedding and he did an amazing job. He was so easy to work with and kept everybody moving. We got our pictures back in about 3-1/2 weeks and WOW do we love them! We are waiting to get our video back still and even though there was a problem with the videographer, Peggy saved the day and came out to do our video for us. We could not be more thankful for how everything turned out!

All 3 were amazing! They were so friendly and made everyone at ease (even when we were running behind on time and couldn't take pictures outside due to the rain). Peggy looked at my Pinterest boards I previously sent, and made sure to recreate those pictures. We can't wait to see our final pictures and video! Highly recommend!

back right away and although we were not using them for our wedding, agreed to do our engagement photos. Our engagement photographer was great and we received our beautiful photos about a month later. Because I felt bad that they had done these photos for us, we agreed to use Essence for our tuxes. We worked with Gerry and he was nothing but friendly and helpful during the whole process. He was always available through email if we had any questions or concerns. We were very happy with using Essence for our formal wear as well as our engagement photos. We felt they went above and beyond even though we did not book them for our wedding day photography.

ry good with going with the flow of thing’s for it being in February and being so cold. They did an amazing job taking pictures and capturing so many pictures that are absolutely beautiful. I also would like to mention Peggy who is in the office & is the photographer manger, with her help I was able to get this all done without a hitch & she did an amazing job. I completely would be giving everyone their business that I know that is having a upcoming wedding just because this company was so helpful & understanding of all our needs. I truly am GRATEFUL for them & all that they did for this wedding

oney off of you instead or the costumer service but they were on top of everything. They also have for your decision making portion part, your own wedding site to pick and choose your music for your wedding and what photographer you prefer. Most places just pick for you but they give you plenty of options which is rare now a days. Even though we have ended up not using them because we decided on an out of state wedding they did great in giving us all the information we needed and actually cared to enough to keep in contact with us to make sure we didn’t need anything else. Thanks essence! If plans change we definitely will use you guys!

ive us a feel for what his mission is for brides. The albums full of pictures were stunning, as well as the photographers he hires. You can tell he loves his work, as well was compassionate about brides, grooms and their day. He was super transparent of trying to not get us to spend more money that we really needed too, ex, hiring a second photographer m, which I thought I needed. He was also super respectful in what to call each parent, aka “how do you want us to address your step dad, if we say parents of the groom is this ok?” I had never come across anyone who thinks of little things like that to make sure everyone would feel comfortable! Peggy, the lady who manages the photographers and helps you choose who she thinks is the best fit, based off of your vision for pictures. Always allowing you the final say, which as an anal bride that was important to me. Both myself and my fiancé were blown away with the compassion, the personable touch and even notes they took of what we wanted to see for our wedding! Their online forum to help you outline your wedding day was to DIE for and made me feel at ease. The website to write my notes of specific pictures I wanted was easy to maneuver and was saved compiling a list of photos I expect for my wedding day. They assured me that in requesting specific pictures that it was my “insurance” to know that it is the expectation to get those photos, which I love! It put me at ease, so that my wedding day could be worry free! So we were able to put the most important photos and poses in our notes. My brother in law had also used them, in which they turned a rainy junky day into stunning pictures! Everyone we came in contact with was knowledgeable, super responsive and looking out for the best interest of my happiness. You truly do not find this! (I had booked a different vendor that was a nightmare and the difference was night and day, essence being the better one!) Essence was super affordable for the quality of customer service, the touches of reassurance and dependable people to work with. From what you get, including them to help coordinate your wedding day, and to make sure all pictures were taken through the planning process was awesome! A value all on its own! I can tell they love what they do! I would highly recommend them, especially if you like to have a more personable experience!!! So book them!

e accurately put it, had no idea how to use a camera). The quality of the video was much worse than I could have shot on my cell phone camera. There lens wasn’t cleaned so there was dust on the lens that could be seen throughout the ceremony. The video was extremely blurry at times, and sometimes the videographer fumbled with the camera and shot the ceiling instead of the wedding. The camera was stationary the entire time and did not include any artistic angles like the video posted on the website. The quality was very similar to 90s home videos. We hired a videographer for 8 hours and got only about 40 minutes of footage with major wedding moments missing from our DVD. When we asked for them to redo the editing to add in the parts that were left out, we were told that there was no footage for a lot of it. I’m not sure what the videographer was doing during this time (getting ready, cocktail hour, etc.) Even though I feel we deserve a full refund, we requested a 50% refund. We were told they were working on it, and have been told this for the past year. I truly feel that Essence robbed us of both our money and wedding memories that we should be able to watch forever. If Essence should decide to resolve this issue, I will edit my review. I would NEVER recommend Essence for photo or video services.

se he worked with my sisters wedding. They verbalized how they knew exactly who we were talking about and then had us sign our contract. Following that we got access into our "portal" and when we requested that photographer they stated he quit weeks ago. Just frustrating that they knew/aware that he had quit before we signed our contract with them and didnt tell us. The photographer was very nice and worked well with my wedding party. I know some of my ladies could be crazy. What kind of bothered me was when we got to the venue we were waiting and one of my bridesmaids had called him because it seemed like a little while. He said he was just waiting in the parking lot for a while... i dont know why but whatever, he ended up coming in. Then I had asked about getting pictures outside at our venue because the outdoor area was very beautiful. He had said he got enough nice shots at the other location we had taken pictures. I am very "go with the flow" so I didn't continue to ask.... but I am just really bummed that I didn't get those pictures. I don't really push for stuff, which I 100% regret with him. I saw my entire family take pictures by the waterfalls at our venue after the wedding and all their pictures turned out so beautiful, but we wont have a single one. He got pictures of us underneath a canopy in a different location. My husband asked about getting pictures by the bed of flowers and he said "the lighting wasn't right." I just trusted him too much and I am really nervous about getting all of our photos. It's heartbreaking that I am nowhere near excited to see them all and it was just a stressful wedding given the year being 2020.

all my family’s crazy photo requests and knew exactly how to pose us all for photos. I couldn’t have chosen a better photographer for the most important day of my life!!

d us to their services and showed us their samples and portfolio. We were impressed and proceeded to schedule an appointment to discuss in depth what we wanted for our wedding. At the consultation, Chris was very informative and helpful. He made suggestions based on our wants and needs. For everything we wanted, Chris managed to give us the best deal for photo, video and photobooth. We ended up saving over $2000 by bundling all services versus hiring 3 different companies to do each service. The other companies we spoke to at the expo were charging so much for mediocre work! The communication between us and Essence was wonderful. Throughout the planning process, Kathy and Erik were always prompt with answering all my questions. They helped me with the wedding day timeline to make sure that we stayed focus on all the shots we wanted done at the wedding. We were given several choices for our main photographers and we chose Gabe. We had Patrick as our videographer and Tommy as our 2nd photographer. Both Gabe and Patrick reached out to us about a week before the wedding to discuss timeline and asked what we wanted included in the shots/poses. Gabe, Patrick and Tommy were very professional, friendly and fun. We loved the guys’ personalities and they all made us comfortable and it showed in our photos and videos. I’ve seen pictures where smiles and poses were just so awkward-looking and I think that it has a lot to do with the wedding party not being comfortable with the photo/videographers. We also enjoyed the photo booth. They have an open booth concept so more people could fit and they had a touch screen camera so we and our guests had a lot of fun with that! They also provided really fun props and we enjoyed looking through all of the photobooth pictures the day after the wedding because the attendant left us a USB with all of the photos taken at the booth. A couple of weeks after our wedding the pandemic started and everything shut down. We were afraid that we would not get our pictures and video for a while because of the lockdown and offices being closed but to our surprise we received an email that our proofs were ready almost 2 weeks early and the video not long after that. The pictures and the video were so wonderful! The shots that both photographers took were great and the video captured things that we didn’t see at the wedding. There were some people and portions of the wedding that were important to us that weren’t included in the edited version of the video (we completely understand why they weren’t included since the editor wasn’t at the wedding). I reached out and Chris was so helpful and courteous by getting us in touch with Peggy who handles the designs/editing part of the process. They both quickly made sure that our concerns were addressed and went above and beyond to make sure that our issue was resolved. It was nice to look back and relive our wedding. We are so happy that we went with Essence to capture the most amazing day of our lives. Can’t thank you guys enough for being “our eyes” at the wedding and allowing us to experience our wedding day all over again.

eedless to say, the shoot was awkward and the photos were terrible. I wanted to post a review then, but my now husband told me to hold off, our wedding photos would be better. 2 days before our wedding our chosen photographer, Kelly, ended up in the ER due to kidney stones. Scroll down and you will find the exact same story listed by another couple, leading me to believe that was a complete lie. So 2 days before our wedding we were looking at more portfolios and had to pick one right then and there. I didn't love any of the portfolio's but what choice did I have? The wedding day came and went, our photographer was awkward and not what we wanted but we enjoyed our day together. Once we got the photos back, we were in shambles. More than 20 photo shots listed in their contract were never taken. Shots of siblings, aunts and uncles, parents at different venues, we have not one photo of our parents together etc. etc.. Also, the information about siblings and special shots we would like example : my husband's group of work friends, that you lay out in the portal was never even looked at. To say we are disappointed is a complete understatement. It has caused us so much pain to have to tell family members that we really don't have any of them when they excitedly ask to see our wedding photos. It's embarrassing, and I feel completely breached by their contract we signed. They will make it all sound so great and lovely until your actual wedding day and everything will come crashing down. We have spoken with them several times about getting some money back in which after waiting 3 months they told us there is nothing they can do. I wouldn't suggest this company to my worst enemy. I hope no couple has to deal with their shady practices.

ght good ideas for photographs while also being dynamic with what we requested and our movements or nuances throughout the day. We were blessed to have photos at three locations, one of which was outside. Ryan worked with us in the 30 degree snowing weather and was even able to capture the snow in some of our photographs! We recently received our proofs, (Only 4 weeks turn around due to COVID) and we are happy. The posed photographs are beautiful and photos of the ceremony turned out great. Ryan paid attention to small details in the photos which made them that much nicer. My only comments would be that I hoped for a little more photoshop/editing on some photographs that had unavoidable elements like telephone poles or street lights - I think a few minutes with some of these photos would have made them that much nicer. In relation, our first dance photos didn't turn out the best, probably due to unpredictable movements - hopefully the video will make up for this. Overall, we are very pleased with the photographs from Essence Photo and we cannot wait to see the Video! Our photographer and videographer were very kind, blended into our ceremony well, and captured all our most important moments and then some.

They got all the regular weeding shots but also got stuff I never would have thought that we wanted..but we did!!! And every time I had a friend taking a pic of us the photographer was there to take a professional picture for us!!! I would recommend Essence to anyone who is looking for a great, caring, professional experience for their wedding!!!

nique shots, especially with the sunset and even in the wind. Beautiful!! Can't wait to see the finished products!!

t have asked for a better experience. The portal essence utilizes is a fantastic resource to have. Every conversation and every request is recorded. When speaking with both Allison and Kuni, they were looped in on all of our requests and made the process very easy on us. Our date was July 26th, 2019. Photo - Allison quickly became one of the wedding party. We had an absolute blast with her! Throughout the craziness of family photos, she was able to take lead and get them done in the most polite manner. Our wedding party enjoyed every moment! Everyone had a great time, while getting great shots. As a bride and groom, Allison was able to capture intimate moments and create those once in a lifetime shots throughout celebratory group photos. It was a perfect combination!! Thank you Allison for your vision, professionalism and being a fantastic piece of our special day Video – Kune and David were also fantastic! They both had worked together before, which was great to hear. I loved seeing their creativity come to life. Kune was able to be subtle and captured intimate moments beautifully! We loved his ability to sneak in and out and get really got shots on the dance floor. Thank you Kuni and Dave for your hard work, teamwork and ability to capture our big day! Essence collaborated on every aspect from start to finish. Keep in mind, you do not hear from your personal photographer/videographer until the week of the wedding. We set up calls with both our photographer and videographer the same day and made us feel comfortable for the wedding day. If you use the portal provided through out planning process, you should get everything you need ahead of the big day.

nd after a lot of research it had us worried our expectations would not be met for our budget. We found essence and immediately booked a consultation. They took care of us right away showing us all options. Leading up, we were constantly in contact through the portal with our expectations and poses we found on Pinterest; not sure if other companies offer this but it did help to build that relationship even before meeting our photo/ video men. Thankfully they were reasonable enough to even upgrade the video quality which now receiving our video is awesome- the picture quality is so crisp/ clear! We have already recommended 2 couples and are thoroughly excited to see the style of video they choose and will continue to do so. Thank you for capturing our special day and making it beautiful!

Of course these things happen and are understandable but the backup we were given was Gabe...and backup he was. DO NOT RECOMMEND going with Gabe. Although he takes great pictures of still objects like our table arrangements, he does not do a good job at pictures of people or capturing the moments. He doesn't look at the entire picture when things might actually be sticking out of your head, the rest of the picture isn't even in focus, finding a good background for couple pictures, etc the list goes on and on. We are extremely disappointed with our photographs but thank goodness we have an amazing video, not from Essence, that we can relive the day that way. We have about 10 pictures we'd actually find suitable to print out and put in our home...that's a lot of wasted money spent on a very important day. DISAPPOINTING and not worth booking with. BEWARE and know exactly who you're going to get on your day...

all shots that I asked for ahead of time. She was amazing to work with and had a great personality!

ckages that they offered and worked with us to create an experience that fits our budget. Chris did not pressure us to sign with Essence and asked at the end of the meeting what Essence can do to create a better experience for the next couple to inquire about their services. The Essence portal is great for keeping in contact with them. Kathy is very quick to respond and great in answering questions. We scheduled our engagement photo session and picked our wedding photographer through the portal with ease. We chose the standard location for our engagement photo session with Dave as our photographer. The standard location was at the Schaumburg Municipal Center, which is close to their Schaumburg office. Dave texted me the day before to confirm that the plans were still on and gave me his cell phone in case we couldn't find each other. Dave was a great photographer that has more than 13 years of experience. He has taken pictures at that location for years and knows all the good spots for the best pictures. He shot over 100 photos in less than an hour, at more than 5 different locations, around the park/pond. At the end, he made sure that we took all the pictures we wanted. The turnaround on our photos from the session took less than a week and most of the pictures came out the way we wanted them. We were put in a couple awkward poses that we tried out and those pictures did not come out as well as the others, but that was only 6-10 pictures out of 110-120 photos. We have not had our wedding yet, so I cannot comment on their photography/video for the event. I plan on updating this review once the wedding pictures and videos are in my possession.

From that day forward, everything fell perfectly into place. We worked with Karen through their portal for any questions that we had and were promptly answered. No matter what we came to them with, nothing was a "problem" and they were so helpful and understanding. Then the day of the wedding quickly came, Chris Caizer was amazing! We could not have dreamed for a better photographer experience for our wedding! We went in with no list of photos we wanted and Chris had a ton of ideas and was super efficient! We never felt rushed or uncomfortable in any poses. Chris has an awesome eye for anything out of place and quickly adjusts for the perfect photo. I had gotten ready at a hotel and he was able to get those perfect dress hanging in the window pictures with limited space and the room looked spacious. He took really cool shots too of the cathedral veil, from the getting ready to pictures with my husband, he was able to truly capture the beauty of veil. Lauren was our second photographer and her and Chris worked wonderfully together. She braved the cold day to take photos of my husband and his groomsmen outside on the riverwalk. She captured the fun that they had before the ceremony. Chris and Lauren seamlessly worked together with David Tikalsky, our amazing videographer. So many people at our wedding commented at their professional, respect (especially during our religious ceremony) and never seemed to get in each others way. I've already watched the video 3 times since we got it a few months ago! David captured our best day perfectly! He went with the flow and captured so much more than we could have ever imagined. I recommend doing the video SO much! There were several parts of the video I didn't even realize what happened with guests or distracted during parts of the ceremony to notice all the details. I now can relive it all whenever I want. Kathy went above and beyond too! She helped us get our photos and when I was having trouble downloading them, she troubleshooted with me and offered to help another way to get me the photos. I thought it was the sweetest! Even though we had already had our wedding and our photos were ready, Kathy still valued me as a customer and wanted to ensure we were all set. Everyone should work with this group for their wedding! There was a huge weight taken off our shoulders by working with this company for our photo and video. They truly allowed us to cherish our wedding and capture every moment. I will forever be thankful for their amazing work and dedication in giving us photos and a video of a lifetime!

as thrilled with their services overall! So many of my guest complimented me on my photographer! Great attention to detail and attention to us as the bride & groom. I felt listened to and catered to. The only inconvenience at all for me was their user portal process. It was a bit unfriendly , as it kept making re-enter the same information. Other than that I sincerely have zero complaints!

s super cool online portal that you can access any time. They let you view the portfolios of different photographers and pick which one you like best. The portal also allows you to communicate with Karen, who answers any questions you may have. Karen was able to help us pick a great picture location near our venue. About a week before our wedding, our photographer was in an accident and was injured and unable to photograph our wedding. Essence automatically assigned another photographer to our wedding and he was AMAZING. He was super friendly from the beginning, and let me know what was happening every step of the way. Michael was able to recommend a cute place for my husband and I to take our first look pictures. He also was able to deal with our crazy families. He was glued to my side the entire time and was able to get pictures with anyone who asked to take a picture. I was so incredibly happy with everything that Essence was able to do for my husband and I. I would definitely recommend them to everyone.

at he seemed to "get us", eased my mind. He did not disappoint. I can't say enough great things about Ryan. Within the first minute of our conversation, we knew he was the right fit for us. He communicated with my bridal party and offered guidance without being pushy. He blended in well with our guests and didn't feel invasive. He truly made us feel comfortable and was such a pleasure working with. We strongly recommend Ryan and look forward to seeing all the images captured from our magical day. Mike you're a match maker! Karen, you are a rock star!

hat he seemed to "get us", eased my mind. He did not disappoint. I can't say enough great things about Ryan. Within the first minute of our conversation, we knew he was the right fit for us. He communicated with my bridal party and offered guidance without being pushy. He blended in well with our guests and didn't feel invasive. He truly made us feel comfortable and was such a pleasure working with. We strongly recommend Ryan and look forward to seeing all the images captured from our magical day. Mike you're a match maker! Karen, you are a rock star!

f photo moments and setup, and Ben was the perfect photographer for this!! He worked so hard and I already know he got wonderful pictures - cannot wait to see them!

oses. Chris has an awesome eye for anything out of place and quickly adjusts for the perfect photo. I had gotten ready at a hotel and he was able to get those perfect dress hanging in the window pictures with limited space and the room looked spacious. He took really cool shots too of the cathedral veil, from the getting ready to pictures with my husband, he was able to truly capture the beauty of veil. Everyone should have Chris as their wedding photographer! He truly allowed us to cherish our wedding and capture every moment. I will forever be thankful for his amazing work and dedication for giving us photos of a lifetime!

y kind and helpful. She was more than just a photographer. She was very out going and complimented everyone in the process well. She helped fix my dress and broken bouquet. She was organized and quick and got everything we asked for. We couldn’t have asked for a better day!!!

r. He made us feel comfortable from the beginning and we had so much fun working with him the whole day. Our videographer Kuni was also great to work with! Overall we had a great experience and would highly recommend this company to anyone!

you are out of state and prices can be ridiculously high. The things we loved about Essence were the availability, PRICES and flexibility to work with us. The first person we talked to was Chris Sigl. He was not a pushy salesperson!!! THANK YOU FOR THAT!!!! (believe me, it is very common to find pushy people while shopping around for vendors) Overall, he understood our stress of planning our big day out of state, and took the time to explain and walk us through the entire process. Then, he sets your portal login where you can ask questions and review their photographers (and their previous work-so you can based on that select who would you like to work with). Karen responded very quickly through this portal (and believe or not!!!! even after work hours- side note- this is huge plus when you like to plan every little thing!! the constant communication was huge for my husband and I). We decided to work with John for the photography. We felt that his previous work really captured what we were looking for. Prior to the wedding day, we got to speak with him about what we wanted and how we wanted it. He was very receptive and provided additional ideas. and not only that, but he helped us a lot with the logistics for him and the videographer on the big day. Again, communication is key on your wedding day!!!! He was on time, ready to work and really understood my stress the day of. His patience and consideration was key!!! Timothy was our videographer. He captured beautiful footage of our wedding. They stay the entire time with you, which is awesome because once you get the final product you get to enjoy parts of the wedding that you probably did not notice. Finally, the wedding album IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Very good quality too!! They really took the time and followed our feedback and revisions with the best attitude. I received previous of the photos with no issues!!! Just talk to them and they will get them to you. The wedding video was totally worth it!!! It includes a chapter menu that makes it feel like a professional film. I recommend them not only because of their great prices, excellent service or their high quality, but for their people skills! You want someone that can make your big day better and not a complete stress and chaos. THANK YOU ESSENCE!!!

ographer was Lauren) and our videographer Dave. They were super great and fun to work with and they meshed very well with our families and wedding party. Everyone talked about how warm and awesome Eric was at our reception. They truly were awesome guys to work with and have be a part of our wedding day. The photo booth was great overall, as well. In terms of our pictures, we were happy with them for the most part. There was some poor lighting in some of them that disappointed us a little, and we wish there were more pictures of my husband and me close up, faces close together, veil in the wind, etc. Nevertheless we have at least 15-20 pictures of us that we do love. Since we were pressed for time at certain points throughout the day, I wish Eric would have tried to do less creative shots with us and the bridal party (one on a set of stairs where less than half could be seen) and focused on a few more traditional and timeless photos. Again, we do have some awesome shots of us with our bridal party that we truly do love. There were not as many detail shots as we would’ve liked from our reception, but fortunately screen grabs of the room from our video were able to be converted into pictures, which was great. Overall, we absolutely loved working with Eric and we got some pictures that we truly love, but there were certain kinds of pictures we wish he would’ve gotten/taken. Kathy, their photo editor, was AWESOME to work with. She edited any photo I wanted and did them very quickly. She was super flexible with me and which pictures I wanted edited. In terms of videography, overall we were not super impressed. I did not understand in our consultation that they could not provide the level/quality of videography I was looking for, so we had to go through a lot of edits with our video in order for it to get to where we are satisfied with it. It was a lot of stationary and standstill footage, rather than cinematic and creative footage. I didn’t understand this before signing our contract, but after talking with their sales associate Chris I understood more that what they charged us was a fair quality of what we got. Kuni, the video editor, was also very awesome to work with. He was very accommodating and did whatever he could to edit our video to our liking. While we were not blown away by our video or super ecstatic with our photos, the customer service of Essence is fantastic. They are extremely helpful, flexible, and available whenever you need them. We were lucky to have a company who worked so hard to please us and make us happy.

eather. Our video is great and love all the features!

a competitive price. Once hired, we gained access to the Portal, which helped making planning so easy. All you have to do is log on and enter the information. Any questions, just ask in the portal and Karen will get back to you with an answer in no time. In the days before our wedding, both the photographer and videographer reached out to us to confirm all the information, leaving us worry free. Our wedding video came out better than we could have imagined. the Wedding and Dance montages are the best and can be easily jumped to using the video's chapter menu. The chapter menu also helps you jump straight to the introductions, speeches, and dances so that you do not have to fast forward through the entire video when showing family and friends. Finally, Kathy did such an AWESOME job on our album. The pictures she recommended we use helped a great deal and the way she was able to make it flow was fantastic. Planning a wedding is stressful and Essence helped make everything a LOT easier!

y fun to work with and mixed well with our wedding party! Our videographer was TJ. He was also OUTSTANDING! He captured great moments throughout the day. We are so happy that we have such great photos and a great video to remind of us of how great our special day was. The office staff at Essence was also very helpful! Karen was great at planning the day out for us. Her assistance with timing and other details was very much appreciated! You will not be disappointed!

s tops) session outlining services and costs and then we'd be on our way. It only took a few minutes meeting with Chris to realize he would completely exceed our initial expectations and then some. The first meeting lasted more than an hour - Chris was extremely thorough and helped us brainstorm the best ways to optimize our photography/videography while maintaining our budget, and all of this was before we even committed to Essence. The fact that he spent so much time working through options with us, and never once made us feel like we were taking up too much time, meant so much to us both personally and as customers. We would absolutely recommend Essence to anyone looking for professional photography, whether it's a wedding or something else - the quality is incredible, the cost is reasonable, and the staff/owners really care about their clients.

dding videos! He answered all of our questions and was super responsive, we even got to look at samples of wedding books before ordering our own! He kept in contact with us the entire time and truly made sure that our wedding would be the wedding of our dreams! The wedding books were outstanding, I honestly couldn't have been happier with our album, we upgraded to the big coffee table album and everyone who comes over falls in love with it! Kathy was such a big help at answering our questions and she even picks photo suggestions for the album! She did such an amazing job with it. We did the Photo Booth for our wedding and it was a HUGE hit! They had real props and the Photo Booth was large enough to fit about 5-6 people in there. They made sure to put all of the photos on a flash drive for us so we can save the wonderful memories :). Our wedding video was also fantastic, Jennifer did an amazing job as our Videographer and made sure to capture all of those special moments! We were able to pick our own songs for the wedding video, we chose our first dance song for the sentimental parts and we chose an Avicii song for the part of the video that captured everyone dancing. It was so wonderful seeing everyone enjoying all of those moments with us out on the dance floor. The video included getting ready, the ceremony, the cocktail hour, the cake cutting, speeches, dancing etc. It was literally an entire recap of our wedding day! It's so fun to watch it and relive those moments. Karen is in charge of the online portal, all of our questions were answered on there and she was very prompt at getting back to us. The portal was SUPER easy to use and we were able to upload everything as far as samples of photo ideas we wanted, and enter in all of our information for the day of the wedding such as time, location, etc. The sample photo ideas I found on Pinterest were captured exactly as I wanted them. Our Photographer was John, and let me tell you he was phenomenal!! He fixed the train of my dress the ENTIRE time before taking a picture, he really cares about you getting the absolute best photos you deserve. He captured every single moment I would have wanted for my wedding day. We both gave some great suggestions and he always made sure everyone looked their best before taking a single photo! All of our family loved John and his amazing photo skills, even our family photos looked killer! ;) Everyone kept in contact with me up until the day of our wedding, and everyone called and went over the day of the wedding to make sure it was exactly what I wanted. I couldn't have been happier with this company and I highly recommend them to everyone! They are truly amazing people to work with. :)

for the pictures. Unfortunately, the free engagement pictures were not with the photographer that would be taking pictures for the wedding. The pictures were fine, but not in a "photo journalistic" sense that they claimed to be. Almost every picture was posed and awkward. And instead of capturing moments as they happened the photographer mentioned "oh that was really cute we need to get a picture of that later" For the wedding, our photographer was really friendly and very helpful in many things besides just the photography. This felt like such a relief the wedding day because she helped ease the stress. The next day, after the wedding, I had messaged the photographer about getting 1-2 pictures for sharing purposes but never received a message back. We did not receive pictures until 6-8 weeks after the wedding, as we were told. But I had expected to get at least receive 1-2 pictures so that I could have pictures to share of our wonderful day. As a reminder, you will not be able to download the digital pictures until after you pay for your album. So I would do that ahead of time. When we finally received our pictures, we were not floored by them. For the amount we payed we expected a little bit more. The pictures were beautiful, but again most were posed, not in the moment or "photo journalistic". The more I looked at them, the more I liked them, but they were not artistically breath taking. We would give the photos a 3.5/5... We did have a photo booth through Essence and enjoyed it a lot. We got digital downloads right after the wedding through a flash drive. The attendant did a fantastic job running the booth and there were plenty of props and options for guests. It is not a traditional booth, but because of that it could fit a lot of people! Guests could also get as many copies of the pictures as they wanted. We would give the photo booth a 5/5.... Lastly, is the wedding video. We were not impressed with the video quality. We ordered blue-ray, but the video was very grainy. I am obviously no video expert, but the move from one shot to another was not very smooth and looked choppy in the video. In many moments, throughout the ceremony the photographer was visible, as if they had not communicated about how it would be done. The videographer was very helpful and friendly. Overall the video wasn't horrible, but not the quality I expected for what I paid. My husband and I did really like the wedding highlights that were made for the video. It took the best shots and blended them together. Overall, the photographer and videographer were very nice helpful people, but because it was my wedding day I had expected a little bit more.

e completed the portal information with all of the photographs that we wanted but our photographer didn’t seem to keep track of that on our wedding day. I wish I had a printed list with me to have someone check that everything we wanted was taken. Also, they only allow you to chose 40 photos out of 1300+ for the album. Each addiditional photo costs $9. I wish that we could have included more pictures within the album that we chose. The album itself looks great. It was well designed and high quality.

ed interested about learning about my fiance and I. We were unimpressed with the two consultations we had with other photography companies prior to meeting with Chris so we were not necessarily looking forward to our meeting. However, meeting with him was exactly what we were hoping for. We are very much looking forward to our big day and look forward to working with Essence!

our photographer Eric was! He is so personable and just goes with the flow. He is a great guy to work with and took some amazing pictures of my husband and I. If you decide to book with essence photo request for Eric as your main photographer! He is just that great!

only ask questions regarding what was important for my husband and I, but also asked about what was important to our parents. He was very interested into getting to know our family dynamic and that really made my heart smile considering my family is a big part of my wedding. Mike explained every step that would take place and insured me that my day would be my day and that his company would do anything to make my day nothing short of amazing. Mike explained his online portal and how it sets everything up for the day of the wedding and how a timeline for the day of the wedding is set. Mike was very friendly and personable, he wasn’t trying to up-sale me or pressure me into buying anything that I didn’t needed. Any company that does this is not only amazing, but are also trustworthy and has great morals. Meeting Mike I knew I didn’t have to look no further and that I had found my photographer for my wedding. Not only does his personality rock, but the photos are AMAZING!

ts. We would recommend them in a heart beat!! Thank you for the wonderful experience essence!!! We cannot wait to see our photos!!!

nderstanding and energetic. They both showed up on time to start pictures and kept the day moving as needed. During the ceremony and reception, they took amazing pictures, but also did not get in the way. They weren't stopping myself or my husband while mingling to take posed pictures, which we loved. We even stopped traffic in downtown Chicago for a few pictures and they managed it wonderfully!

other events and HIGHLY recommend for anybody getting married or needs for any other types of events.

e other hand could have been better in the end- kind of confused where my cocktail hour was just not even in my wedding video. Thank goodness the videographer called me 2 days before because somehow Essence gave him all the wrong info and times.

our questions. He was not overwhelming and did not make us feel pressured into making our decision right then and there. We are very impressed with their services and their price for the quality that they provide. - We are excited to work with Essence Photo & Video and would highly recommend them to our friends and family!

y. I got married two years ago and paid twice as much as what was offered here. Amazing photos and video with a great price! I recommend them for your special day!

our needs. It was a quick, sit down haggle-free, transparent experience. Plus, you get to pick out your photographer and upload types of pictures you like to the online portal. Price is good too for the quality! We are VERY happy we have chose Essence photography and video. The photos we have seen are beautiful, high quality, and the videography they provide is top notch!

icient, yet made sure she got all the shots we wanted/needed. We felt like we had known Penelope as a good friend, and that took away all the awkwardness of being photographers a millions times by a stranger! It felt like Penelope was a friend we had known our entire life! I would highly recommend Essence and Penelope! We can’t wait to see our photos!!

Throughout the night everyone kept coming up to me saying how wonderful he was and how much they enjoyed everything he has done. We can not wait to see the pictures!