Essence Photo & Video

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. :)

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.