Illume Studio

our engagement photos, wedding photos and Photo Booth. Paul was extremely patient and detail oriented with me making my photo. booth vision a reality. Can't recommend Paul enough!!

e knew we'd found the right guy. One glance at his portfolio will tell you all you need to know about his artistic skill (it is top notch!), but what really impressed me the most about Paul was his incredible communication skills. Paul is gregarious and patient, and was always available and happy to provide guidance and answer questions (even ones we'd already asked and forgotten about). At no point during the process of planning our wedding did we ever feel lost or overwhelmed with any part of Paul's contribution to our big day, in fact the entire experience felt almost effortless! When we first met, we felt an instant rapport with him, and in no time my wife and I were gushing about what details of his style we loved and how we envisioned for the photography for our celebration. In retrospect its clear to me how talented he is at listening, too. Paul paid close attention to everything my wife and I said about our likes and dislikes, our aspirations and concerns - he took the time to understand what we were looking for and executed on it perfectly! A good wedding photographer should be present when needed but blend into the background when you're distracted by other things, and I have to say that Paul is a true master at this unique skill! Our 2020 wedding eventually had to be postponed due to the pandemic (a process that was made painless for us thanks to Paul's studio Illume), and during the delay, we had Paul come do a photo shoot for us for a beloved pet that had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Losing a pet when you were supposed to be getting married instead is a profoundly difficult experience, but our little glamour shoot with Paul (as well as the beautiful mementos he created) are now one of the few cherished memories we have of the last few weeks with our kitten. Paul has earned a customer for life with my wife and I, and we will be going back to him again the next time we need a professional photographer

blown away by his professionalism, his talent, his kindness, and his work ethic!! He is so organized and on top of things that there was never a worry! We felt so at ease with him; he made everyone feel comfortable and he knew exactly how to achieve the true essence of our wedding!! Paul pays attention to detail and really listens! He captured photos of our wedding in such a way that is impossible to explain...he is remarkable at what he does! Paul is a fantastic photographer and beyond talented! He is attentive and caring and genuine and a must hire for your wedding! Best decision ever!!!

he day of. He captured our day so beautifully, can't stop looking through the pictures!

vendors at our venue, the Trailside Inn in Killington, VT, and we instantly fell in love with his style after looking at the wedding photos on his site. After our first discussion, I knew that Paul was the right photographer for us. His passion and love for his work was so evident throughout the conversation and he completely understood our vision and hopes for our wedding photos. Throughout the entire process Paul was so easy to work with and communicate with and really supported us in outlining a timeline that allowed us to enjoy our wedding and guests, while still getting all the photos that we wanted. During the wedding, he was fantastic at keeping everything on schedule and organizing everyone for the photos we wanted. We got more compliments from guests about how great Paul was throughout the evening and how seriously he took his work. My husband and I are also pretty camera shy, and Paul walked us through all the photos in a way that was easy and fun and somehow wasn't awkward at all for either of us. When we received our photos back, we were beyond thrilled. Paul was able to get us the most gorgeous portraits in the beautiful fall foliage as well as capture some candids that will provide fun and lasting memories for us. We could not be happier with our choice of photographer as Paul truly provided us with the absolute best experience throughout the entire process. Friendly, professional, funny, and incredibly talented, Paul is an extraordinary photographer and asset to any occasion you want to capture forever.

professionalism. When he was working with us on our wedding day Paul made us feel comfortable, and not awkward as we usually do in front of any camera. Every photo turned out, and we cannot thank him enough for his work.

bjects in a natural way that was flattering yet not over-produced. He has great enthusiasm which was key in pulling my camera-shy husband out of his shell. He was also a true adventurer, spending hours outside with us in 7 degree winter weather to get awesome shots. His recommendations for the prints and photos we ordered were made with our needs in mind. We couldn’t be happier with our selection!

cation, natural moments of our loved ones and creative posed portraits. Several of our guests commented how friendly and professional he was to interact with yet how they barely noticed the team while the event was in full swing. Paul took full advantage of the lighting from day to sunset to night to make stunning photos. Paul welcomed our ideas and collaborated with us to make a plan to make sure the important portraits and moments we wanted were captured. We are so pleased with our photos. Paul's work is one of a kind. We couldn't have asked for a better experience!

I'm not 100% sure I'd want to get married WITHOUT Paul being there to photograph! From when we first met Paul for our engagement photo shoot, his incredibly warm, friendly, and encouraging presence immediately put me at ease. At the same time, he was highly focused on the task at hand and seemed to be thinking about all the angles, lighting, and whatever else goes into getting great photographs. Judging by the high quality of the engagement photos and our great experience with Paul during that brief time together, I was confident he'd be great for the wedding (and also just wanted to spend more time with him...he's THAT nice!) Paul is great at being authoritative but in a very friendly way, making sure we were following his guidance but never feeling like he was commanding us in some unnatural way. Additionally, he is very organized and great about keeping large groups on time. Furthermore, he prepared thoroughly for the wedding day, knowing all the key individuals, whether there were any particular preferences and/or special personal dynamics at play. He seemed to have tremendous attention to detail and recall for the important stuff, which really showed his attentiveness and care for his service. He is highly communicative and friendly over e-mail and phone and, further to the above, we had several touchpoints with him during the process, which really made the day run much more smoothly and just further shows how much of a professional he is. His website is very clean and easy to use which made the whole process easier as well. Last, but certainly not least, the pictures! They came out splendidly, with so many incredible shots throughout the day. It very much takes us back to all the moments we had and we've thoroughly enjoyed poring over them to select the "best ones" (hint: there are hundreds). In summary, my experience with Paul was exceptional - and not just as a photographer. I saw Paul as more of a role model for how to treat clients and handle your job with passion and professionalism in a way that I wish everyone (self-included) could operate. I cannot recommend Paul more highly.

that we made! Paul is unlike any other photographer that we had seen at prior weddings. The part that we appreciated the most about his style was that he was willing to make photography work the way we wanted it to. We wanted to be able to enjoy the day and let photos happen naturally, and he accomplished that perfectly. We were able to get amazing shots without missing out on our wedding reception. Paul's ability to take shots in natural surroundings is remarkable. We are overjoyed with our wedding album!

ptures the moment so well that it completely takes you back in time. Paul’s photos did exactly that for us. The biggest ask my husband and I had on our wedding day was to enjoy each moment. We wanted to limit the time away from our wedding for photos to the smallest amount so that we could enjoy the entire reason why we were throwing the party. Of course we wanted epic pictures, but what is an epic picture without having the epic moments and story behind it? Paul gave us all of the epic pictures — he gave us rainbows, a night sky, and captured the sweetest, most candid moments for us, all the while letting us enjoy every single second of our wedding. Every moment that Paul captured for us was REAL, never staged, never uncomfortable, but in the moment 100% real and 100% us. That was my favorite thing about Paul, not to mention that his photos are OUT OF THIS WORLD. He went out of his way and captured every detail and each guest to paint the full picture for us when we look back at our photos of our special day. Paul is authentic, creative, the kindest soul, laidback. He has all of the qualities in my book to what I would call extraordinary. Pure genius.

en we met with him over pizza and beers, our decision was solidified. He was organized, focused, responsive and the easiest person out of our vendors to work with. It was incredible to watch how he managed to get SO many group photos in such a short amount of time immediately following the ceremony. We had a short window between the ceremony and the reception with a couple stops in between and he pulled it off with beautiful photos and absolutely no stress. We even watched from afar after the ceremony when one of our guests interrupted him to get a special photo that wasn’t on our list. He managed the guest with patience and poise and fit in another photo with a ton of people like it was nothing. All throughout our reception, we had guests raving about Paul - how friendly, professional, open-minded, and creative he was. If we could do it all over again – Paul would be the first call I make.

hen it came to photos, but the whole night, Paul was always where he should be to calm our nerves, give us space, and capture the most amazing candids! If you are looking for frameable photos that will last you a lifetime, quality pricing, and just the kindest person you could ask to work with, Paul is your guy!

ures were beautiful, and he made our children Happy!!! We would definitely recommend Paul for wedding day photos.

aul was the perfect balance of being incredibly professional and an absolute blast to work with! Paul was very prompt with his correspondence and spent a great deal of time getting to know us as a couple before even meeting in person. Our initial conversations enabled us to build a rapport that made the engagement shoot feel very comfortable. By the time we got to the wedding we were totally at ease with Paul and his second photographer. His energy was wonderful and he did a great job making everyone, extended family included, feel totally at ease in both the portrait shoots and the candids. The best part about working with Paul is his amazing eye. Paul was able to create pictures that showcased our wedding venue beautifully and caught our joy, love, and happiness on the big day. He captured all of the various moments of our wedding with such care and attention. His photographs are beautiful and we could not be more pleased with them! We are so glad that we chose to work with Paul! He was a consummate professional, very fun and playful, and produced beautiful work. Hiring Paul was one of our best decisions during our wedding planning! We highly recommend with Paul.

mony shots and still get us to our cocktail hour! He was constantly looking for more photo opportunities and there to give advice to get the best possible photos. What photographer fully lays down in wet grass just to get the perfect shot? Do yourself a favor and just book him. You won't be disappointed.

otos. This was by far the best experience I have ever had. Not only was he our photographer and took absolutely stunning pictures, he was also an anchor for us our friends, family and wedding party all day. The amount of detail, planning and improvisation allowed us to keep everything flowing while still capturing all that was special during the day. Everyone present raved about Paul and his team. If you have the chance hire him immediately and you will be forever grateful. I would give more stars if I could.

often I see wedding photos that are washed out or have a filter that will surely be dated in a few years and I knew I wanted something more timeless - and that is exactly the quality that I saw in Paul’s portfolio. I scheduled a phone call with him and after an hour of chatting, I felt like I had known Paul forever! He was genuinely interested in me and my fiancé and OUR wedding and did not pitch me or sell me at all. I knew he was the right choice for us! We scheduled our engagement shoot and Paul traveled from VT to MA to make it happen before we needed to send out save the dates. Paul gave us direction while also allowing us to just be “us” and not have to uncomfortably pose or stage a shot. He captured the essence of our love authentically and purposefully, making use of the landscape around us. The weather was not cooperating but that did not stop Paul (and his lovely wife!) from climbing out on rocks in the ocean on a windy night to get the best shots! Paul checked in with me several times throughout the wedding planning process. We had a few phone calls to go over details and I never felt rushed. He calmly and excitedly listened to my ideas and offered advice, guidance and reassurance – what more could you want, really? We had multiple shoot locations the day of the wedding and a pretty tight timeline. Paul and Isaac arrived early to scope out all the best photo ops and even picked the place for our first look. He was efficient in getting through all the family photos we needed, and was so gentle with our special needs son who is camera shy. I joked at one point that Paul was like my wedding planner, because he was the one keeping us on track – but it’s true! He did a great job in making sure we stayed on time and took on the photos on my wish list. He worked collaboratively with my video team to make sure they were able to complement each other rather than getting in each other’s way. Paul made an effort to talk to my family members (this meant so much to my Mom) to make sure that they were also happy and getting the photos they wanted. Paul was like a magician – every time I turned around, he was somewhere close by getting every little moment and detail of our day. We received so many complements from our guests about how amazing our photographer was. I really can’t say enough about how wonderful Paul is as a professional and as a person! Now let’s talk about the photos – WOW. I was actually speechless when we received them. Paul sent us sneak peaks just a few days later and we received the whole suite less than a month after our wedding which was very impressive. They are absolutely stunning. It was so amazing to relive our wedding and see things that he captured that we didn’t even know happened! They were all perfectly lit, perfectly exposed and so creative. They are timeless and classy and fun all at the same time and I can’t stop looking at them. If you made it all the way to the end of this review and haven’t called Paul yet, I’m not sure what you’re waiting for because there’s no one quite like him. Thank you Paul, for everything!

ding we're outstanding! I would highly recommend choosing Paul if you and looking for a wedding photographer and any type of photography! ~ Jeff and Cara

lly nice comments about him from our guests. Our photos turned out absolutely amazing, beyond what we were hoping for! We will treasure those photos and memories forever. Best photographer one could ask for!

the emotions from our wedding day. Paul is incredibly talented and professional, but also is personable and will make you feel comfortable being in front of the lens on your wedding day. He was such a wonderful person to have with us on our big day, and when he gave us our photos we were beyond thrilled to be able to see how perfectly he captured it. If you are looking for a photographer reach out to Paul, we cannot recommend him highly enough!! As a side note, we rented his GIF booth for our wedding too. It was SO FUN. Paul and his wife set it up near the dance floor, looking at the GIFs of all our guests the next morning was the best.

the wedding, he met with us at our venue to scope out first look and portrait sites, and he made sure he knew what kinds of pictures were important to us. He was organized and efficient the day of our wedding, so everything was easy and ran smoothly. We got all the pictures we wanted, and they are absolutely beautiful! On top of all this, Paul is so friendly, easy-going, and professional. We could not have asked for a better photographer!

ble being on camera, but Paul was very easygoing and made the process easy and painless. At the wedding, Paul and his second shooter got all the shots we were hoping for (and more), all the while being totally unobtrusive and out of the way. We were beyond happy with how the pictures turned out and will treasure them forever. We would whole-heartedly recommend Paul to any couple looking for a photographer!

new we had to have him for our wedding as well! Personally, Paul is amazing to work with. He has an amazing ability to put everyone in a room at ease, can direct a crowd of rowdy ex sorority girls and men cracking jokes, and still seemingly disappear into the wallpaper to catch special moments between you and your new husband. Professionally, I cannot even TELL you how many compliments I've gotten on both mine and my sister's wedding photos. Over and over we've heard they're the most gorgeous photos someone has ever seen. Prior to the wedding, he talked with us many times about what we wanted our photos to look like, and even took trips out to scout locations near our wedding to be sure we would have the perfect place to shoot. He has an amazing eye and unwavering commitment to get the perfect shot. At one point, he was literally laying belly down in the MIDDLE of a dirt road just over the crest of a very steep blind turn and hill. I pointed out he could get run over at any moment, and his response was "Just yell if a car is coming, I'll roll out of the way. This shot will be SO WORTH IT" It 10,000% was!! The shot from this moment is our favorite in the whole album. I honestly cannot wait until we have another occasion to hire Paul - he is such an amazing person and photographer!

nd just "got" us-- it felt like we had known him forever. He made our wedding that much more special, by making it so easy for us. His schedule is packed (for obvious reasons), so if you can get him, book him ASAP!

start to finish. Gorgeous work, the best quality photographs, super fun to have around mingling with your friends and family on the wedding day itself- He's a keeper!

ofessional, but also made our engagement photo session and our wedding photo experience fun. We will cherish these photos for years to come.

or. Before I even booked Paul, he spoke to me on the phone for well over an hour getting to know my fiance and I and what we wanted captured on our special day. Paul was so accommodating, professional, and energetic. He was so patient with my family, captured the most amazing pictures, and was so friendly to everyone. He took my husband and I to the most beautiful mountain top location and wasn't afraid to lay down in the dirt or bushes to capture the perfect shot. His pictures are timeless and beautiful and I could not be any happier with Paul and his photos!!

t I have to say that Paul was absolutely amazing! I have a 3yr old son who can be a tad finicky at times when it comes to taking pictures and Paul did an amazing job keeping him interested. Paul was amazing when it came to capturing some beautiful photos, he took my wife and I on top of a mountain in Vermont and got some absolutely GORGEOUS photos! Our wedding coordinators shuffled quite a bit leading up to the wedding and Paul took it upon himself to set the schedule for the day so the bride did not have to worry about it. Usually at a wedding the food and music is what stands out, on our wedding day it wad the photographer that everyone was talking about, how much of an awesome job he did! So for anyone that is looking for a fantastic PROFESSIONAL, look no further and give Paula call, you will NOT be dissapointed!

at Vermont, but live in New Orleans and Paul was prompt and wonderful about coordinating long distance! Highly, highly recommend!!

anything. His pictures came out awesome.

e and beyond our exaptation's! We are SO happy with all of the beautiful photos, the quality of the photos and the details that were captured from our wedding day. Multiple wedding guests have since mentioned how incredible our photographers were. I had a hard time choosing which photos to put up on my walls at home because I want to show them all off :) My husband and I highly recommend Paul Reynolds Photography.

erson and hearing his unique artistic approach to capturing his incredible shots, we knew that we were in good hands. Between building up our confidence and going above and beyond to map out and nail an ambitious Engagement shoot, to navigating the complexities of a long wedding day with many competing priorities and personalities, Paul and his second shooter worked tirelessly to pull off something truly special and have fun with us doing it. Everyone was blown away by the end results. We're so thankful that he was available (increasingly difficult!) for our special day and hope that we get the chance to work with him again in the future. Best decision that we made for our wedding no question - thanks Paul!

selves with him. Paul is a laid back guy that we felt comfortable with but takes his job very seriously. We went through huge lists of photographers, reviewed their work, and finally landed on Paul. His work is simply stunning. Is he the cheapest photographer? Nope, but believe me, he was worth every penny and then some. We are thrilled with our photos and will have them forever to remember our day. Our wedding posed a bit of a logistical dilemma for all of our vendors involved. It was set to be an outdoor wedding but happened to fall on a day that had a severe thunderstorm and wind storm for about an hour (right when the ceremony was supposed to take place). This threw off our timeline quite a bit, but Paul was very quick to adapt to the situation. He even laid in the wet grass to get the perfect shots. We even got to do a night time photo shoot which led to some pretty incredible photos. One other thing that was impressive is during our ceremony and other events, we barely noticed that he was there all while he got every shot we could desire. It's hard to highlight everything Paul did that day, but he was truly extraordinary. I know you'll be just as satisfied if you choose Paul.

ng and flexible as we changed our ceremony to inside. We decided to have dinner while we waited out the storm and did photos afterwards. Paul worked so well to capture all of our photos as the sun was setting. He made sure to incorporate some special shots that we had requested all while being conscious not to take too much time away from the celebration. I would highly recommend Paul to any couple looking for a very professional and talented wedding photographer!

mera, but his confidence behind the camera combined with the ease at which he guided our shots turned our engagement photos into a fun and memorable experience. When it came to the wedding, Paul knew exactly how to turn an outline of events into a schedule that captured the moments we knew we wanted while allowing time for those great candid shots. He and his assistant worked very well together and with each of us as we got ready and throughout the evening. We both look forward to coming up with a reason to work with Paul again!

ew how important it was to her. Paul took the time before the wedding to meet with us, get to know with us and even visit our venue with us prior to the wedding in order to understand what was most important and the areas that may be best for pictures. He put myself and wife at ease the entire day and truly captured the perfect memories. We cannot thank Paul enough and appreciate his attention to detail, care for his clients and we will continue to utilize his talents in future photography needs.

the day of the event, Paul was phenomenal at putting us at ease and immediately connected with our families and wedding party. He was super efficient and got all of our staged photos done before the wedding since we really wanted to enjoy hanging out with our friends and family once the ceremony was complete. We adore our photos and have been truly stunned at some of the gorgeous shots and hysterical moments he caught. Could not have asked for a better experience working with Paul!

at he shared with us months in advance and most importantly he was laid back (in the really, really good way that allows him to work and not get distracted by the craziness of weddings!!!) Also, he got along really well with my husband which allowed us to get photos that didn't feel staged.