Laree Photo & Video

Boutique Photography & Videography Services

$2,600 starting price

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Chicago, Chicago Suburbs, Wisconsin

Travels up to 500 miles See details

Videography services available

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Stephanie Laree Schmidt

OWNER

Typically responds within 24h

AWARD WINNER (1X)

Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot

Based in the Chicago, Illinois suburbs, Laree Photo & Video is a small professional wedding photography and videography company specializing in capturing your wedding day's beautiful moments. Their goal is to provide you with a gallery of images you'll cherish forever. Owner & lead photographer Stephanie Laree Schmidt has been working with a camera since 2007. Her approach is personable and unique. She tailors each session to her clients' styles and desires, ensuring that every customer is delighted with their photographs. Laree Photo offers wedding photography for couples throughout the Chicago area. Their style is natural, authentic, and candid, resulting in images that will bring you right back to your wedding day with each glance. They also offer engagement and family photography sessions. Here's How The Process Works: 1. Contact Stephanie to see if she has availability for your wedding. 2. Schedule a video chat or phone call to learn what she can offer for your wedding day. 3.Book and mark the photographer & videographer off your wedding to do list!

Woman-owned Business

+12 years in business

Speaks English

5 team members

Prices & packages

Details

Destination Weddings

Destination Wedding Packages

Photo Shoot Types

Bridal Portraits

Day After Session

Engagement

Trash The Dress

Photo & Video

Digital Files

Drone

Film Photography

Online Proofing

Photo

Printed Enlargements

Printed Proofs

Same-Day Edits

Second Shooter Available

Social Media Sharing

Wedding Albums

Photo & Video Styles

Artistic

Classic

Documentary

Dramatic

Lifestyle

Modern

Vintage

Wedding Activities

Getting Engaged

Rehearsals & Parties

After Party

Wedding

After Party

Awards and Affiliations

Any questions?

Meet the team

Stephanie Laree Schmidt

Owner

Stephanie has been photographing weddings in Chicago & the suburbs for the past decade. With her Bachelor of Fine Art in Photography she brings to the table formal training in lighting for amazing indoor and outdoor photos. Before booking each client, Stephanie likes to take the time to get to know each other either over the phone, video calling, or an in person meeting. By doing so, you can make sure your right for one another.

Availability

5.0

out of 5.0

25 reviews

Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help you make those big decisions with ease.

Review Summary

This AI-generated summary is a snapshot of this vendor's ratings and feedback.

Stephanie from Laree Photo is highly praised for her exceptional photography skills and professionalism by multiple reviewers for both engagement shoots and weddings. Couples appreciate her ability to make them feel comfortable in front of the camera, her talent in capturing candid moments, and her efficiency in organizing timelines for photo shoots. Reviewers also commend Stephanie for her communication, thoughtfulness, and dedication to ensuring a smooth and enjoyable photography experience on special occasions. Overall, Stephanie is recommended as a top choice for wedding photography.

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Annie N

Highlighted review

11/24/2024

Stephanie was amazing!! Every photo turned out beautiful, we feel so lucky that we have these amazing memories of our day. She was also so amazing in helping to create a timeline for our day and keeping everything on schedule. Could not recommend any more highly.

Agnieszka P

2/14/2025

Best photographer in the area for our engagement party!!

Any questions?

Kat S

11/08/2024

We are beyond thrilled with the experience we had with Stephanie from start to finish! From our very first consultation call, we knew we were in great hands. She took the time to really get to know us, understand our vision, and made us feel so comfortable throughout the entire process. Her energy and enthusiasm was contagious, and it is clear that she truly cares about her clients. During our engagement photo shoot, she was not only professional but also incredibly fun and easygoing, making us feel relaxed and natural in front of the camera. The final results completely blew us away! The sneak peeks and video teaser we received were absolutely stunning and captured the essence of who we are as a couple. Honestly, they exceeded all of our expectations and more. If you're looking for a photographer who combines expertise with genuine excitement and passion for what she does, we can't recommend Stephanie and her team enough! She made every moment special, and we are so grateful to have had her be a part of our journey. Thank you for giving us memories we’ll cherish forever!

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 11/09/2024

Kat, Thank you so much for the sweet words!! Thank you so much for picking my team and my...

self to be there on your wedding day; it was an honor to be a small part of it all!!! Stephanie 😊

Emily S

10/06/2024

Looking back on our wedding day, hiring Stephanie of Laree Photo was one of, if not the best, decision we made! Stephanie from the first time we met for our engagement shoot was so professional. My partner and I are not particularly natural in front of the camera, but she so patiently worked with us to accurately capture our love. Stephanie was efficient and an expert of all things lighting! She helped pose us and loosen us up as we went. The end product of our engagement photos were stunning as a result of her impressive skills! Fast forward to September of this year, we had Stephanie shoot our wedding. She brought the same level of professionalism and kindness to our big day. From the moment she showed up to our hotel for getting ready photos, to our late night photoshoot, she treated us with such respect and brought an element of comfort and familiarity. She helped us with all things timeline pre wedding and on the day ensured we stayed on track while also ensuring we were relaxed and enjoying. She so beautifully captured our day, and we are so beyond pleased with the preview photos we have already seen. We know we will be blown away by the full album. We can not speak more highly of Stephanie of Laree Photo and would 10/10 recommend to anyone looking for high quality and personal photography.

Hannah Q

9/28/2024

Stephanie was great to work with. She's absolutely amazing!! Thank you so much. She talked with me about all the shots I wanted and made it possible to get them all. She is somebody I would recommend to another bride for sure. She was so nice to all of the bridal party and made taking pictures a fun experience.

Lauren P

8/23/2024

If you are looking for a photographer who is going to put as much thought and care into her work as you have into your big day, look no further! Stephanie did my recent wedding photos and she is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is thoughtful, organized, on time, answered all my questions, and was always friendly and positive. Whatever your vision, she will help you achieve it!

Jessie S

6/08/2024

WOW just WOW...we had the best time working with Stephanie and Bethany for our wedding. Stephanie was our main photographer who we worked with throughout the entire process and she also shot our engagement photos. Bethany was the second photographer for the day of the wedding. Stephanie is just the sweetest person on the planet and takes incredible photos. She was even kind enough to walk through our timeline with us more than once and gave us feedback and where we could improve things. We booked Stephanie well over a year in advance for our wedding and we knew immediately that she needed to be our photographer. She was so patient with us and told us exactly how to pose and made it her personal mission to make she we had every single photo we could have ever wanted. Stephanie and Bethany were timely and incredibly professional. I would highly suggest to hire Stephanie as your wedding photographer!

Michele H

6/06/2024

We hired Stephanie for our wedding and included an engagement session. I had been on the fence about doing an engagement session, but my fiance wanted to include it as we really don't have many good photos of us. I am so happy that I was open to it as it was such a great experience. Stephanie knew the perfect photo spots to capture the casual outdoor vibe that we were looking for, and expertly set us at ease with her helpful guidance. We have so many favorite photos that it is hard to narrow them down, which is such a good problem to have I also feel so much better about what to expect on our upcoming wedding day.

Brianna C

4/23/2024

Stephanie did an amazing job with our engagement photos! She came ready with the best poses and had so many beautiful ideas. She was so easy and fun to work with. I am struggling to pick my favorite pictures because they are all so great! I can't wait to see what she does for our wedding photos!

Kalah T

1/22/2024

I cannot describe how wonderful our experience with Laree Photo was from start to finish. If you are looking for a wedding photographer, you could not possibly do better than Stephanie! She was organized and arrived early. She was relaxed, professional, and made everyone feel at ease. She is a true artist. We are in awe of the photos. We also did not have to wait long to receive our previews and just a few weeks after that, we received our whole photo collection with hundreds of photos. We are so grateful to have chosen Laree Photo to capture the memories our wedding!

Jenny M

1/01/2024

We loved having Stephanie and her amazing team at our wedding. My husband and I felt like her and her team were a big reason why our wedding went so smoothly. We didn't have to worry, they were right there getting all the footage never missing a beat. My husband and I can't wait to hire her for more special events in our life or possibly a newborn session down the road!

A M

10/12/2023

Stephanie was absolutely wonderful. Her personality and energy made every photo so so fun!! She also made us look like models and took all of our inspiration photos and amplified them with her creative lighting and technique. We are so grateful we found her for our wedding!

Erin H

9/05/2023

Stephanie was amazing to work with. She was available any time we called and had great advise and tips for us. She met with us at certain points throughout the process to make sure we were on the same page and we could get exactly what we wanted. Our videographer, Gigi was amazing as well. She came to our rehearsal to see how things would go so she would know what to expect the next day and even stayed longer than we expected because there was so much going on and she didn't want to miss anything for us. This team went above and beyond and were running around like crazy capturing everything. We can not wait to see all of the pictures. They even had ideas for us such as sunset pictures and scoped everything out for us ahead of time for where to be and when for the best photos. We would recommend them to anyone. They were fun and made the day amazing. Then during our reception and ceremony they were hidden and did not get in the way or distract from the event. Could not have asked for a better team for our special day.

Jacinda K

7/14/2023

You must work with Stephanie! Seriously, the most wonderful person and an incredible photographer. She was responsive, helped build a timeline, and allowed us to extend our time with her for more photos (which you should do too). Every single photo turned out beautiful, Stephanie captured the emotions and joy of our wedding day. If I could give her 6 stars I would. Stephanie was timely, responsive, respectful, and fun, she helped get every photo we wanted and more. We wanted candids, and we got them! I am struggling to decide which ones to frame because so many of the photos turned out spectacular!

Megan M

7/09/2023

Stephanie went above and beyond when everything on my wedding day seemed to be falling apart. The photos so took were absolutely amazing and I'm so glad I chose her as the photographer. I would 110% highly recommend her to anyone. Incredibly professional kind and caring!

Katie R

12/08/2022

Stephanie was our lead photographer for our wedding in November, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience and photos from the entire day. Never having met her in person prior to the day of, I have to admit I was a little nervous. But these nerves quickly disappeared when she arrived. She took lead, making sure we captured all of my must haves, while being professional, warm and energetic. Her calm energy made us all feel relaxed and comfortable when taking photos, but somehow was still quick and on top of everything needing to get done. The whole day I felt like she had my back, feeling my energy and keeping me stress free. I was so impressed with how quickly we got our photos back and cannot stop looking through them all, reminiscing and reliving the best day ever! I highly recommend booking Stephanie for your next event, and can’t wait to use her again for all of my big life events.

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 12/28/2022

Katie thanks so much for choosing me to be your wedding photographer. Your day was so per...

fect, thanks for letting me be apart of it! <3 Stephanie

Molly M

11/23/2022

Stephanie was absolutely fantastic! She was quick and made us feel so comfortable. We didn’t feel like we missed out on the beginning of our reception because she got us finished so quickly! Her photos turned out amazing! I highly recommend this company!

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 12/28/2022

Thank you so so much Molly! <3 Stephanie

Melanie R

11/08/2022

Stephanie was amazing to work with on my wedding day. I was very anxious the morning of, and Stephanie was such a calm presence that really helped me ease those wedding day jitters. She was great with the groomsmen, and made sure they enjoyed the time taking photos as much as possible...we all know how men can be when asked to take pictures! Aside from Stephanie being amazing to work with, her photos are absolutely beautiful!! There isn't a photo that we do not like and it's all thanks to her. We found Stephanie through George Street Photography, and although I wouldn't necessarily recommend using George Street, for a variety of reasons, Stephanie is the first vendor I start raving about when discussing our wedding day with friends and family. We also heard many guests speak highly of her after our wedding day. I am lucky to flip through our wedding photos and love just about all of them. Thank you to Stephanie for capturing our wedding day so perfectly.

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 12/28/2022

Melanie I am so happy you love your images! <3 Stephanie

Andrew P

10/10/2022

Stephanie is a dream to work with. She's takes control in a group setting for photos, easy to work with in our couple shots making suggestions. We point to a spot or just do our thing and she captures it candidly. We love Stephanie! ❤️ now we use her for capturing memories of our growing family!

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 12/28/2022

Laura, Thank you so much! I love love love seeing your family grow! Can't wait for the ne...

xt session! Stephanie

Megan T

9/08/2022

SO GLAD WE PICKED HER! We used Stephanie for our wedding and engagement session. She did a great job getting all the special pics we requested. Her work is amazing. We got the 12x12 leather album and LOVE IT!!! VERY professional and timeless. We can't wait for more sessions with her!

Kesha B

9/07/2022

There are no words to express how grateful we were to have worked with Stephanie on our big day! We got to know her a bit when we did our engagement photos, where she helped us become more comfortable with the camera and of her. Charlie and I are not very photo happy folks, so we had no idea what we were doing most of the time. But Stephanie never missed a beat! I was able to email over a mood board to showcase some of the shots that I was thinking of having and she quite literally scroll through them and brought them to light. She communicated so well when we had questions and needed recommendations on timing, how we should structure our day, and how to accommodate our furbabies into our day. We have THE BEST time with her, and can’t wait for more special occasions to be able to use her services again. (Can we do a wedding 2.0? Just kidding! But maybe maternity photos? Ha!)

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 09/07/2022

Thank you so much Kesha. Can't wait to see you for future photoshoots!

Melissa Z

8/09/2022

We worked with Stephanie for our engagement shoot and wedding day. She was warm and highly professional. It was nice to have some structure while taking photos since there’s so much to do and not a ton of time–Stephanie made sure we found the right spots and poses that would work for us. We had a conversation the week of the wedding to go over all of the “must have” photos and timeline for the day which really helped lessen any stress I had about getting the right (and ALL) shots during the big day. The results were just as expected, editorial-esque and stunning! She even captured the candid moments, and those happen to be my favorite.

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 09/07/2022

Thank you so much Melissa. I am so glad you loved your images!

Haley S

8/03/2022

I came across Stephanie because she photographed both of my sisters weddings; And knew immediately we needed to hire her for ours. She is a delight to work with & goes above and beyond to capture every moment of the day. From the moment we reached out, Stephanie was attentive and very communicative. I would recommend her 10000 times over for your big day!

Megan G

10/15/2017

Stephanie was the most perfect photographer on our wedding day! She was so sweet and friendly! From the moment she started the getting ready photos, to the end of the reception, she was very calm, patient and knew what she was doing. Coming from another wedding photographer, I couldn’t image anyone else doing my wedding photos. She felt more than just a photographer that day, she felt like my friend, and that made the whole experience with her even more enjoyable. I can’t thank you enough, Stephanie, for capturing the best day of mine and Brian’s life!!! Everything was absolutely perfect! Including you! :)

Response from Laree Photo & Video on 09/07/2022

Thank you SO much Megan!

Molly T

10/12/2017

Stephanie is great to work with. Our photos for our engagement shoot came out amazing! She is very communicative and easy to work with as well. We are excited that she will be capturing all of our wedding day moments too!

Service area

Travels up to 500 miles

Additional charges may apply

Contact

(608) 481-2618

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Laree Photo & Video

Stephanie Laree Schmidt

Owner

Typically responds within 24h

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Laree Photo & Video

About this vendor

Prices & packages

Details

Meet the team

Availability

Reviews

5.0

Review Summary

Service area

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