About this vendor
Hey! I'm Mackenzie and I run this wedding and portrait business with my oh so handsome husband Lex and my brother Zach. We are a photo and video company based in Villa Park, IL but definitely open to travel. We believe in documentation over awkward stuff posing. Feeling uncomfortable and forced into a 3 hour shoot on your wedding day is not our style. We believe in capturing your day as it unfolds however that happens whether that be by exploring a forest preserve, getting drinks with your bridal party at a brewery, or busting a few moves on the dance floor. We are there for it all.
I started my business in 2010 and truly developed my love for working with couples when I graduated from college in 2015. Since then we have photographed weddings in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, and more. You might have caught that we also offer video! My brother Zach is my main videographer but Lex and I also do video. These are highlight reels of you day set to music that have a coxy home video feel.
Our most popular collection is our photo and video combo. Couples typically spend about $4400 with us for both! My goal is to work with our couples so they get everything they want out of their photos or video so while I have a few collections created if you don't see one that fits your needs lets work together on creating something custom for you. Becuase every wedding is different and may not fit into one box.
Details
Photo Shoot Types
- Day After Session
- Engagement
- Trash The Dress
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Photo
- Second Shooter Available
- Social Media Sharing
- Wedding Albums
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Documentary
- Lifestyle
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Wedding
Reviews
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5
out of 5.015 reviews
Review photos
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Mackenzie and her team were so amazing to work with! They made us all feel so comfortable, they were on top of lists of photos we wanted and could recall them from memory. We had such a fun time taking our pictures with them, they really got us laughing and feeling nice and chill in front of the camera and allowed for our photos to come out so perfect! Would recommend Mackenzie to absolutely anyone and everyone!
Mackenzie and her team were the perfect balance of professional and personal for everything from our engagement photoshoot to our wedding day. We love her eye for color, she can the perfect lighting in all conditions! We especially recommend Mackenzie for your wedding photos because she is able to help make them look natural, fun and elegant all because of her engaging and welcoming personality!!
Mackenzie and Lex were absolutely amazing. I used them for our wedding. Not only did they work with us due to Covid but they did an amazing job capturing every moment. They are so personable and just good humans. Their talent is unreal !!
Mackenzie is AMAZING!! Cannot recommend her enough. The time she takes to get to know you as a couple and prepare for the wedding so that you aren't frazzled makes such a huge difference. Photography is the one area you do not want to skimp on and the quality in pictures we received is a testament to that. I was so overwhelmed by where to take pictures and what to take and Mackenzie handled it all to where I didn't even tell our bus driver where to go. Her work is so unique and beautiful. I had actual tears looking at our photos.
Mackenzie was incredible. Not only were the photos amazing but she and Lex did an amazing job making everyone feel comfortable and confident during the entire day.
My now husband hates taking pictures and I’m just awkward in pictures but Mackenzie made us feel comfortable (and beautiful) in front of the camera and we had so much fun having her shoot our wedding! I also love that she had options available for us that made it so we could choose a shorter timeframe of coverage since it was a small wedding and we didn’t need all day coverage. She was so easy to work with and the photos I’ve seen so far have been stunning!
Mackenzie and her team did an amazing job! She was always friendly, professional, and flexible. Our video is PERFECT! Our pictures look great. I couldn't be happier with Mackenzie and the beautiful work she does!
What a beautiful duo to work with. First off, you want to have a photographer that will capture the day through your eyes and others. Secondly, you want a vendor that is easy to work with, and we got both for our wedding. Mackenzie and Lex are not only an amazing team to work with, but also crazy talented! Mackenzie's style of photography truly captures the day through special candid moments that I find photographers not doing enough. I cannot recommend Mackenzie and Lex to capture your wedding day enough!
We are eternally grateful that we got to work with Mackenzie and Lex for our wedding! They were SO kind, welcoming and accommodating each step of the way.
We worked with Mackenzie and Lex pre-COVID with planning and for our engagement session. As two people who don’t have many “good” pictures together, Mackenzie made us feel comfortable and natural during our session and we ended up using our engagement pictures for our Save the Dates!!
It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how wonderful and accommodating Mackenzie and Lex were once COVID began impacting the world around us. We appreciated their positive and realistic outlook at a time when news was literally changing by the minute. We even had to change the date of our wedding because of logistics and Mackenzie and Lex were ready to make it happen and supported our choices no matter what!
In the end, we absolutely treasure the memories that Mackenzie and Lex captured on our perfectly imperfect wedding day. We’re so grateful for their kindness and talent - if you need a photographer who will be on your side through it all (literally!), Mackenzie and Lex are your people!
There are not enough positive words to describe our experience with Mackenzie and Lex. From the moment we met them we could tell they were invested in us not only because we hired them to capture our big day(s), but because they genuinely care about who they work with. They have so much energy and it is so contagious.
Our engagement shoot was a blast and my husband and I felt so comfortable just being ourselves. I loved that it wasn't a staged shoot with standard poses. The smiles and laughter in our pictures were genuine. They were thrilled when we told them we wanted to shotgun beers during our shoot. And let me tell you the pictures turned out amazing.
When Covid hit the first vendor I heard from was Mackenzie. She was so sweet in offering to help us with planning/replanning in any way she could. Ultimately we had to switch our big reception and Mackenzie was so understanding. She solidified our new date and continued to offer support and help throughout such a stressful situation.
We kept our wedding date despite rescheduling the reception and got married at my brother in law's lake house. We decided to have Mackenzie and Lex come out to capture our big day. Let me tell you, we are so unbelievably happy we did. Not only did the pictures turn out amazing, but once again they both were so ready and willing to help with final touches as well as to help provide some smiles and laughs before the start of the ceremony.
They captured every aspect of the ceremony and I truly feel like they never missed a beat when shooting. After the ceremony they were so organized with getting the family shots. Despite these being more "formal" shots, they still didn't feel staged. I can't speak enough great things about our experience with Mackenzie and Lex.
I'm so glad we found them and can't wait to have them shoot our big reception next year.
The amount of care these two have for their clients is next level. I truly felt like we had friends capturing our big day and cheering us on along the way. I am more than happy to refer any friends and family and well anyone who will listen to these amazing people.
Mackenzie and Lex did a phenomenal job with our engagement session! It unexpectedly rained during our shoot and they had a back up plan ready to go before I even had time to freak out about it. They were just as excited about our photos as we were and captured our relationship perfectly. I would recommend then hands down, every time :)
My wife Kaitlyn and I hired Mackenzie and her team to take photos and video of our wedding and I can not say enough good things about her, her husband Lex, and their team. Everyone was personable, polite, and friendly. They did a phenomenal job capturing all the special moments, and we LOVED the sneak peeks she posts to social media while editing the photos.
Neither Kaitlyn or I are very artistic so taking couples photos can be awkward at times. Where should I stand? Does my face look weird? What do I do with my hands? Mackenzie did an incredible job of guiding us through all of our painfully basic questions and made us feel extremely comfortable during our engagement and wedding photos.
It was soooooooo much fun working with them!!!!! I HIGHLY recommend Mackenzie and her team to anyone who is looking for a fun, friendly, and highly professional photographer to capture any and all of the special moments in their life.
Mackenzie and her husband Lex did our engagement and wedding photos. Both were absolutely amazing and turned out effortlessly perfect. Personally they are just genuine good people who make you comfortable and not awkward in front of the camera which is vital when finding a good photographer. This really shows through in the finished product. It you're looking for natural photos to have for a lifetime, go with Mackenzie and Lex. They also created our wedding album for us and it was so perfect. We received a hard cover book with photo's printed in various sizes as well as a USB.
It is hard to explain just how amazing Mackenzie, Lex, and Zach are! I found them through a wedding website, and am so glad I reached out because working with them has been amazing! One thing you should know is that my husband and I are not exactly the most natural in front of the camera (read SO awkward), yet they made us feel instantly comfortable and we LOVE our photos! From our engagement shoot to the wedding day it felt like I was emailing with a friend and I was so grateful for the suggestions and the detailed planning Mackenzie did. There was never a moment of feeling like we didn’t know what to do. She is also always up for any ideas! From having our incredibly squirrly dog involved in the pictures to being outside in sub-zero weather, they were down! I often read reviews looking for someone to affirm my choice, and if you are reading looking for that, this is it! Seriously, I researched a ton and am SO glad we chose Mackenzie and her team. They made our wedding day that much more special, and we will be forever grateful to them. I will absolutely use them for all future celebrations and moments we want to remember!
I was completely blown away by how wonderful my photos were! Mackenzie is a truly sensational photographer who knows exactly how to showcase love in her shoots. Extremely professional and approachable, Mackenzie is a natural behind the camera, and always finds beautiful ways to incorporate warmth and light to her photos.
It is so obvious that Mackenzie loves what she does and I would highly recommend her a million times over!
Contact
Villa Park, IL | Yes! We do travel all over Chicagoland as well as the US!
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Mackenzie Maeder // Photo + Video's photos