About this vendor
Based in Chicago, IL, The Media Aisle is a media company specializing in emotional images of the most precious moments of your wedding. This talented team photographs your day in a documentary photo style and cinematic style for video. The collection of images and highlight videos will reflect your unique love story told through the details of your wedding. Their light and airy photographs exude romance for keepsakes that you'll cherish forever. Full printing rights are included in every package.
The Media Aisle is happy to document ceremonies, receptions, engagements, and other wedding-related events. You can expect your professionally edited final product to be delivered in a digital format for easy viewing and sharing. If you wish to cover your big day from every angle, a second photographer may be available. This team is dedicated to your wedding.
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Photo Shoot Types
- Bridal Portraits
- Day After Session
- Engagement
- Trash The Dress
Photo & Video
- Digital Files
- Drone
- Online Proofing
- Photo
- Printed Enlargements
- Printed Proofs
Photo & Video Styles
- Artistic
- Classic
- Documentary
- Dramatic
- Lifestyle
- Modern
Wedding Activities
- Getting Engaged
- Rehearsals & Parties
- After Party
- Wedding
- After Party
Reviews
Your trust is our goal. Our community relies on honest reviews to help
you make those big decisions with ease.
2.5
out of 5.047 reviews
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 4
Been trying to figure out how to put into words the experience I had with this company through my wedding…. I had been searching for affordable wedding photography and videography ...
prior to getting engaged and I booked with Tolman Media. Based on reviews I saw online and the photos they displayed of their work it appeared to be safe to book… but I was wrong.
I would first like to say my Photographer Missy and Videographer Brian really were wonderful with contact prior to the wedding and being prepared on the day of. I do think we could have gotten a lot more photos than we did but overall I was happy. The day of the wedding everything went smooth, no issues with anyone being late or not on task. Throughout the day our photographer showed us numerous pics off her camera and they were STUNNING.
Well I waited the 30 days for my photos and I got married in Nov 2023 so I know it was at the tail end of wedding season so I figured it might be delayed. I received a text from my photographer asking if I got the photos back yet (after the 30 days) and I explained I had not. I messaged Heidi (the owner) asking when they should be ready and she told me in a few weeks (based on the season). I received them on Christmas Day 2023 (almost 2 months after) and it was a disaster. I have no idea WHO edits these photos but my photographer showed me photos off her camera during the wedding and they were NOT what I was sent. The editors destroyed all the lighting, everyone was pale white, and the bridesmaid dresses looked bright red. Not the rustic orange color they actually were.
I emailed Heidi back immediately complaining and I never received a response for about 2 weeks. I finally messaged my videographer asking for help and he reached out to Heidi and I received an email back that same day. No solutions were offered but I did ask for the RAW photos because there’s no way I was even going to deal with them re-editing them.
My friend’s husband ended up editing them for us and they turned out gorgeous.
Please save yourself the stress and DO NOT hire this company. If my videographer and photographer had their own company I would highly recommend but it’s a shame they are associated with such a non receptive company.
DO NOT HIRE! This company was only great at communicating for money and then communication stopped. I randomly got an email saying if I don't respond, they were cancelling my servi...
ces even though I already have paid a deposit and had my engagement photos. I responded and nothing back. I have reached out via email to Heidi, no response. Tried reaching out on their dashboard and no response. They have their phone number disconnected. All social media is gone. Their company email is no longer valid. It is awful and not a stress any bride needs.
DO NOT BOOK THIS COMPANY! I got my engagement photos and they turned out great! Communication was great until I finished paying them over $3,000. Now I have lost all contact with t...
hem and unfortunately now do not have a wedding photographer and my wedding is 66 days away!
I could not be more disappointed in the pictures I received from this company. My husband is not in a SINGLE picture with my family. We were told multiple times we would get pictur...
es all together later in the day. That never happened. I was told my photographer would be able to crop him into the pictures. The worst photoshopping I have ever seen done. She did 1 of the 5 photos I asked for, and put my husband on the end not even by me. I have still only gotten the 1 photo, even after I’ve asked for them 3 different times. My wedding was in October. Nobody on the customer service side of things will respond to me. Do NOT hire this company. This is a day that will never be recreated, and I’m missing a LOT of important photos.
If I could rate this company negative stars I would. Look up Tolmen Media. Do not hire this company. They will ruin your wedding.
This company is Tolemen Media operating under a d...
ifferent name. I did not know this when I signed with them. When I hired this company, I thought I was hiring a company that already had photographers and videographers employed by them. False. They auction your wedding off to photographers in the area and those photographers bid on it. This was not made clear to me when I signed with them. They also ask you in the questionnaire what style of photography you want for your wedding. Well, that doesn’t matter. Whoever bids on your project, you’re going to get the style that person usually shoots in. You will get an “event manager” on your wedding as well. My event manager was Omar. He was impossible to get in touch with and when you did, he didn’t seem to care at all about a brides concerns. I booked in June, I got my photographer in November. My photographer lived 6 hours from me and 4 hours from my venue. This made it incredibly difficult to schedule our engagement shoot. I didn’t hear from my videographer until way later. Alarmingly close to the wedding. We spoke maybe 3 times before the wedding. Both the photographer and the videographer brought assistants on their own accord. That’s two more mouths I have to feed. A week and a half before my wedding Omar emailed me to say my video would be delayed if they didn’t get my song choices right away. I asked him how that could be possible if the actual video (my wedding) hadn’t even happened yet. After the wedding I was contacted by Omar saying that I owed $500 for the photographer and videographer staying 2 hours later. I told him that I wouldn’t be paying for that, because there was no proof that they had stayed late. His response was to not provide me with a sneak peak and had my video edited horribly. Our first kiss is a shot of our photographers back side. What bride wants that in their video. This was clearly a retaliation for not paying the $500, because what reputable company would produce that type of work. When I asked for it to be edited Heidi, the New York branch “owner” (who I had never spoken to before this) responded that because I didn’t pay the extra money I will not be gettin my video edited. She failed to consider the fact that I paid for two extra people to eat on top of the two people I already had to pay for, the fact that I didn’t get my sneak peaks (despite adding a tab to our portfolio weeks later that was labeled “sneak peaks”), and the fact that I didn’t get my 60 second social media video that was in my contract. I don’t know what company would put their name on a video edited where the first kiss is completely BLOCKED. Several people from my bridal party (including my brother) were not included anywhere in the video. If you are planning a wedding stay away from this company, and if you have already put a deposit down RUN FOR THE HILLS. The money lost will be nothing in comparison to the horrible feeling of dealing with this horrible company. I’ve heard that Omar has recently left the company, so if you hire a different company and the name Omar pops up be sure to ask if he previously worked for this trash company.
Zero stars. DO NOT USE this vendor for your wedding!! Like many others are saying, communication was great until I paid. They did my engagement shoot which was pretty good and deli...
vered in an expected time frame. But it took a drastic turn after that. My account rep became completely MIA for almost all of my wedding planning, and any communication was delayed by weeks and numerous attempts by me to get in touch with questions. I had the sense to hire a separate photo company and use these guys for video only based on the poor communication. The videographer dropped out 3 days prior to my wedding, only discovered because I demanded a response over and over. A new videographer jumped in and he was actually great! I received a video, but it was missing my mom, brother, and 2 bridal party members, but showed everyone else. I was told further edits couldn’t be made…😳… I wasn’t even given 1 round of edits to make sure the right people were in the video?? Their solution was to send me a share link of 270+ GB of raw video footage to give to another video company to edit instead of just making those quick edits. Absolutely shocked that a company would run this way. Its been over 2 months after requesting these key people be added into my wedding video, and I’m STILL contacting them for 3 quick shots of people to be added in. Steer clear, do NOT hire them. It has been a total nightmare.
I wish I could leave 0 stars for this company. I just held my wedding this weekend, but was attempting contact with the Media Aisle for two weeks before. Contact with them was grea...
t at the beginning when they wanted to secure payment in January of 2023, however that changed after they asked for my questionnaire back in June 2023. I filled it out in October but never heard anything back from them. Within the last 2.5 weeks, I called, texted, emailed and even posted on my account through their vendor site and heard nothing. It was complete crickets. I paid in full to not receive any actual services. DO NOT HIRE THEM FOR YOUR WEDDING. They will cause you stress after they have been paid.
Booking was easy, however, that was the only time that communication ran smoothly. I have been asking for weeks to communicate with the event director because we were really unhapp...
y with our photographer. The event director has not responded or reached out, despite repeated requests. The photographer was on his phone the whole wedding day, and was rude and acted annoyed. I had multiple wedding guests mention his behavior to me afterwards. He also did not give any feedback or guidance on posing, resulting is bad pictures, many of which have one or more people's eyes closed. We did not capture a lot of important moments because of this. Again, we tried reaching out to the company about this, but were ignored. I wish I had booked elsewhere.
DO NOT USE. This has been the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. My wedding was over 3 months ago and I still haven't received what I paid for. Communication was great....
.. until I paid. After they received payment, I called, texted, emailed several times and got no response. I eventually received my video, but I paid $200 extra for drone coverage and they literally included 2 seconds of drone footage. Not a single one capturing the fireworks show as expected. They also only included the most awkward shots where the photographer wanted us to get close to kissing, but not kiss. There were so many GOOD shots of us actually kissing. Why not use those?? Also, the only shot of the groom as I was walking down the aisle was directly facing the sunlight and you can't see his face. I also requested the raw footage as it was included in my contract, but when I got it, it had no sound. That's not raw footage and not what I paid for. I have been asking Heidi for months for a resolution with no response. James, the actual videographer, was great! But the finished product from this company is my biggest regret. There are better options out there who don't charge as much and actually RESPOND to their customers.
I truly wish i could give this company a zero.. and i hope to warn every single bride out there NOT to book this company. They are a complete disaster and have ZERO communication. ...
They rescheduled our engagement shoot 2 times and then tried to cancel the day before, and then had to contract out to a photographer they have never even used before. Then they were refusing to pay the photographer after the shoot and it was a complete mess. They then decided to cancel on us for our wedding in May for an unknown reason leaving us to find someone else with such short amount of time. But honestly, I'm glad I could not deal with the stress this company CAUSES during the wedding nor could i trust them to show up or give me my photos!!! Do not book them!!!! Heidi Day has ZERO COMMUNICATION and will ruin your BRIDE experience.
Worst possible communication. Photographer did a fantastic job on our engagement photos and those came back very timely. Still have not received our wedding photos and don’t think ...
I willl be at this point and am being totally ignored from the company. Such a scam
I had them hired for my wedding as tolman media and they went out of business. When I logged into the portal it now redirected to this business and I have reached out multiple time...
to see if they are still able to do our wedding. I have gotten no reply. I talked to the photographer they had hired for my wedding and he gave me the owners email and I still got no reply. I have already partially paid for a photo package and they won’t get back to me. No refund nothing. I have had to book another photographer. I do not recommend this business at all!
Worked with them as they transitioned from Tolman to Media Aisle and up until recently. Had 2 weddings completely cancel and no one in the organization had a clue until 1 week and ...
less than 1 week away. That’s time booked on my schedule and the complete lack of professionalism is unacceptable. They are in over their heads when it comes to managing bookings.
I was a videographer for this company. The management is a complete mess, they are currently completely silent leaving the contractors and brides without any communication and in ...
my case they are withholding payment that I earned. (Side note: this is an off shoot of a company called Tolman media who went bankrupt and screwed many rides and contractors in the process, look it up) I took my time to get to know the couple I shot for and incorporate all of their ideas, and then worked hard the day off to make their experience great. I then send the footage to management who destroy everything I built as they disappear with out communication, then show up MONTHS later with a slapped together, awful edit that ignored all of the notes me and the bride provided. I am near certain they out source the editing to non English speakers over seas as anything I have sent with audio comes back making no sense. The photos are all given a copy pasted filter and that’s it, that’s the editing no matter if it’s out doors or indoors and require different edits. I have had enough of being associated with this brand, it always ends bad and i am the one with my face on their product. They are simply the worst option you have. You may save a few hundred dollars but they will shamelessly put in the least amount of effort, ruin what would have been good photos and videos and rip you off.
I was very skeptical about hiring a photographer and videographer who sends their footage out to get edited, but I am SO happy with the way everything turned out.
My husband and I...
got married in April in Cleveland. We had Natalie as our photographer and Nam as our videographer. They were both very professional. I am obsessed with our pictures. Natalie took all of my requests and kept it all in mind when capturing our wedding day. Nam was very attentive to the details we wanted in our video and made sure to get each moment!
I am giving 4/5 stars because they went through a change in the company while we were under contract, and we were not made aware of the changes. Other than that, we are very pleased with our experience!
DO NOT HIRE THEM UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY FOR A SCAM! They have horrible communication and do not follow what you want for photos or videos. They dress very casually to the event and...
look like just random people walking in from the street. As long as they have your deposit, they’re happy. They don’t care if they do a good job or not since they already have your money by the time they release the photos. They missed key moments and memories that we will not be able to have recorded. I hope you all see this review and turn away immediately. Before I wrote this, I just read their newest review by Megan R and I got the same experience and I’m in Chicago. For your special day, do not trust this company!
The Media Aisle - Ohio Branch:
DO NOT HIRE THIS "COMPANY"! I put quotation around 'company,' because it is a "company" that just contracts out your service. SO you might look at th...
eir website and see wonderful pictures and/or videos, but 99% chance you wont get that photographer/videographer, because they contract your service out to the lowest bidder. Little to no communication with the company and our videographer on their part and poor work!!
I got sucked in by The Media Aisle (Ohio branch) by the low prices. I originally signed for the "Elite Package" which includes the photographer & videographer (etc..) in December 2022 for my wedding Sept 8, 2023. Overall Info: The Media Aisle using a website called the HoneyBook for the contracts, payments, and communication (messages that also show up as emails).
Feb 7, 2023 Heidi (the Ohio Branch owner) emailed me the "Meet your Team" message/email, including my photographer and videographers names, that they should both contact me within 2 days and to email her back if they don't. I received this email Thursday around 5pm so I gave them until Monday to contact me before I emailed Heidi back. No contact from the vendors so I emailed Heidi back. No response. One week later, still no response. I emailed Heidi again. I sent at least one email/week and contacted every phone number and contact source I could for SEVEN WEEKS with no response. I hired another photographer, because we wanted to make sure we at least had a photographer for our wedding!
I FINALLY got a response from Heidi (after I stopped being nice and professional and let the Bridezilla out). Moving forward, I cancelled the photographer with The Media Aisle, but kept the videographer. Another Mistake.
We received Nam Hong Do as our videographer. He messaged me to set up a phone call closer to the wedding. He missed that phone call and I was the one who had to initiate communication. Again, communication issues! This call happened 4 DAYS before my wedding. I gave him a list of 8 must haves for him to capture: bride and groom first look, bride and father first look, ceremony, first dances, maid of honor speeches, best men speeches, FOB speech and all of us dancing during the reception. After receiving the RAW footage, he did NOT capture 4 of those things: my dad's FOB speech, the best men speeches, everyone dancing during the reception and the mother/son dance. Those are moments my husband and I will never get back.
Our photos and videos are incredible! We are so happy with the end product! I gave 4 out of 5 stars because it did take a while to get a response.
The Media Aisle was supposed to photograph my wedding, but told me less than 24 hours before that they didn’t have anyone to cover my wedding. Therefore, I was left without a photo...
grapher. They were to reach out to me leading up to my wedding and kept ignoring my emails. I finally got ahold of someone at the company the week of my wedding and they were unable to get anyone to cover it. I booked them at the beginning of February and my wedding wasn’t until August. I do not recommend this company whatsoever. I would give negative stars if I could. I still have not received my refund and was required to pay in full before the day of my wedding.
I initially would have given Media Aisle Illinois 5 stars. However, it comes time for the gallery to be delivered, and I had some issues when we got it back. I voiced my concerns o...
ver several emails (only form of communication with the company), and 3 weeks later, have STILL not gotten a response. My photographer and videographer were amazing, but the edits on the video were done so lazily. Half of the wedding wasn’t even included in the video. I ended up using the raw footage to create my own video since I could not get a response. My biggest issue is that all of the photos from my second shooter were missing. I contacted the photographer himself after I couldn’t get a response from the coordinator, and he said he can’t get in touch with her either to upload the photos. SO unprofessional. I had shooters set up for my husband’s getting ready morning, and neither photos or videos were delivered capturing any of that, yet I confirmed with the shooters they were taken. The lack of communication after delivery would make me never recommend this company to another bride.
This is your sign to BOOK Media Aisle. I cannot raved about them enough. Truly amazing and talented people. From the beginning to the end. They have shown true compassion and kindn...
ess and I’m forever grateful. All of my pictures came out beautiful my video recap is amazing. The packages are very reasonable compared to a lot of others. The staff that showed up Ryan, Christina , José all did amazing. Thank you thank you thank you Sophie and Heidi !
Wedding date is 9-9-23. For 5 months now we have tried to talk to someone about getting a photographer since the one we had booked had to back out. It would be nice to communicate,...
even if they are still working on it. Everyday for the past 2 months we have called or emailed, with no response. Until we used our nickname and bam a respond within 5 mins. Then told them it was us and no response or phone calls now go straight to voicemail after asking for a refund.
The media aisle was amazing to work with! They were very responsive to my emails and communicated in a timely manner with me. We had Laura as our photographer and Jesse and John a...
s our videographer, and they were so amazing and nice! This company is great and especially for such a great price. I would definitely recommend booking an engagement session before your wedding day to see the style of photos and to work with the media aisle before your actual wedding day. We are glad we came across the media aisle for our wedding!
I had a great experience with Media Aisle! To chose my photographer and videographer I gave them my top 3 and I was able to get my number 1 pick for each! I absolutely adore Morgan...
and Amy! They did an amazing job! I love the way my pictures were edited, they turned out absolutely beautiful!!
The Media Aisle was an absolute amazing experience! Their package deals with photography and videography are absolutely worth it! I strongly recommend using them if you are not try...
ing to break the bank but still want amazing quality!!
Review
DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. Do not book unless you want unnecessary stress. The booking was easy and smooth. When going through the process to get information about the...
company and booking, they were prompt with communication and follow up. Once I signed and it got closer to the wedding it all went down hill. We hired them for video and photos. I had to reach out to them about songs for the video. They sent me a link that did not work. I informed them it did not work and all they did was say thanks for letting us know. No other follow up. The videographer reached out once she was assigned. Our schedules conflicted and she quit trying to schedule a meeting. The month before the wedding , I still had not heard from the videographer, I reached out again. It took multiple attempts but she finally reached out. The day of the wedding, the videographer and photographers were great. They made sure I got the photos that we both wanted. After the wedding..NOTHING. I’ve reached out multiple times. Our wedding was 3 weeks ago and I cannot get a hold of anybody. There is no number for you to call on the website. Only a spot for them to reach out to you. I’ve emailed the owner, the event coordinator, the customer service line, everyone. I even reached out to the photographer and videographer. They both stated they handed the product over to the company and that the company takes it from there. They can’t provide me with anything. AWFUL! STAY AWAY.
We cannot thank The Media Aisle enough for helping us to capture our special day! We worked with the videographer, Brian, and he was the best. He was so easy to communicate with ov...
er the phone and email and he made sure to capture all of the special moments we had requested. The turn around time for getting our video back was so quick. The whole Media Aisle's team was so responsive whenever we had questions and made the whole process run so smoothly. Thank you again for helping to make our day so special and one we will always remember!
I initially booked with Tolman Media which then became The Media Aisle a month after my wedding while I was waiting for my media. There was no announcement of this transition so as...
an anxious bride waiting to see my photos and video from the most important day of my life, seeing this change really freaked me out. It was almost impossible to get anyone on the phone when calling the main number. Every single time I called, I got the same voicemail message and a generic text a minute later from Heidi. After incessantly following up, I was finally able to have a conversation with the owner who assured me I would have my full media by Thanksgiving (my wedding was 10-8-22 and in my contract I was promised my full media of photos and video within 30 days). Although I did receive my media on time, I quickly noticed there were massive amounts of photos missing that I remember having taken the day of. Important ones like group photos with my bridesmaids, my mom zipping me into my dress, the groom with all his groomsmen, garter/bouquet toss, and some family photos. I pointed this out in a detailed email since I couldn’t get anyone back on the phone and wasn’t getting texts back after bringing this up. I ended up reaching out to my assigned photographer directly on Instagram to get to the bottom of it, and she informed me that she sent all the photos she took to their editing team. After a week of back and forth with the owner, Heidi, she “discovered” that somehow when my media files were getting transferred there was some type of glitch that caused a handful of important photos to not be included in the final media that I received. I don’t know if that was a cover up or there was some type of mistake and/or miscommunication on their end when they disbanded from Tolman, but in the end I did receive my missing photos and they were re-edited to look the way I wanted them to. I am happy with my media, and that is thanks to my talented photographer and videographer who were fabulous and I wish I booked with them directly in hindsight. I wouldn’t bother with this company as the stress and panic I went through over getting all the right photos is not something I should have had to deal with after spending the amount that we did. There are much better companies out there that are worth spending a bit more on.
Today we had our engagement photo shoot. Our photographer was Omar and he was absolutely amazing working with us to make this happen. In our engagement photos we included our kids...
and Omar worked really well with them which is always a bonus in our book. After our experience today we excited to know we have Omar capturing the important moments of our wedding.
Very unhappy with our experience with this company. We didn’t receive our videos until months after promised. Music requested was not used. Editing looked rushed seeing as it was s...
ent almost a day after our final complaint about where it was. Poor communication from the company and the videographers themselves weren’t too excited about their job and much of the experience was uncomfortable. Their excuse to my wife for the large delay was the company was experiencing changes. We could be a rare case but not the way you wanna look back on your special day looking rushed and poorly cut.
We worked with Omar for our engagement photo shoot and will also have him for our wedding photos. He's kept good communication with us throughout the planning process and is very k...
ind and knowledgeable when we met him for our engagement photos. The turn around was very quick and our photos are beautiful, we're excited to work with him for our wedding.
Please do NOT book with this company! We were extremely disappointed with this company. They stated in the contract receiving at least 600-800 photos, we only received 550 and they...
would not refund us or anything. Just said “sorry”. They also did a horrible edit to our video, in which I gave them detailed edits to fix. They fixed maybe 25% of it, then said sorry it’s too much. They gave us the raw footage and said we can pay someone else to fix the video. They also have horrible communication and I kept having to contact this company to even receive our video/pictures, which were wayy delayed (past the contract deadline).. again said “sorry we are busy”. If you care about photos/videos, PLEASE don’t book with them!!
Zero stars, would not recommend whatsoever. Our photographer and videographer were pleasant enough on the day of, allow they were constantly missing and my family kept having to go...
look for them. I kept thinking they were taking tons of photos of the venue and decor at that time, but after getting my photos back that was absolutely not the case. All of that would have been fine though if it were not for our family photos. All of our family photos were taken in front of a TV and I, along with several other of my family members questioned the photographer on how this TV would look at our background, and she told me not to worry about it that the editing team would take care of it. Unfortunately, the ‘editing team’ did nothing. I’m not even sure they edited any of the photos at all. Every family photo has a huge TV with a glaring flash in it. When I tried contacting them, I got one short response saying that the ‘editing team’ did everything they could and there was nothing else that could be done. From there, I asked for a portion of my money back since every family photo is ruined and from there they stopped answering. Extremely unprofessional. I would suggest hiring ANYONE but this vendor. Extremely disappointed in their lack of professionalism, especially with pictures as important as these.
Til this day we have not received any videos from our wedding. I wish I could share all the footage that was taken, but I do not have it. They haven’t responded to me in weeks and ...
they’ve just taken my money.
Tolman Media( Now this new name) had started out really well for us and I was excited about it. As we got closer I felt as though I was the one contacting people to make final deci...
sions instead of the other way around. (My photographer assigned was wonderful though and kept in contact with me. )
What really was a bummer for me was when we got our photos back a lot of edits were not made. There are water bottles in the back ground on the lawn areas, utility boxes, etc. I feel as though my photographer probably would’ve taken some more time to edit these for me instead of whoever did.
As someone who religiously researches based on reviews, but who also rarely ever posts them, take this review seriously and PLEASE do yourself a favor - do not discredit the other ...
1 star reviews advising you to "stay away". I truly believe that any 4+ star reviews on here are based solely off of luck that the couple was assigned, fortunately and completely by chance, experienced-enough professionals to document their special day. My husband and I were undoubtedly not fortunate enough to get that. Perhaps to save this company on margin? Probably. But, whatever the case may be - we scouted out many videographer companies, and leaving videography as a last-pick necessity after a long-running, expensive roundup of other must-have vendors, we decided to go with Tolman Media (which transitioned to The Media Aisle during our experience with them, we think?). I can't really say for sure when that transition happened, as we were never given clarity on this - somehow communication just went from one and then to the other. What I can say for sure is that I wish SO MUCH that I would have listened to my gut instincts in following up on their iffy reviews and questionable digital presence, including but not limited to their bot (fake) followers on Instagram. Because now looking back, I am so upset that so much of our night will never get to be relived, despite us paying for it to be. They were quick to respond when it came to establishing payment. From then on, our whole experience was awful. A videographer was assigned to us, whose business profile literally says "aspiring wedding videographer" (had I known this at the time, I would have immediately cancelled and pivoted to a more credible company). He was a sweetheart and he did his best, but for over $1500, I should not be paying for an apprentice. So many important parts of our night were either disrupted in footage due to inexperience, or not even documented at all. We will never get that back. After hiring a company that you believe to be proficient in their deliverables, it is mortifying to have to rely on the hope that your guests captured important parts of your day via their smart phones. And in our seriously unfortunate case, our guests did not capture everything we wanted - everything we expected for the company we hired and paid to capture - as they were doing what guests should be doing and being present in the moment. Moreover, communication was ridiculous moving forward. It was literally like pulling teeth to get any response. Honestly at this point, I am just grateful that we even got ANYthing back at all. Again, I am not one to leave reviews so when I do, it either means that it is for a service that was absolutely phenomenal or one that was absolutely horrible. Now knowing through experience just how precious and valuable it is to have footage of one of the most important days of your life, I genuinely feel like I would be doing a disservice if I didn't tell you to stay away. Keep looking at other options. And if you end up finding yourself paying more than the lower-tier cost you may find with The Media Aisle... TRUST ME, it is SO worth the extra money. Do not make the mistake that we made, because you will find too that some moments, especially once-in-a-lifetime moments as these, are unquestionably invaluable.
The Media Aisle was amazing and the price was very reasonable. Our photographer was Tomi and he was freaking awesome. From beginning to end he ensured us he was ready to capture al...
l of our dream moments. He took time to understand the moments that were important to us and snapped them all phenomenally. His work is amazing and his energy is magnificent. Definitely one you would love to have around on your wedding day. You can also tell he loves doing what he does and is very passionate about his work. We love Tomi and if we had to do our wedding day all over again, we would still choose Tomi and The Media Aisle. Thanks for helping make our wedding day perfect.
My husband and I had a rocky start with a Tolman Media customer service representative, Lydia. She would take forever to get back to me and was very unprofessional (sharing way too...
many personal details about why a team member was fired/no longer working with the company). After reaching out to the CEO informing them of this unprofessionalism, the customer service improved… temporarily. Do NOT waste your time with this company.
We cannot rave enough about our photographer, Tomi Sur and videographer Sofiia Musiak. They were ABSOLUTELY phenomenal. If there is any way you can contact them privately, I highly recommend reaching out to them! They were fun to work with and extremely talented. We were more than pleased to have them be a part of our special day.
Tolman media was so great to work with. Mandy was my photographer and she was INCREDIBLE to work with. My husband and I felt so comfortable with her and we loved how she took charg...
e and directed us throughout the day. The photos turned out absolutely beautiful and I could not be happier, the ONLY reason I gave 4/5 is because they don’t guarantee a sneak peak for your photos. While I do understand that it is a busy season, even a couple unedited photos would have “scratched the itch”. Overall, we would 100% use Tolman Media Illinois again!
We had an engagement session with Morgan back in September 2021. She was FANTASTIC and even got a few great shots of our dogs with us. She also shot our wedding on 3/25/22, and we ...
can’t wait to get those pictures back. She was great the entire planning process, and I can’t recommend her enough!
We had Rudy come out as our second shooter for the wedding, and he was AWESOME too! He fit right in with the guys and kept them in line throughout the day.
We were very lucky to get two awesome photographers throughout this whole process, as I know it isn’t always guaranteed that you will have the same photographers/get to choose who you want. Thank you, Tolman Media!
It was really hard trying to decide on a rating. Our videographer, Andrew, has to be the best in the business. He was amazing! I can't recommend him enough. If you can figure out a...
way to hire this man-do it!!!! His drone coverage & videos captured EVERYTHING! He was non-stop! He worked SO HARD and produced perfection! Great to work with!
On the flip side, our photographer, Mandy, was excruciating. She rarely spoke. Thankfully the Maid of Honor is a Special Events Director, so she was able to step up and direct shots. Throughout the day, Mandy would tell everyone why certain shots wouldn't work, she didn't want to go to different locations for shots. By other locations, I mean different areas in the same subdivision. I had hired a Limo-bus to transport everyone, so transportation was a breeze. She was unable to capture the candlelit ceremony. All pictures look like it was high noon. Bright! Bright! Bright! Only 1 picture was taken of certain people walking down the aisle. If you were looking off the side, too bad.
Editing was another issue. I'll start with the video. They just didn't pay attention to details. The look was great. However, things like father of the groom voice were added, not father of the bride. (What the heck. The Father of the Bride was footing the bill) A real awkward picture of the bride was added-which ruined the whole video. We were able to have a re-edit of the video. How many people just don't ask for a re-edit? Ask! The final video was perfect! It was actually re-edited twice. The awkward picture was still in first edit. Then they removed the mother of the groom walking down the aisle and mother/son dance. So had to have that put back in. So glad we asked. Because now it really is perfect.
Concerning the pictures.... It was a November wedding. We lucked out. It was a cold day, but a beautiful day. Sky was blue. However, in all the pictures the sky is absent. The outside pictures of the people were beautiful, but there is no sky. It just makes the pictures look strange. We were in contact with Lydia and she stated they could be re-edited for a small fee. We paid the fee and were excited to see the final pictures. After a time, we were refunded the fee. We were told they could not do them. Could not or would not is my question. Such a shame, because the pictures would have been absolutely perfect with the sky. Lydia did offer to give us the raw photos so we could re-edit them ourselves. We signed the contract to have the raw pictures. But geez, that is 68 pages of thumbnails which we cannot see the pictures. Now we will have to figure out purchasing an editing program or paying a third company to edit. That is so disappointing and frustrating and most of all very sad.
We purchased one of Tolman's largest options. Added video and drone footage. Added extra time due to our photographer being concerned of the time change and wanted to get pictures in before the sun started setting. Which now thinking about it, aren't sun-setting pictures usually beautiful?
I wish we could have given Tolman 5 stars! I think if they could have added back in the blue sky that was edited out, we would have been satisfied because in the end we would have had beautiful, complete pictures. We would have been thankful for them being able to edit to a beautiful video and pictures.
Now we are left with a beautiful video and on the hunt to find a company to just add in some sky to add depth and complete otherwise beautiful photos.
We received an amazing deal from Tolman Media Illinois and quality was not sacrificed. Our photographer and videographer were professional and kind, even during my bridezilla momen...
ts! Our photos came back earlier than expected and are absolutely stunning. We are so happy with them. They make us smile every day. We cannot wait to get our video footage back. We know it will be just as incredible!
My husband and I got married this past weekend. Amanda's talent and experience really helped make our wedding just a little less stressful. She stuck with us despite us not really ...
having any idea what type of photos we wanted. Amanda, we can't thank you enough for being there we hope you enjoyed your time with us as much as we enjoyed having you! We can't wait to see the wonderful pictures you took!
Riane photographed our wedding and she did absolutely amazing! We were running behind on schedule but she still was so understanding and made sure to get all our special moments th...
at night. Thank you Riane!! I highly recommend Tolman Media Illinois. If you get Riane, you are lucky and won’t have to worry about a thing!
- Brenda&Jesse
They were great from the start, they had better and more affordable prices than other vendors we looked at and we loved the quality of their photo editing.
Everyone on the team was...
really friendly and communicated well so everyone knew what to expect before the day of the wedding. Amy and Morgan were very nice and professional, we love how our photos and videos turned out so we totally recommend them for your wedding!
Prior to booking we looked at all of the Tolman Media social pages and loved the look of their editing. After talking with someone from customer service we were under the impressio...
n (because she told us), all the photographers have an editing style that the close to what is represented on the Tolman Media social pages. Once booked and the deposit was paid we were assigned to a photographer that had the opposite editing style of what is represented on their social media pages. When bringing the concern up the customer service they did switch our photographer, to someone whose editing style is much more like the Tolman Media style. However, I asked about "locking in" the photographer so we knew for sure who was capturing our wedding and I was told the photographer was locked in. When I reread the contract that states that the photographer is subject to change at anytime. Due to how misleading this company is I would NOT recommend this service.
UPDATE: Heidi from Tolman Media was wonderful at solving the problem. She informed me that the lady who mislead me is no longer apart of the company. Heidi was extremely generous when discussing solutions and even jumped on a Zoom call with me during her vacation!
We had a wonderful engagement session with Amy yesterday! She was so helpful and made us so comfortable we couldn't have asked for a better experience! We are so excited for our we...
dding photography and videography!!!
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