I am really, really late in writing this review but I want to make sure I added my voice to an…read morealready very positive set of review for Carasco Photography. My family hired Carasco Photography for my husband's and my wedding which took place over Memorial Day weekend 2014. We initially found them through our venue, Germania Place, on the list of "preferred vendors" and decided to meet Scott and Cara in person to discuss our expectations and vision for the big day. From our first meeting in their awesome studio, it was clear to me that Scott and Cara not only have the credentials and experience as top-of-the-line wedding photographers but they were very helpful in getting me to articulate what my vision for the wedding was. They were very supportive from the time we started working with them (in March 2013 or so) through the day of and after the fact, when photos were developed and processed. We ended up booking Ryan, who is one of Cara and Scott's lead photographers. I cant say enough great things about Ryan; he has a great sense of humor, was easy to work with, and we never felt awkward around him (yep, not even during those "now stare longingly into each others' eyes" engagement photos). We had our engagement photos taken with Ryan and he was great; everyone was very impressed with the quality and breadth of the photos. The same was true for the wedding day, which went amazingly and which was perfectly captured by Ryan and his partner that day, Leland. There is not one photo opp I didnt get that I wish I had; Ryan captured everything and did so in a creative way that truly captured the spirit of the day. The photos were so good that, in fact, my mother who did not order a photo album as part of our photo package initially was so enamored with them that she immediately called Cara to order one. Bottom line: I highly recommend Carasco Photography for their wedding photo services. They are among the best in the Chicago area from a price and quality perspective and you will not be disappointed when you hire them! Cara, Scott, and Ryan: thank you so much for being so great to work with and for taking the most amazing photos for us.

I have had an opportunity to work with Scott and Cara Nava from Carasco Photography on several…read moreoccasions and can honestly say that they are 2 of the hardest working, talented and nicest photographers in Chicago. They have one goal in mind and that is to make their clients happy by providing quality work. They work in conjunction to get you the shots that you want and need- both the traditional posed photos as well as the spontaneous ones that really capture the emotion. They recently did a shoot for my company's marketing materials and the photos turned out beautiful! I highly recommend them if you are looking for professionals that listen to your needs and cater to them.

Can we rate 10 stars?!?!…read more We were very cautious of giving money to someone we met on craigslist but we were very happy we did! Michael had the best work of anyone we had checked out. He also had the most reasonable price. We are very glad we hired him for our March wedding at the holiday inn martz plaza. He was professional, friendly, approachable and courteous. He really tried hard to capture our day the way we wanted and invited any ideas. We all had fun during our photo session over the Chicago river and during the wedding and reception his presence was barely noticeable. We got a ton of pictures and the edited shots were absolutely beautiful. He captured our special day perfectly and each time we look at our piggies, it's like reliving our fantasy day. We will likely hire him again for future work and will definitely recommend him to friends!

I hired Michael as a photographer for my engagement party and I was more than happy with the…read morepictures! Michael is fantastic to work with and takes direction really well. He is easy to communicate with and did not worry me at all with what he was doing. He is professional, creative, and trustworthy! I was referred to him from my family friend who used him at her niece's birthday party the weekend prior to my event in the same venue. She was very pleased with him too! I think anyone will be happy with Michael and I highly recommend him for any party, wedding, engagement shoot, birthday, etc. My key suggestion would be to make sure you tell Michael specifically what you want, mixed with his creativity, you will not be disappointed!

Marcus did a fantastic job providing dj services at an outdoor charity event last week, held at…read moreFuel & Creme in Villa Park! Marcus kept the crowd totally upbeat and engaged for the whole 3-hour event!! He played great tunes and provided so much support to the team trying to encourage silent auction bidding and raffle sales. He even encouraged folks walking by the event to buy a ticket to join the party, and people did!!!! Marcus is a really excellent dj and the event went so well thanks in part to his enthusiasm and professionalism. I'd totally hire him should I get the chance to throw a party!!

Marcus just stood us up 10 days before our wedding. Took our money and now he won't respond or…read moreanswer his phone. I have been taking to other DJ's and apparently this is not the first time. He uses his daughter as an excuse often from what others have told me. He is very manipulative, and not honest. If you're thinking about booking him, I would not even risk it. We went off reviews and got screwed. Please be carful of his excuses he uses to get out of taking responsibility for standing people up right before their wedding.

Eric Meng was our photographer for our wedding on September 4th, 2011 - and we could not be happier…read morewith our experience. He was very easy to communicate with throughout the process, he listened to what we were looking for, and was a true professional. He is also a really great guy, and truly cares about your wants & needs. Not to mention he is extremely talented! If you are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend you meet with Eric. He also helped us design our wedding album, which turned out great and we love.

Eric was a joy to work with! Beautiful shots of the ceremony, bridal party and reception. His…read moreexperience was invaluable planning our "special day", and he was able to capture the spirit with unobtrusive skill. We received a CD with all our photos as well as access to albums etc if we wanted them. Highly recommended!

Working with Ralph was a wonderful experience. He's very creative and was willing to go out into a…read moresnow storm just to get a shot for our video. When interviewing several photographers in the area, we picked Ralph because he wowed us away with his editing skills. The time-lapses he creates draw attention in almost immediately. Hire Ralph if you want a very experienced, hard working and motivated videographer for your project. You won't regret it.

A good friend referred me to Joe when I needed to put together a promotional video for my…read moreKickstarter campaign. From the outset, Joe was incredibly organized and timely with everything -- he mapped out a plan to identify and communicate all of my key points easily and effectively, worked with my creative assets and shooting locations to make everything look and sound their best. He estimated the time it would take very accurately, and I felt we worked very efficiently. He's also a super friendly, upbeat person to work with! I was very happy with how my video turned out and our process for completing it. He is a music fan, and chose terrific background music to match the feel of the video. After my campaign was over, I got back in touch with Joe to re-cut the video for more general use, which he turned around very quickly and it looked just how I wanted. I highly recommend Stoltz Media!

Joe of Stoltz Media did a wonderful (read: kickass) job creating our beautiful wedding video. Not…read moreonly is it a priceless memento for my husband and I, but I'm still getting regular compliments and comments like, "I cry every time I watch it!" and "He totally nailed the vibe!" from family and friends, months later. Working with Stoltz Media: Joe is super easy to communicate with via email, and seems to genuinely care about creating something unique and representative of each client and event. That said, he is also incredibly creative and skilled/knowledgeable as a designer and music buff, so you can rest assured that he'll create something awesome even if you don't know exactly what you want. He's straightforward, organized, and open to suggestions (though he'll tell you if he has a better solution, which he often does!). On our wedding day, Joe was prompt and set up in such a timely manner that he even spared a few minutes to help us move some tables. He was ready to rock despite the overcast day and occasional showers, always right in the middle of the action without being distracting--an impressive feat given that he is a tall dude with a big beard and a bunch of gear. In addition, he made all of our close friends, family members, and vendors feel super comfortable with his charisma, professionalism, punny sense of humor, and warm, booming laugh. The final product: You wouldn't know that Joe was a one-man show, because he managed to capture the night from various camera angles, while catching an impressive amount of intimate details that allowed us to enjoy our wedding day from a totally different perspective. Speaking of details...Joe is most definitely a details man. From using the perfect lens to capture a certain moment, to synching up the music or a lyric perfectly with a gesture or expression--Joe knows what he's doing, and he does it well. The result is great footage and a living, breathing final product that feels satisfyingly whole. In addition to uploading several versions of the video (the full and a shorter version), Joe provided us with a memory stick of the videos and organized raw footage, which we really appreciated. If you've read this far, you might now be thinking that this sounds like pretty much everything you could want in a professional relationship, and a video. It is...and lots of fun, to boot! You're in great hands with Stoltz Media and I highly recommend working with Joe. PS: He's willing to travel!

I was SO nervous about our wedding video.....mainly because I had no idea how it was going to turn…read moreout, and if it would turn out the way that I had described my visions of what I wanted it to look like to the videographer. Well this is definitely one of those times where I was more than pleasantly surprised, I was ecstatic about the way it had turned out! They really took their time to ensure that the feel and the movement of the video matched the types of songs and preserved the "feel" of our wedding day. If I could only have either a photographer or a videographer, without a doubt I would pick the videographer. Everyone has complimented us so much because of our wedding video, and looking back I would have regretted it if we had not opted to have a videographer record it. The people there are friendly and professional. I didn't run into any issues with them at all when asking all the questions i had asked, followed by even more questions..... Some people may say, "Oh just have a friend record it......" My advise would be Absolutely Do Not have a friend record it! It was worth every penny, even more than our wedding photographers (although he is good, one photographer is not enough) We may not even need a wedding album now, because we have such an amazing wedding video! All thanks to Mike and Keith J. at Poetic Productions!

If you are considering whether or not to hire a videographer for your wedding, the decision is…read moreeasy... I would wholeheartedly recommend (1) having a videographer, and (2) hiring Keith from Poetic Productions. There are certain things that photography just can capture--the emotion in my father's voice during his toast, my husband rubbing my hands as we're saying our vows, and the raw emotion when reading the card that my husband wrote me before we headed to the church. In researching videographers, I came across really cheesy/poorly done work (but cheap) and high-tech/movie-quality/EXPENSIVE options. Keith strikes the right balance in that his work is very professional, artistic and emotional, while also being very affordable. If you can afford it, I would recommend getting a second shooter for at least part of your wedding--the second shooter can capture the bride walking down the aisle AND the groom's reaction, the best man giving his speech AND the bride and groom's reactions, etc. My husband and I could not have been happier with our wedding video from Keith--check it out here if you're interested: http://poeticweddings.com/events/allison-and-matthew.html. Pretty great, in my unbiased opinion! :) In short, I'd HIGHLY recommend Keith from Poetic Productions. The video was absolutely beautiful and worth every penny!

I Do Films does amazing work. When I began the process of doing research to find a photographer,…read morethe sample videos on I Do Films' website made me tear up...and I didn't even know the couples in the videos. We had to meet this wonderfully talented team. From the first meeting, I had a great feeling about them. They were very professional, and had that modern edge in their films that we really wanted. Without further looking, we booked I Do Films. They were wonderful on the wedding day. So much so, I barely knew that they were there. They weren't in your face the whole night, but still somehow managed to capture everything. The only reason I knocked off one star is because of their lateness in getting me the finished film. The contract stated we would get it four months from the wedding date, which means we should have gotten the video on October 5. I emailed back and forth with Lori, which she was very responsive to, but I didn't end up getting the wedding film until around Thanksgiving in late November. Despite that, I do have to say the film is just top notch and absolutely what we wanted. I'm looking forward to watching the film this Sunday on our one year anniversary.

I believe I first came across one of I Do Films' videos on Style Me Pretty and unknowingly stumbled…read moreupon their booth at IndieWed. I was hooked from that moment. I loved their creative eye and taste in music. It took some convincing on my part for my husband to be on board with the whole filmmaker business, but when we met and spoke with Lori, he saw how important it was to me, and we really enjoyed watching a few sample videos in their comfortable and inviting space. He was hooked, too. After our initial meeting, Lori already had a filmmaker in mind for our June 2012 wedding. She couldn't have chosen a better match for us and was so accommodating to our needs. We couldn't be happier with our highlight film and DVD, and we are forever grateful for Louis' hard work in capturing the day. No dollar amount could ever replace seeing the grin on my husband's face as I walked down the aisle or hearing our vows to each other again and again, for years to come.