After quite a lot of searching, my DH and I decided to go with BLS as our engagement/wedding…read morephotographer. We felt that their website showcased the types of photographs we were looking for and I had an immediate rapport with Juliette, our photographer. Our package price was $2800, taxes in, the 2015 price because of when we booked. A similar package is going for $3300+taxes now.
We had our engagement photos in the summer and we were happy with how they came out. I felt like Juliette could have done a better job at fixing a few minor things I wasn't aware of, like bra straps showing, or posing me in such a way that was flattering. There are a handful of images that are amazing, but there are some that are just so completely unflattering of me, I can't believe she put them in the final set.
On the wedding day, the photographers arrived early to shoot the groom and groomsmen in my MIL's room suite. My groom wasn't even remotely ready when they started taking photos and I just felt like they could have gotten some shots of the guys getting ready together, instead of just him by himself. The shots of the groomsmen are great, but they're all incredibly similar. I would have liked to see more variation in the locations, types of shots, etc.
When I arrived at the hotel, the photographers had already gotten into my room (how, I don't know) and had taken photos of my wedding dress and shoes without the special hanger I had purchased, which was slightly annoying. The photos of my dress were, frankly, a let down. My dress sparkled like crazy and all the photos are in front of a lit window that shows NONE of my favourite features of the dress. There were a TON of pictures of my shoes and my grooms shoes (???). There were three photographers in the room and they RUSHED us. First off, I'm the bride, everyone can wait! Second of all, I didn't need added stress on MY WEDDING DAY. We had plenty of time to get everything done and they really stressed me out. They did get some good photos but absolutely NONE of me and my mom and she came down specifically to get me in my dress. They also felt kind of intrusive. I had hoped for a few quiet moments with my girls to get ready and yet the room was absolute chaos until we left to get photos done. Not what I had envisioned.
Our first look was perfect, but the photographer didn't bother to scout any locations - we did it in a hallway in the hotel. The photos turned out great but primarily because you're focused on our faces.
I would have liked to get photos with each bridesmaid individually, but those were never taken. I figured she'd have the vision to do that and she didn't.
The best part about the photographers was that I didn't even KNOW they were there during the ceremony and reception. We did get some really good shots of the ceremony but after that, things went downhill. I had asked for formal family photos and I'd say about 80-90% of these photos are unusable because either someone's face is obscured or someone's eyes are closed. I was super disappointed because my dad's family came a long way and we were looking forward to the first family photo in probably 30 years, and they're unusable. The photographers rushed through these unnecessarily - the cocktail hour was going on downstairs, we had plenty of time to get these photos done right.
The few things I did specifically ask for, like photos of the decor, were included and looked quite nice. They didn't get a single photo of the head table, which I had done up on purpose, and I was disappointed. The photos of our guests are poor - they used an exposure/setting that put one person in focus and the person beside them out of focus. So I have pictures of my sisters-in-law side-by-side, one where one is in focus and the other is not.
They got almost no photos of my choreographed dance with my dad, even though I specifically mentioned it, and all the photos are meh. I felt like they could have done a better job with three photographers to catch more moments of that dance, since it was such a special moment for us. I wanted more formal photos of me and my husband alone - the day was about us and I felt like there were only the photos from earlier in the afternoon, NONE after we were actually married besides our entrance/us at the head table. The best photos of our guests are from the guests themselves, BLS didn't do a great job on guest shots during the reception.
Don't even get me started on the 'custom wedding website' we were supposed to get. I ended up having to do it myself because no one would get back to me from BLS. They weren't timely on accepting our etransfer payments either.
Overall, I really can't recommend BLS after my experience. I had high expectations and we paid a lot for photos that I feel are underwhelming and we had a very stressful start to my wedding day. Their website is misleading, most of the photos are NOT from the Toronto Team. They took a LONG time to get our photos to us as well.