First off, get a videographer for your wedding. It was one of the best decisions we've made…read more Secondly, go with Smiling Toad! My wife and I got married at Salvage One this March. Smiling Toad was the most accommodating, customizing, affordable, and professional videographers we had encountered. The process prior to the wedding was seamless. John at Smiling Toad was quick to answer all of our questions and offer great options for music to include in the trailer and highlight film. During the wedding, the two videographers were extremely professional and skillful in their craft. They were not intrusive or "in the way" at all. At one point, I asked if the videographers left already, but they were just doing an amazing job of blending into the crowd! John was extremely prompt in delivering our videos after our wedding. Watching these videos brought back all of the feelings and emotions that we experienced during the wedding and allowed us to see so many of the moments that we missed in the excitement of the day. The wedding was captured in the truest of forms and done in such a beautiful way. We have received so many amazing compliments from our friends and family about our videos. Thanks again, Smiling Toad, for being a part of such a memorable day and allowing us to feel like we are reliving our wedding every time we watch your videos!

Working with smiling toad was such a pleasure. They were very professional did an amazing job and…read moreshot some amazing videos of my camp themed wedding. They had three different shots of the ceremony with all different angles and capture the audio perfect. I would highly recommend this company they are on time, professional, and affordable.

I've worked with Marcus and April - wedding photographers. Their creativeness and attention to…read moredetail is truly remarkable. Not just behind the camera, but with the post production editing, color correction and overall final product - wedding album was something incredible. I highly recommend their services. They are the best of the best! They were very accommodating on our budget and very flexible with available options. Five stars!!!!

We could not thank LoftyWeddings Photography for capturing the images they did for our wedding day…read more The attention to the details of the ceremony decor elements and reception elements are superb. Their team was able to capture elements that we do not even remember from the wedding day! Without their highlights from the wedding, we would not have even known those elements were there. Thank you to their team for capturing memories we will cherish for a lifetime!

We used Lofty Weddings when we got married earlier this summer, and we are so happy with the…read moreresults! Steve and Ramona were our photographers, and they both did an amazing job. They helped us decide on the best locations around the city to take pictures and they directed us through the entire process, which was extremely helpful since neither of us had done a professional photo shoot before. They got a lot of great shots of the venue and the decorations and took a lot of wonderful pictures during the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. Every time I was with a friend or new group of people, it seemed that one of the photographers was there to capture the moment. I really appreciated how proactive they were, but they were also open to us asking them to take whatever pictures we wanted. They sent us the link to our pictures just a couple days after our wedding, which was very exciting! We loved how the pictures turned out. As I told Steve...I don't know how they did it, but they made us look good. :) They were both wonderful to work with, and we would highly recommend them!

We couldn't be happier with our experience with H Photography and Doru! From our very first…read moremeeting, Doru impressed us with his professionalism, warmth, and genuine interest in getting to know us as a couple. He took the time to understand our wedding photography vision--what moments mattered most to us, what style we loved, and how we wanted the day to feel in photos. That level of personal attention meant so much and made the entire process--from our engagement session to the big day--feel seamless and enjoyable. Doru's expertise in journalistic photography perfectly aligned with our desire for photos that felt real, emotional, and timeless. He has a rare gift for capturing the in-between moments--the laughter, the quiet glances, the joy on our guests' faces. Every image feels alive, and our photos tell the full story of the day in such an authentic and beautiful way. Our engagement session was a great preview of what was to come. Doru helped us feel completely comfortable in front of the camera, which really shows in the natural, relaxed photos we received. On our wedding day, he was everywhere without ever being intrusive--present, perceptive, and always ready to capture a meaningful moment. The final product was beyond anything we imagined. The photos themselves are stunning, and the leather-bound photo album he created is a true work of art. Flipping through its pages brings back every emotion from our wedding day--it's something we'll treasure forever. If you're looking for a photographer who listens, understands your vision, and brings it to life with artistry and heart, we wholeheartedly recommend H Photography and Doru. His experience, creativity, and genuine care shine through in every single photo, and we're so grateful for the memories he preserved for us.

Last month I worked with Claudia to capture a surprise engagement for my fiance. As you can…read moreimagine, I was extremely nervous not only to propose but also to make sure the pictures captured the moment. The day of the session, Claudia made sure to discretely take photos of us prior to, during, and after the proposal. I was so happy with how everything turned out. I couldn't recommend her more highly as she was fun and personable to work with and let us take some traditional as well as hilarious pictures to capture our personality. Wouldn't use anyone else!

Renae photographed my wedding and she is so incredible I had to review her right away! Renae lives…read moreand breathes photography. She is a master at her craft and her passion and joy is contagious. Upon first meeting her, my now husband and I completely clicked with her. She was funny, easy to work with, kind and on top of that she is CRAZY talented. She doesn't do this as a hobby, she is a professional. It shows. She has been doing this for many years and she is constantly perfecting her work, learning new techniques and getting incredible shots every. single. time. We first did our engagement pictures with her. She had amazing and unexpected places in downtown Chicago that had breathtaking views that were not jammed with people. We used the engagement photos for some displays at the wedding and we received numerous compliments on how high quality and professional they were. On the wedding day, Renae absolutely crushed it. She was organized, prepared, fast but effective. She blended right in with the group and worked so hard. People shouldn't take photographers for granted because they WORK their butt off! She had wonderful ideas, kept us on schedule but also made it very fun. Its only been a couple weeks and we are already getting sneak peeks of photos from the wedding. We have about 6-7 of them and we are blown away. We are overjoyed that we get to keep these wonderfully captured moments of our wedding for the rest of our lives! We worked with numerous highly recommended vendors and they were all amazed by her photos. These are people that see wedding photos all the time! We are so so so happy with our decision to hire Renae, her talent, execution, personality and passion cannot be touched.

My husband and I hired Renae to photograph our both our engagement and wedding in 2018 and 2019,…read moreand we could not be happier with our choice. Now that we are married and have seen the full gamut of her work, we will cherish her amazing photography for the rest of our lives. Her eye and creativity, organization, professionalism, no-nonsense management of our wedding party and families on the day of our wedding, and attention to detail (even when I told her I didn't care about the details, whoops) were impeccable and so, so appreciated throughout the process. Her output is incredible, and she knows *the* spots in Chicago to make it happen. I would recommend Renae to anyone in the market for an amazing wedding photographer!

We used Artisan Events after getting them as a recommendation from friends and they were wonderful…read moreto work with! We worked with John for our engagement photos and then he teamed up with Erika for our wedding. They were an amazing team to calm nerves and make sure what we spoke about during the planning process came to life. I appreciated the fact they have a streamlined planning process - a document will be shared with you months out from the wedding that you fill it out as an overview of what you want and it helped ensure nothing was forgotten or misunderstood. There were little moments during the wedding day I was so grateful for them (e.g. definitely left without my bouquet and John suggested I might want it :)) where they do a little extra or coaching to keep things moving. We joked that Erika was our MVP - every time we stopped for photos she had some new amazing angle she planned to get by scaling a wall, climbing a tree, etc.! Our photos were turned around really quickly and are exactly what we hoped for. Definitely would recommend!

Artisan Events was the very first vendor we booked after getting engaged. We heard from other…read morefriends that finding the right photographer was one of the most important parts of planning of wedding because after the day is over you want beautiful, perfect pictures to have forever. We found them on the knot and the minute we walked into their space in Chicago and met we AJ we knew we had found our perfect photography company and even decided to go with AJ as our photographer. My husband and I currently live in AZ and the Artisan Events team made long distance planning and booking so easy and convenient. AJ and her team showed up on time to our hotel, they were friendly, professional, and made us laugh and feel comfortable. The first thing she did was give me hug and gushed about how she's been looking forward to photographing us for so long (due to my husband's deployment we had a 2 year long engagement). Nothing ever felt forced and she took our ideas for our "around town" city scape pictures and turned them into something more than we ever could have imagined. AJ and her team captured every moment perfectly and we are absolutely obsessed with our pictures. I cried when I saw them and my family did too, because they are that breath taking. We decided not to go with a videographer, but just looking through all of the still photos brings us back to that day in vidid detail. We cannot say enough good things about Artisan Events and AJ and their team. We would recommend them time and time again!

Vanessa & Julio were AMAZING at covering our wedding. From the moment we met them, through signing…read morecontract and wedding day and beyond, they were perfect. Communication was clear and always available for all questions and details. They are so friendly, organized and flexible, every detail was well planned so we had absolutely nothing to worry about. Having two photographers was an incredible bonus and they really did capture every aspect of the day. The pictures were absolutely breathtaking. It was, without a doubt, the best money we spent for our wedding. Worth every single penny. Couldn't recommend them enough!

Amazing photography! I've hired Knapp for multiple photo shoots in the past and I've always loved…read morehis work which is why I was confident in hiring him for my wedding, I didn't bother considering anyone else. His extensive experience working weddings allowed him to bring valuable input to my own wedding even beyond the photos. My wedding was 3 months ago and looking at the pictures I could see he definitely captured the perfect moments naturally and it takes me back like it was last night.

From our first meet up in Chicago to chat, to our engagement session, to our wedding day - Matt &…read moreSarah have been a pleasure to work with! They captured every special moment between my husband and I - they are amazingly talented & you will be completely satisfied & outrageously thrilled with your photographs - They really make you look good! Matt & Sarah are pure talent and a total delight to work with, you can't pick a better photographer! They are the perfect mix of professionalism, talent and personality - their photojournalist style is killer. I have never wrote a review on yelp - but I just had to for them, because I want everyone to use their talent!

My wife and I were extremely pleased with the photos taken by Matt! He was a pleasure to work with…read moreand really made us and the guests very comfortable throughout the wedding. We love his distinctive style and multiple people have complimented the end result. Definitely recommend!