Annie (and occasionally her helpful husband Peter) have been capturing milestones in my families…read morelife for the past 9 years. From our engagement, wedding, and now to our growing family milestones, the images Annie captures fill our home and camera rolls with so much joy. Her images are an elevated take on the classic family pictures, the ones that don't look airbrushed or staged, the ones that fill your home and heart with the true memories of the moment. She is professional, passionate, and communicative. Our most recent shoot with Annie was our newborn family session in her new natural light studio in Lincoln Park. My almost 3 year old decided she wanted to boycott photos completely very early on into our time with Annie. You would never believe by how beautiful these photos are that were was so much sass and a bit of newborn life family chaos happening behind the scenes. She is truly a talent and a very easy going person to take direction from that shines through in her images. We will be using Annie for many years to come.

Annie Steele is our #1 Chicago photographer. We love how positive she is during the photo shoot -…read moregreat with kids!!! She knows all the great spots, and is flexible with times, dates, etc! Looking forward to utilizing her artistic capabilities again in the future!!!

REALLY glad we hired paola and vivid photo + video for our may 2018 chicago wedding! i was…read moresearching for a company that could do photo + video both, at a reasonable price, and they popped up in my search. thank goodness they did! i met paola for coffee back in the beginning to learn more about them, and left with a really good feeling. after hiring her + her team, as it got closer to the wedding, she wanted to do a walk through of our venue with us since it was a new one for her - we appreciated this a ton, and felt even more comfortable knowing they would take care of capturing our day. (they also worked really well with the many other vendors we used the day of) i had a bunch of creative ideas on my own for photos and/or video that i wanted to accomplish, and she was incredibly open to all and had some great additional ideas. our wedding included a first look at an old fire station, ivy walls, shots downtown on the bridge, a (warm) rooftop ceremony, and then food trucks for dinner + a glass blowing demo for our guests. they managed to capture so much of our day in photos/video/or both.our photos are vibrant and colorful and candid, just as we wanted. and we'll be watching our highlight reel over and over with friends & family, while our full feature footage will be reflected on at least every year to relive the whole day. hire vivid photo + video - we feel like we got incredibly lucky finding them for our wedding!

It is my absolute pleasure to recommend Paola and her team at Vivid Photo and Video for any wedding…read moreor event! My husband and I worked with Paola and her team to provide photography and videography for our wedding during August 2017. Paola was kind & flexible from the start, meeting us at a coffee shop in our neighborhood for an initial consultation. Upon meeting, we instantly felt at ease. She took time to learn about us as a couple and to our delight, worked with us to customize a package of photographers and videographers to fit our needs and budget. After seeing Paola's work, we were thrilled to learn that she would be our primary photographer for our wedding. We found this to be a fabulous perk of working with a smaller boutique studio. Paola and her team did an excellent job on the day of our wedding. They were all friendly and made our wedding party feel very comfortable. They did an amazing job capturing the important moments without being noticeable or "in the way." Paola has a way about her that could put the most anxious bride at ease! She was always one step ahead with her quick thinking, suggesting creative and fun poses, as well as beautiful locations for our "first look" and group shots before the wedding. Several members of our wedding party, friends, and family mentioned how much they liked Paola and the energy that she brought to our event. We were also impressed to see her positive & creative energy last all day and night! Last but certainly not least, Paola and her team take beautiful photos and create lovely videos. They do an excellent job of using light and focus to highlight important details within different shots. They also pieced together our highlight video in a meaningful way that told a story about our relationship and brought together different elements of our special day. It was evident that Paola understood who we were as a couple and captured our day perfectly. As we watched our highlight video it almost felt as if she had read my mind! Every beautiful detail of our story can be told, remembered, and cherished for the rest of our lives. We have Paola and her team to thank for that.

I cant not say enough good things about Erin Hoyt. From the initial photography research, I knew I…read moreliked her and her work- but it wasn't until we met with Erin that I knew she was the perfect fit. One thing that was unique about Erin from the initial meeting was that there was no pressure for anything. We discussed how we were not interested in doing engagement photos and she was 100% okay with that and didn't pressure us on them being needed or needing to do them with us so she could "get to know us better". She (and us!) felt super confident in her ability to photography our wedding beautifully without the "test run". Her engagement shoots are awesome by the way, we just decided we didn't want to do them. Fast forward to the planning process, Erin was extremely knowledgeable about the city and helped us with scouting out some great locations for our wedding. She even did some Google earth research to see if there was a cool rooftop at our hotel (which there was!!!) where we could do our first look. She was very helpful in laying out our timeline and knowing how long we should take at each location. On our wedding day, Erin became by far the best decision we ever made. She was calm, cool and collected amongst some chaos in getting ready. We were a little behind which caused some stress and Erin didn't skip a beat. She reassured us we were okay and worked her magic getting all the shots that we wanted. Our entire wedding party was complimentary of her and her assistant in how they were on-site and how efficient they were with everyone's time. The best part though was our photos. She captured our personality perfectly. Looking through all of our photos it's hard to choose favorites because they are all fantastic. She got some great casual candid photos throughout the day and really made us relive the entire day through her camera. We could not have been happier with using Erin. I would highly recommend working with her. Obviously her work speaks for itself, but the person Erin is, is who you want to work with and who you would want to be around on your wedding day.

Photography was one of our top three priorities when planning our wedding and Erin was the first…read morevendor we booked after our venue. From our first meeting with Erin, she put us at complete ease, which was amazing since we'd be spending 10 hours with her on our wedding day!! We were looking for someone who could capture the natural emotions of the day, including our personalities. Our package included an engagement session, which was SUCH a great experience. Being in front of a camera doesn't always come easy and having this session was perfect to get to know Erin and to loosen up before the big day. Plus we got a little preview of how INCREDIBLE she makes us look :) The day of our wedding, Erin and her assistant arrived and got to work!! It was perfect. She is excellent at directing positioning for the best light. She made sure to get all the photos on our list and she even made sure everyone in our family looked their best in the photos. We've only gotten our sneak peek and they. are. stunning. I cannot WAIT to see all the photos and the album!!

JoAnna was an absolute dream to work with. From the very beginning, she was easy-going, down to…read moreearth, warm, and attentive - which made working with her a breeze. We loved the style of her photos and wanted her to document the day with genuine, candid shots. She completely understood our vibe and definitely delivered. We had the joy of thunderstorms on our wedding day and JoAnna didn't skip a beat. A brass band marched us from the ceremony to the reception and she HUSTLED her way through the drizzling streets of West Town and got the most incredible photos. She was the perfect blend of assertive yet unobtrusive; always there but never in the way :) She had no problem getting everything on our shot list AND sent us our photos way ahead of time. We could not have been happier and feel like we got really lucky with JoAnna - Highly recommend!

You can tell by her photographs that JoAnna has such an artistic eye and a unique point of view…read more After getting a recommendation from a friend and reviewing her pictures I knew she would be the perfect fit for our October Chicago wedding. At our wedding, she made everyone around her feel at ease (including making sure my champaign glass was filled right when she walked in). She forged an instant connection with my nephew and ring bearer who then hammed it up for the camera each time she came by. JoAnna has the ability to find unique shots and is very self directed. I didn't provide too much direction but was overwhelmed by how she seemed to get every shot that we had wanted. She directed the shots very professionally and made posing fun for us and our guests. We were a bit worried about the weather as it was likely going to rain but she assured us that the overcast would create great moody looking images...spoiler alert...she was right! Overall we could not have asked for a better experience. I highly recommend working with JoAnna.

Julia is an amazing photographer. Julia was definitely one of the best wedding vendor decisions we…read moremade! I saw Julia's work on Style Me Pretty and a few other wedding sites--then went to check out her awesome (and witty) blog and knew I had to contact her. After talking to almost 10 photographers (yes, picky, I know), I knew instantly within the first 5 minutes over the phone that Julia would be the one. She was personable, professional, and very knowledgable. Although she seemed easy-going, you can tell she would be meticulous and detail oriented. Throughout our entire planning process, she was responsive and I never waited more than a day or two for a reply. As a matter of fact, I felt like she followed up with us more than we followed up with her! Our wedding took place in Northern California, so we didn't meet Julia for the first time until our engagement session. I felt an instant connection to her and she made such an awkward thing to do super easy (no, we're not natural models). The photos turned out great. So, of course I had very high expectations for our wedding pictures and she sure delivered! I'm obsessed with the pictures and seriously look at them every night. From the details to sweeping panoramas, she captured everything from our day. We have some gorgeous, emotional shots from almost every part of the wedding. Thanks, Julia, for making our wedding day so super smooth and being a part of such a huge milestone for us!

Julia has the magic touch! I am religious about photographing my boys at each birthday. After…read moreseveral photo sessions at other studios -- I found Julia, she is like a breath of freah air. She has a true gift with children. She took newborn photos of my son that I will treasure forever. She captured those precious and fleeting days when he was so new and fresh. I only wish I had known about her for my first son's birth! Each time Julia takes pictures of our family, we come away with something special that I will treasure for a lifetime.

I'm so excited to review Clare Britt she's an amazing photographer! I've had the pleasure of…read moreworking with Clare 3 different times once for a wedding and 2other times for profile pictures and each time she's been a pleasure and delight, pictures were absolutely amazing. She's a great eye who knows how to get the best of me and made me look amazing. If you're looking for a great photographer who's fun, professional, creative and passionate, hire Clare.

Clare is everything you would want in a photographer! She is attentive during the consultation…read moreprocess, on time on shoot day, a joy to work with, and has an amazing eye. She makes you comfortable immediately and is super creative. She even knew how to make my baby smile for his 3 month old pics! I would recommend Clare to anyone for any occasion, big or small. The final photos we received will be cherished for all time Thanks Clare!

I was looking on yelp for a local photographer to take our annual family photos. I came frm a…read morepretty large family -ages ranging frm 9 months to 60years old. I needed someone fast,affordable and very good. Heather was way beyond that. she was on time, efficient and the pictures are amazing. I am so happy with them. she was so great and accommodating to work with. I will definitely use her again and again. thank you heather! you're the best!!!

Heather is an exceptional professional and a lovely human being! She worked incredibly hard to…read morehelp us with planning my daughter's wedding photography. The day of the wedding, she was extraordinary - constantly moving to get the shots for the entire long day. She ALWAYS had a smile and made us all feel comfortable. She is a truly outstanding photographer and wonderful person. We are grateful to her for all her help.

Maria is absolutely amazing. She is great at communication, both figuring out what you want from…read moreyour pictures ahead of time and just keeping in touch leading up to your event. She was timely, professional, fun, made sure everyone was comfortable and having a good time, and she made herself a seamless part of our wedding day while getting the most stunning pictures!! I couldn't be any happier and highly recommend her services for any event or photoshoot!

Maria has photographed my children and I a couple of times, and each time she has delivered us such…read morebeautiful work! She captured us perfectly and she is amazing at what she does. I highly recommend her if you're looking for a talented photographer!