Rob is amazing. I found his website randomly one night as I was trying to find photographers who…read morehave taken pictures at the Arboretum. I was very impressed with his website and portfolio, so my fiance and I set up a meeting with him. During that meeting with Rob, we were blown away about how much he knows about photography. You could tell he has a passion for this. My fiance(now husband) wanted to book Rob right away, but I didnt want to put all our eggs in one basket right away. We met with another solo photographer who could not even compare to Rob and we met with a big box company who insulted us and really just tried to sell their "made in italy" custom books, not the photography. Rob was always prompt with getting back to me as I had a lot questions and he explained everything. Our engagement session was a blast and when I saw the proofs, they were just perfect! Before the wedding, Rob was in touch with us and suggested an alternate site for wedding pictures. When we drove by, I fell in love with it! However, due to the heat on our wedding date, we went back to the bar my fiance (husband) met at and Rob was completely on board! The week of the wedding called us and we were able to discuss day of planning and we were all on the same page! For the day of, Rob and his crew were on time and started snapping away! He was professional, but fun to work with! I can't wait to see the pictures!!!! We also used his digital photo booth which was something new as the "strips" are emailed to the parties instead of printed out. Some of the pictures I took with friends turned out okay, but some were really dark which was disappointing. Overall, his price is reasonable for the area and I always believe you get what you pay for with photography. He is passionate and knowledgeable about the industry, is easy to talk to and provides a great product.

We hired Rob to do our wedding photos in May 2014. He was SO GREAT! We met up about a year before…read moreand roughly went through everything. Rob was very professional and incredibly talented behind the camera. On the day of the wedding, he came with his crew, was fantastic to work with, provided us with every request we had, and the results have been beautiful. We are so grateful! I definitely recommend Rob's work :)

We first hired Joe about 6 years ago for our wedding and engagement pictures. They turned out…read morefantastic, and Joe was great about scouting out locations for our engagement shoot in Chicago. 6 years later, we hired Joe to take our family pictures, with our two boys and the grandparents. It was a great experience, Joe was incredibly flexible to the whims of our 2 yr old and 3 yr old boys. The pictures turned out great. We would definitely recommend Joe to anyone seeking a professional, reliable, high quality photographer.

Joe was amazing to work with! He was always very quick to respond to all emails and tailored our…read moreentire wedding package to our needs. We had an initial meeting to go over our style, what exactly we were looking for, etc. We had our engagement shoot with hundreds of photos to choose from, all edited and sent quickly so we could use one for our save the dates. He also spent the entire wedding day ensuring he got shots of everything and we received the wedding album quickly after our big day! We love every photo!

I want to thank Al at Alkaye media for putting a beautiful memorial video together for my Dad. We…read moreplayed it at the funeral luncheon and everyone was commenting on how beautiful it was

Alkaye produced a phenomenal promo video for our new veterinary hospital. Al and his staff were…read moreable to capture our client testimonials, pets and clinic so wonderfully and sincerely- not to mention the SEO components they utilize to make sure that the videos stay relevant as the internet landscape and marketing continues to change. Very happy with our experience and I would recommend to anyone needing commercial or video production services! Dr. Torok

Amazing photographer. I take 100 pictures of my kids and none of them are smiling and looking at…read morethe camera. She somehow gets pictures of children (and a toddler) smiling perfectly. My family has used her for years and every time we're blown away.

Julianne truly has a gift! She made me feel so comfortable during my maternity photo shoot when I…read morewas apprehensive. The photos turned out beautifully and I'm so happy I captured this special moment in mine and my family's life. She's also done family photos for us and was great at managing our toddler and capturing the personality of our family. Highly recommend!!!

Formal Wear Rental Review!…read more My husband and I worked with Gerry from Essence Formal Wear to rent his wedding tux (jacket, pants, vest). Gerry was kind to let my husband come into the store a couple of times to try on the rented pieces with other items he purchased to wear. We were both impressed by the styles they offered, quality of pieces, and pricing. They allowed us to pick up the tux a couple days before the wedding and return it 3 days after. I highly recommend looking to Essence for men's formal wear rentals!

Gerry is the man! I went to Essence for my wedding and rented tux's for me and all the groomsmen…read more Gerry got us all looking real nice and I got a ton of compliments on my tux. 10 out 10 recommend using Essence Weddings!

PLEASE BE WARNED!! THIS WOMAN IS COMPLETELY OUT OF INTEGRITY!!…read more I don't think I've ever written a negative review, but I couldn't resist as this experience was such a nightmare! I had a Christmas trip home for the Holidays planned with my husband and daughter & lost my father in Chicago before I could get home. I wanted to get professional pictures taken to capture our last trip to Chicago for the foreseeable future. I found her on Groupon, well in advance of our trip, had an amazing conversation with her over the phone...filled with offers & promises of doing some special things to memorialize my Dad, including HER suggesting going to two locations to shoot. She even convinced me not to purchase via Groupon and to pay her directly. I even texted her a screenshot of what I would be paying on Groupon and she agreed to honor that price (since I had a general $30 Groupon coupon) As it turns out, thank God I followed her advice or I'd be out a lot of money! Without getting into all the details, the bottom line was that THE NIGHT BEFORE THE SHOOT she refused to go to both places she suggested/we discussed repeatedly over the month before, or honor the price she agreed on...backing out the night before our Christmas Eve shoot!!! This had been planned since November so we found ourselves in Chicago during the Holidays without a photographer!! The whole experience was seriously unsettling as she acted as if we hadn't discussed anything... SHE had suggested going to two locations and then acted as if that was never discussed and then refused to go to two locations since we had a Groupon, even though she obviously knew that, and refused to honor the price she agreed on (per the screenshot I sent her from Groupon)!! Something's not right here... Steer clear!

Very Unprofessional. Not worth what you pay. She told us to come down for a photo shoot for our…read moreone-year-old's cake smash at her home studio which goes with the birthday theme. The so-called studio has one light, back dropped ordered from Amazon! We were very disappointed to see such unprofessional probes. Apart from that not having an idea how the baby will act during a 2-hour long photo session, she was not able to capture our baby's happy moments. Her bundle came with a birthday party shoot and that also turn into not so great session. As soon as concern was raised she started yelling/raising her voice during the event. It shocked me when she would not leave the event without payment nor wait till we address our guests. I would not recommend her for any bucks. She ruins the moment.

Our shoot went amazingly well. They really captured my Grandson's personality in every photo. It…read morewas more than a little chilly outside, but despite that hung in there and really produced some incredible shots for his Graduation invitations

My family and I had our most recent family portrait done by this photographer and he was great. He…read morecame to our home, was able to incorporate our beloved family pet into the photos (Miao the cat) and was able to get huge smiles from my toddler. After the shoot he quickly provided us with a CD of a huge number of photos and each one looked suitable for framing. We are definitely going with him for the next time we need a photographer.