Kyla Akasha was our wedding + photographer. This review is a bit overdue, and I apologize because she deserves RAVE EFFING REVIEWS! She photographed our wedding, and first, our engagement shoot and bachelorette party. Here is my review of her, overall.
Personality: 5 stars
Kyla is a total sweetheart: friendly, personable, creative, conscientious, meticulate (but not annoying about it, trust me, you'll like this about her), energetic, passionate, confident in her skills (as she darn well should be), beautiful, and in charge. She photographed 3 of my events. I'm also pretty needy, and she was more than available, collaborating with me on many creative ideas for my wedding, bachelorette party, and engagement shoot. She was always involved and energetic, and overall awesome. For our engagement, for example, she was shooting us with light behind, and a public metro bus driver shouted at her that she was doing it wrong, that the shot would come out better if the light was behind the camera. She just laughed and said cheerfully, "I've been doing this 20 years, I think I got it, but thanks for the tip!!" with not even a hint of a sarcastic tone (lord knows, I would have not have been so nonchalant at a stranger telling me how to do my job).
Professionalism: 5 stars
Do not be fooled by her lighthearted, casual, and fun nature. I've seen this lead to crap quality work in other domains. NOT HERE. Kyla has managed to keep fun, easygoing, humorous energy in a fiercely competitive market with not the hint of compromise to her professionalism. She was never late for an appointment; always gave clear directions to locations; always kept in touch between appointments; was prompt with returning pictures as promised; organized and clear with contract and payment details, and other organizational details; and much more. She brought 2 assistants to our wedding to assist with set up, photographing, and of course, the AMAZING photobooth (a whole job in itself). See the link here: http://vimeo.com/51773724
WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. !!!!
Variety of shots: 4.5 stars
Kyla had SO many ideas for different shots. Too bad I didn't keep a dang spread sheet of them all! Although uber creative throughout the process, I had wished we got a few more family and party shots at our wedding. I forgot the list of shots I wanted, and my moms both commented that there weren't enough family shots and constellations of family members. Perhaps it was because everyone was in such a hurry to get through everything, or that my family is, well, confusing as hell, but I would have liked a touch more direction here since I forgot my list. Don't let this guide you away, though: we had some AMAZING pictures. Word to the wise: make a list of all the combinations of family members, friends, etc. shots you want and call those shots to be sure. I was in a whir on my wedding day, and didn't do this, and didn't get a few of the shots I wanted. However, my husband and bridal party and I had the time to get some priceless shots (that I wish I could include here).
Quality of photography: 5 stars
We loved our photos. I was SO nervous that I had a little too much champagne for our official viewing (Kyla, I'm sorry if I didn't express my full gratitude then), but every time I look at our pictures, I'm overcome with emotion all over again. She did such an amazing job. At the wedding, I was so nervous, and then we were late (my fault), and then my mom was the only one who understood my 9-pt. bustle, and she was nowhere to be found (making us more late) so there was, ahem, a *bit* of stress for some of the pictures, and, to my sheer amazement, you can't even tell. My husband says they are his favorite shots of me! We had over 500 shots for our wedding, in several different locations, with a lot of people, and a lot of stress, and our pictures came out absolutely stunning.
Bottom line of this very long review: Kyla knows what she is doing. She is worth every cent (and more. Seriously, book her before she raises her rates!!). We are tremendously grateful for her skills, and we will be (and have already been, perhaps annoyingly so) recommending her to everyone we know.
(okay, so I tried to add photos, and Yelp wouldn't let me. I seriously wish I could. Just check out her website, you'll see all you need to see.) read more