My son's bar mitzvah is coming up and I'm using the majority of the same vendors I used for my daughter's a few years ago. For my daughter's montage I used our videographer in the Chicago North Shore who did an amazing job, but it was extremely expensive. When I sat down after to decide where I could cut back for my son's finding a more affordable option for the montage was on the list. I got a list of options from my event planner and friends including Mitzvah Montage. I reached out to Gary back in July and found his work to be impressive and his pricing to be very fair, but ultimately decided to go with someone else who was local in the Chicago North Shore.
I was just about to send my pics to who I had hired for our montage when I received an email that his computer broke and due to lost templates he was no longer able to make our montage. Eek. I started scrambling to find someone new with 6 weeks to spare when I remembered my correspondence with Gary months earlier. I reached out and he responded immediately that they were still available. Phew!
Gary has a very organized process- probably more organized than the videographer I used for my daughter's. I followed his format and then sent him all the pictures via wetransfer, which proved to be a little difficult since my computer doesn't allow wetransfer. Fortunately, i was able to figure it out on my husband's computer. From there I received one email from Gary with a few clarification questions and then they got to work.
Gary was very clear from the beginning that we would receive the montage 10 days before the event...maybe earlier. A friend of mine had also used Gary and received hers way before the 10 day mark (and didn't give him nearly as much lead time) so I expected to have it at least 3 weeks beforehand. However, we received it exactly 10 days beforehand (as Gary promised) which made me a little nervous since our DJ typically requires 2 weeks beforehand to test. Fortunately, the first review Gary provided was near perfect and he made the little photo addition I had within one day. However, when I use mitzvah montage again in the future (and i likely will for kid #3) I may request receiving it at least 2 weeks beforehand.
Overall a very positive experience and in the 24 hours I've had the montage I've watched it at least 20 times. I can't wait to show it to everyone, but love that i have something so special documenting the first 13 years of my son's life to keep forever. read more
