Vendor help- anyone used any of these photo/video?

MattandTracy82910

Hi,

I'm planning an IL wedding from North Carolina and have very limited time to meet with these vendors so I'm hoping someone else has used them or has heard of them and can offer me some advice.

Photo:
Bella Pictures (I have seen reviews on weddingwire and they seem to be positive)
AvantGarde Wedding (I cannot find reviews anywhere) but it is listed as "featured" under photographer for IL
Robert Swiderski (again cannot find reviews anywhere).

Video:
REM (1 review on wedding wire which makes me nervous that it's just a friend)
Delack Media Group (I have seen a lot of positive reviews from wedding wire)
Modern Image Studio (have also seen a few reviews but a lot were on the photo and I'm interested in their video).

DJs
Stax o Wax
Something 2 dance 2
All Access DJ?? (I think that's the name at least)

Anything you personally have experienced with any of these vendors or if you have heard anything about any of them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for the help!!

kag0215

I had a meeting with Bella pictures, but was not impressed at all. We came in and the consultant was arguing on the phone in front of us! Then we said that we wanted spend a max of $1500 going up to $1750 at the very most. Instead of showing us what she could give us in our price range she showed us packages that started at $2250 even though we had seen packages online closer to our budget!

beautifulnryan

My best friend used Bella for photography and she would not recommend them.  Their favorite pictures were ones they told the photographer to take.  Then with their album, it took them over a year to finally get it - as she kept fighting with them trying to get it right.  I think you get up to 3 changes after they do their proofs, and after that, they start charging you.  Well each time, they updated it, they kept getting things wrong.  She would keep emailing them the contract about what the album should be.  It got to the point where she just wanted money back instead of the album...they eventually ended up giving them some kind of money back and finished the album to their liking.  The album looks really good now.  But I don't know if it's worth the hassle!

kbarker719

I had a meeting with Bella too, and from what I understand they do not have any in-house photographers.  It's more of a national temp service for photographers who have regular day-time jobs and want to do wedding photography on the weekends.  You don't really get to meet with your photographer until 2 weeks beforehand, and by then it's too late if you guys don't gel or you don't like their work.  Did anyone else have that same impression?  I had the same thing happen with the budget too.  I told her I wasn't planning on spending more than $2000 (that was just a number off the top of my head because I wasn't yet sure what photography would cost), and she said they didn't have anything for that price, and neither would any other company.  Really?  Not so!  Anyway, I also didn't like the fact that I didn't even actually call them to set up an appointment.  What happened was that I had entered a "contest" to "win" wedding photography from Bella.  You had to leave all your information in case you won, but all that happened was that they called me the very next day to set up an appointment to go over my photography needs.  I went, thinking you might have to do that in order to continue on in the contest, but once I met with her I got the impression that there was no contest and it was just a way of getting people in the door.  Let us know what you think if you decide to meet with them. 

cjohnsen2010

I would suggest calling Travis @ Wasabi Photography.  He's a professional photo journalist and does events on weekends.  He shot my niece's wedding and both the bride and MOB absolutely raved about him.

http://wasabiphotography.com

thealphabride

There are many great photographers in the Chicago area, and there is a recent post with about 15 of them, I am going to do a short list here:  EVERYONE ELSE CHIME IN HERE CAUSE I DON:T REMEMBER ALL OF THEM .....

Most of these are independants and have GREAT REVIEWS on THEKNOT
Photogs:
Kara Schultz
Danielle Aqualine
Life on Prints
Gina and Tony
Michael Rastall
Two Birds Photography
Victoria Sprung
Jeremy Lawson
Matt Schademan
Video
Midwest Video Production
Orange Video
Shoot the Bride Films (sometimes not a great communicator, but does awesome work)
I do Films

KVMW9182010

We used S1 Weddings and love their work.  we haven't gotten our pics back yet, but we have recieved tons of compliments on our engagement pics.

imtaken07

We are using Midwest Video Productions of Illinois for our wedding. They also own a DJ service as well. They will give you free upgrades on packages and a photo montage when you book both services together. That is what we did. They are both very professional and do great work. http://www.midwestvideoproductions.com/

MattandTracy82910

Thank you all so much!! I just feel rushed to book someone right away fearing that if I wait until the Christmas holiday when I have more time to spend in IL that all the good ones will already be booked for my wedding day...

tiffcope

We did a phone consult with Bella Photos and I totally echo what has been posted before.  They would not let us talk to our photographer until we placed a deposit and the lady we had the consult with was a total airhead.

We are using Tasha Schalk, a recommendation that we got from the knot.  We just did our engagement photo session and the sneak peak pics are amazing.  She is a fun loving, very talented, easy going lady.  She was literally climbing rocks, getting her feet wet, etc to get the right shot.  check out her website.... she's very affordable compared to the other people we spoke to.