Essence Photo and Video

lovestohavefun5

Hello! Can anyone tell me any reviews on Essence photography? They have offices in Schaumburg, Naperville and Chicago. What was the quality of the pictures and the albums.  They are a little less expensive then some other places, and I was curious about their quality. THANKS SO MUCH!!

JJofthefuture

We used Essence. Frankly, you get what you pay for. My pictures were ok, but they weren't great.

They were really pushy to start. We booked with them more than a year out and the sales manager was a total jerk. We booked anyway because of their price and because a family member had used them and raved, so I just figured it was the one sales guy and once we booked it would be better. I was wrong.

We told our photographer who the important people in the family are, but he still failed to get more than 1 picture of any of my husband's sisters! He did manage to get about 14 pictures of my aunt and cousin, which I didn't understand at all. Our photographer was a nice guy, he stayed out of the way, but was snapping pictures all night, and I suppose I could have been a lot more specific when I was telling him waht I wanted. However, Essence won't let you talk to your Photog before you book them or after, actually, until a week or 2 before the wedding, so by then, pictures were the last thing on my mind, so I won't blame them completely for that.

It's the ordering and post-wedding stuff that really made me regret hiring them. We got a photo album and a canvas print with our package. Plus we wanted some prints now because you don't own the rights until a year after your wedding. All three required separate ordering processes, all in different places, so we had to place 3 separate orders when our pictures were ready and there was no one really to help us. It was ridiculous.

I wish I would have gone with another company. I would have gladly paid more for better photographs and better service. I'd give our photographer a B+ and Essence as a company a D.

brdsmdlh

We used Essence and I was happy with them.  We have a TON of pictures.  Out photographer was very nice - she got all of the pictures that I wanted, plus more. The turnaround for the proofs is pretty quick, the website is easy to use and I think they are a good price.  I wanted everything in one (photographer, album, video), so that was a big selling point for me. 

podgorma

I have a follow up to this question...has anyone used Megan or Liz as their photographer? My sister is interested in using one of them.

I used Essence for my September wedding and was very happy with our pictures (I've seen the proofs but not my album yet). Our photographer was great, really nice, and he did quality work.

If you want to see the kind of picutres essence does, you can go to their website and go to view proofs--you can all the pictures from many individuals' weddings.

L Fr8

I was actually out on the knot looking for a friend who is getting married and had to respond to this. We used Travis from Essence back in 2007. Not sure if he is still there. If pictures are important to you, do not go with essence. The quality was really no different then pictures that family members took. In fact, for the album they agreed to use some of the pictures my family took because they failed to get certain things that i wanted.  The album did turn out nicely but we complained about the photos so much that we got several upgrades with the album for free. I would have been willing to pay more for a photographer but I truley liked what I saw when i went there. I still regret choosing them.

They also did my video which was also okay but not great.