Formal Wear Rental Review! 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! read more

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

Essence Weddings - Formal Wear Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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Essence was incredible to work with for our wedding. We used the photography, videography, Photo Booth services as well as the groomsmen formal wear. This is such a well run and professional vendor who anticipate all your questions and have great communication. We liked that there was a backup photographer or videographer available just in case. Filling out the wedding worksheet made it great to have a plan together for the day off. Then our meeting the week of our wedding with our photographer Kari confirmed and reviewed these details. Kari, Joe, and Kenneth were an awesome team for our ceremony and reception and even braved the elements while it rained during our planned photo time. Absolute pros! read more

I have nothing but good things to say about Essence. Thank you so much to the manager Chris, photographer Peggy, videographer Jesse, and DJ James. The attention to detail and the passion you put into your work clearly speaks for itself. I will forever recommend this company and especially this team of talented individuals. Cody and I had an absolute blast with all of you!!!! Our wedding was an unforgettable experience. I wouldn't have changed a thing. read more

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I got married in July 2023, and the guys at Essence Formalwear were super easy to work with. I had 13 guys in my wedding party that needed tuxedos. Groomsmen, Ushers, Fathers and Grandfathers. I went with a classic tuxedo and vest, but was able to differentiate myself from my guys in different ways. That was nice because I stood out in a subtle way. Gerry was the guy I worked with and he was awesome. He responded right away to any questions from me and made the whole process easy. It was probably the easiest part of the whole wedding planning process. If you didn't want to go with a classic black tuxedo they had plenty of other options too that were just as nice. Hell, if you wanted to look like Bruce Buffer for your wedding day they could do that too. IF there were any problems he would take care of it, even on your wedding day. They have an emergency phone number in case anything were to happen. I didn't need to use it but it was reassuring knowing that was the case. read more

Essence Weddings - Formal Wear Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

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We could not have been happier with Essence! We picked Nora as our photographer as it seemed like she was great at using natural lighting and did a good job with capturing photos that weren't posed. We were not disappointed! Nora made the process as easy as humanly possible and very comfortable. She was able to read us easily and could tell when the group was getting restless and even could tell if I wanted certain photos without me saying. Nora was the only photographer but managed to capture all the photos we could have hoped for. The ceremony photos were beautiful but the reception photos perfectly captured the night. The quality of the photos when we got them was spectacular. Additionally, the entirety of the photos were sent to us within just over 4 weeks despite the fact that they had 8 weeks. Lastly, we booked the DJ through essence as well (spinning' discs) and Nora and the dj worked together great which made it that much easier. If you're considering essence, do it - you will not regret! read more

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I really liked the experience and professionalism Gerry provided for me at Essence Weddings. The outfit was awesome, the process was fun, and I got so many compliments while styling it all together on the day of the event. read more

May 2021 bride here. I don't remember how is stumbled upon Essence but I'm sure glad I did. Being a one stop shop for photography, videography, picture booth, and even the men's suits was a blessing. They also offer a dj service but our venue had a dj, otherwise I would've booked that too. I had no idea where to start when it came to wedding planning. This made it insanely easy to book everything and coordinate the day off. My husband raves about the formalwear service. He loved how simple the process was. And for less than what most rentals cost, the groomsmen were able to even keep their suits! Gerry, who handles the formalwear, went above and beyond. Our wedding was still in the mix of covid related back orders and shipping delays. Our suits were delayed in transit days before our wedding. Gerry tracked down the packages and drove to intercept them at a warehouse. Amazing customer service. Our pictures are something I will cherish forever. They were better than i imaged. Essi Ala-Kokko was a photographer and he was so easy to work with. He knew how to position us for the formal pictures and was able to get communicate effectively. Lastly, I had concerns with our wedding video. After discussing these concerns with Chris, general manager of Orland location, Chris did everything in his power to make me happy. We decided on a song change and a re-edit because the song I chose just made the video boring. Peggy, wedding director, also went above and beyond. She was he one who approved to re-edit the video and she stayed on top of the editing team. Side note: I didn't reach out about my concerns until well over a year after my wedding and they still did everything they could to help me. I am incredibly please with the final product and am so happy to have been able to work with such an awesome team. They truly care about their clients. read more

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We used Essence Weddings for our daughter's wedding. We were able to get it all at one place. They are profession and amazing! We were so impressed with everyone there, especially Gerry on the wedding dress and formal wear side. He had been in the wedding business for over 40 years and knows what he is doing! It a must visit for all newly engaged couples! read more

Our day-of photographer got sick at the last minute but Peggy stepped in and WAS GREAT! We'd already spoken with her to let her know what type of photos were important to us, important moments we hoped she'd be able to capture, etc. Only recommendation would be to update the planning form on their website to allow more flexibility to communicate what is important to us earlier in the process, but I wrote out what we wanted in an email and they made it happen! Peggy made the day easy, and in the end we had over 900 photos, and so many of them were keepers. One note: As a last minute request we asked Peggy to do a photo of the ENTIRE group, so she spoke to the DJ, jumped up on a chair, & got some SPECTACULAR photos. They were so good we had to print & send them to everyone in the photo after the wedding :-) read more

My Wedding was September 22, 2023 and Essence Photo and Video did absolutely AMAZING on my wedding day. My Photographer's name was Peggy and my videographer's name was Jesse. They were so patient and kind to everyone in and out of my wedding party. If you are looking for an extremely professional experience, but also very fun and easy-going crew I would say don't hesitate to book with them. They truly helped make my wedding day experience everything I dreamed it would be. I received preview pictures right away from my photographer and they are BEAUTIFUL. I also used their DJ services. His name was Ceasar, and everyone raved of how good of a DJ he was. He had everyone on their feet and having a GREAT time. Essence is HIGHLY recommended in my book. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! read more

We had our wedding on July 1st 2022. Three months prior to our wedding we were able to find out about Essence Photo & Video and we're extremely grateful we did! We can't imagine having hired anyone else to excel our experience and expectations on first timer bride and groom. We went into this experience with ideas in our heads but working with Chris and Gerry, they gave us their utmost honest professional opinion and guided us toward our dream wedding. Their professionalism and care towards the bride and groom is amazing and they go above and beyond what you would imagine. Our photographer Essi was extremely courteous towards what we wanted and what she knew would become beautiful and natural photos to show our most natural flow of love. We had the full experience with Essence Photo & Video and we're so glad we did. Our day was wholesome and it was an experience we will never forget and with a business, or family, like Essence, everything just fell into place. We thank you to everyone in this business. Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez. read more

Essence Weddings - Formal Wear Near Me - Schaumburg, Illinois

My son & his beautiful bride was married on 02/13/2021, I couldn't have asked for a better company then Essence Photography to take the photos. Gabe & Elle the photographer's did an amazing job. Peggy who is the photographer manager helped me out in so many ways to make this day as special as it was already. I am so blessed that I was able to book them and have such an amazing company to have your wedding photos taken by.. TOTALLY RECOMMEND THEM for your wedding read more

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We used Essence for Photo, Photo Booth, and Tux Rentals. We mostly corresponded with Chris at the Orland Park location and he was always incredibly prompt with responses. We hired two photographers for the day of and chose Nora as our main photographer. She was absolutely amazing. Our second photographer was a little disappointing as the guys felt like they had to provide direction and ideas for their part of the photos before we got together as one group. Overall we are very happy with our pictures, it took about 5 weeks to get the files. We worked with Gerry for the tux rentals. He was very patient with my husband who took longer to choose his tux for the big day than I did to choose my dress (haha). There was a snafu with the guys being given the wrong color shoes (brown instead of black) but Gerry delivered the correct shoes to the hotel for us. He also brought a bunch of options for bow ties for my husband to switch up his look after the ceremony. The tuxes had a manufacturer's defect and the buttons seemed determined to pop off constantly despite most being brand new, but that's to no fault of Essence. Gerry and Chris were sewing for us on the spot! Chris ended up running our Photo Booth the day of the wedding and he was amazing. He showed up early and ended up staying until pretty much the end of the wedding. He also stepped in with the buttons on the tuxes and I couldn't be more appreciative of the excellent service we received! The only negative I would comment on is that you don't get to choose your second photographer, they are assigned to you. I'm very glad we had Nora as I don't know that we would have been happy with our photos otherwise. But overall I enjoyed working with Essence. They were very prompt in replies and definitely went above and beyond for the tuxes and Photo Booth! read more

We got married on 2-22-2020 and found out about Essence Photo & Video at a bridal expo. There were other photo/video/photobooth vendors there but Essence's booth was very inviting so we decided to stop by. We met Chris and he happily introduced us to their services and showed us their samples and portfolio. We were impressed and proceeded to schedule an appointment to discuss in depth what we wanted for our wedding. At the consultation, Chris was very informative and helpful. He made suggestions based on our wants and needs. For everything we wanted, Chris managed to give us the best deal for photo, video and photobooth. We ended up saving over $2000 by bundling all services versus hiring 3 different companies to do each service. The other companies we spoke to at the expo were charging so much for mediocre work! The communication between us and Essence was wonderful. Throughout the planning process, Kathy and Erik were always prompt with answering all my questions. They helped me with the wedding day timeline to make sure that we stayed focus on all the shots we wanted done at the wedding. We were given several choices for our main photographers and we chose Gabe. We had Patrick as our videographer and Tommy as our 2nd photographer. Both Gabe and Patrick reached out to us about a week before the wedding to discuss timeline and asked what we wanted included in the shots/poses. Gabe, Patrick and Tommy were very professional, friendly and fun. We loved the guys' personalities and they all made us comfortable and it showed in our photos and videos. I've seen pictures where smiles and poses were just so awkward-looking and I think that it has a lot to do with the wedding party not being comfortable with the photo/videographers. We also enjoyed the photo booth. They have an open booth concept so more people could fit and they had a touch screen camera so we and our guests had a lot of fun with that! They also provided really fun props and we enjoyed looking through all of the photobooth pictures the day after the wedding because the attendant left us a USB with all of the photos taken at the booth. A couple of weeks after our wedding the pandemic started and everything shut down. We were afraid that we would not get our pictures and video for a while because of the lockdown and offices being closed but to our surprise we received an email that our proofs were ready almost 2 weeks early and the video not long after that. The pictures and the video were so wonderful! The shots that both photographers took were great and the video captured things that we didn't see at the wedding. There were some people and portions of the wedding that were important to us that weren't included in the edited version of the video (we completely understand why they weren't included since the editor wasn't at the wedding). I reached out and Chris was so helpful and courteous by getting us in touch with Peggy who handles the designs/editing part of the process. They both quickly made sure that our concerns were addressed and went above and beyond to make sure that our issue was resolved. It was nice to look back and relive our wedding. We are so happy that we went with Essence to capture the most amazing day of our lives. Can't thank you guys enough for being "our eyes" at the wedding and allowing us to experience our wedding day all over again. read more

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If I could give this company negative stars, I would. While I cannot comment on their photography I can say they their practices are fraudulent and deceptive and their moral compass has gone seriously astray. My wife and I have them a deposit for $1800 for videography and photography for our wedding or 150 guests. We paid the deposit in January 2020 for a wedding to place on June 6, 2020. We were forced to cancel that wedding as a result of COVID-19 and the mandatory shelter in place and we made the decision to cancel in late March for the safety of our families and due to the governor's orders. Our venue was also permanently closed as a result of the pandemic and on June 6, 2020 it was illegal to have gathering of more then ten people. Every vendor we worked with gave us an immediate refund of our deposits as the global pandemic was not only legal grounds to terminate the existing contracts but having our wedding ruined seemed like punishment enough. Essence not only refused to refund us our deposit, they actually insinuated that they would be forced to close their doors if they had to refund everyone's deposit. As if all of us weren't facing unemployment and scarcity, they decided to steal $1800 from my family to feed theirs and offered nothing in return. They said they would apply the credit to a future booking with them but when we explained that we would not be having a 150 person wedding anytime in the next several years, they told us "that was not their problem". We also explained that the contract we hired them to perform was now illegal in the state of Illinois and they said good luck suing us, the courts are closed. All of our calls and emails since have gone unanswered. To say they are unethical is an understatement. Please learn from our mistake and stay away from this business. read more

Gerry and his team were great to work with! They are the one stop shop for everything wedding. We used them for our Photographer, Videographer, Floral arrangements, and Tuxedos. Gerry's knowledge of the industry was so helpful for any questions we had. We highly recommend using Essence for any wedding needs! read more

I hired Essence Photography for my sister's wedding and they did not disappoint. We really appreciated how communicative the company was and how streamlined the planning process is. The day of the wedding, the photographer did an excellent job. She was flexible and took initiative which we appreciated. The photos cam out amazing! read more

Just wanted to post an update now that we got our pictures and dvd from essence. It took about 7 1/2 weeks to get our photos and maybe 12 weeks for our video. Our photographer was Allison, second photographer was Nicole, and videographer was Patrick. Both Allison and Patrick called me about a week before the wedding to go over details about our wedding. Patrick was a short conversation just making sure he had all the times and locations correct which is great. Allison I was on the phone with for about 30 minutes telling her everything I wanted and certain shots that I would like to make happen. Wedding day comes and Allison is on time at our hotel where we got ready. She was a great help when I was putting my dress on because I had so many buttons on the back of my dress. She showed us a Bobby pin trick to make it easier!! Nicole got a lot of shots of the grooms and groomsmen getting ready. Everyone was at the church and where they needed to be on time which put me at ease. Overall we liked our pictures. The only thing that bothered us with our video was where the camera was. There was a pole right in front of the camera so when our bridal party was walking out it was sometimes hard to see them. Other than that the blu ray quality was good! We ended up ordering extra copies for some family. Overall working with essence was great!! Everyone was very nice that we worked with! read more

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When my (now) husband and I met with the owner, Mike, we instantly clicked and loved his candor. So, when he mentioned he would not be the photographer for our wedding, I admit I was skeptical, but something about his confidence and the fact that he seemed to "get us", eased my mind. He did not disappoint. I can't say enough great things about Ryan. Within the first minute of our conversation, we knew he was the right fit for us. He communicated with my bridal party and offered guidance without being pushy. He blended in well with our guests and didn't feel invasive. He truly made us feel comfortable and was such a pleasure working with. We strongly recommend Ryan and look forward to seeing all the images captured from our magical day. Mike you're a match maker! Karen, you are a rock star! read more

First time bride here...on the older side and had no idea where to begin for a photographer, videographer, and DJ. I stumbled across Essence Photo & Video in Orland Park (very close to where I live) via WeddingWire and gave them a call. I worked closely with Chris Sigl (General Mgr of Orland location) and he was great! He contacted me in less than 24 hours. He made the entire process stress-free for me. We ended up hiring everyone; our photographer, Nora, the videographer, Augustine and the DJ, Clint. They worked together like a well oiled machine. Nora had such a great personality and came with an abundance of energy. Augustine was always around but because he is the videographer he stays quiet...until there was a break in the action and we had a chance to chat. Augustine is a very nice person and we enjoyed talking with him. Clint, the DJ, and I worked ahead of the wedding on my playlist which I built myself. Clint was so easy to work with and helped me with my song for me and my Dad; my Dad's knees would not last a 5 min song, so Clint cut the song three different ways and sent them to me so that I could choose which one would work best. That was great! I knew we were in the right place when we had our engagement session with Peggy. She was great. She had the best suggestions and even taught us how to do a proper dip! The pics were amazing!! Last but not least, we also used Essence for the men's formal wear. Gerry Avi (formal wear director) was great and easy to work with as well. He's been in the formal wear business for some time and his expertise showed through. Essence has it figured out...one stop shopping. Their bundled package was the best price out there vs. hiring individuals from different companies. I highly recommend them!! read more

Essence Wedding services in Orland park has been an amazing help with my wedding. I went in to meet with my fiancé and family for their photography service, and I ended up walking out with their formal wear service as well. I had already rented a suit a few hours prior but had canceled the rental after having an amazing service at essence. Chris Sigl was who greeted us with a warm welcome the day we arrived for the appointment. We originally went for the photo service when Chris began to ask if we needed any other services. At first I was unaware that they did any other services than the photography, Chris provided information about what they had offered. I mentioned that I had already rented a suit when he showed me the amazing selection they had at the great prices they offered. He was very knowledgeable about all the products and I got fitted to utmost perfection the Very same day and looked amazing. Gerry was the gentleman who helped measure and prepare the suits for me and my entire wedding party. Gerry helped with the selection for the colors of each of the suits for the guys and I am thrilled on the results. Before the suits we went over the photography, the presentation was amazing and the pictures that Essence took from other weddings were gorgeous! Chris provided a breakdown on the different types of photos as well as an explanation on how the day would play out. Chris and Gerry had made my wedding complete and my wife and I am very blessed to have had a chance to meet them and use their services. As far as I am concerned they are part of our family and we will be back to use their services for any other occasions we made need. I recommend Essence 200% and you will not be disappointed. Greg McLain read more

I chose Essence for my daughter wedding. Nice people, but sadly not the service and quality of pictures promised. Starting from a last minute change of 1st photographer who was not familiar with the expectations given and the 2nd one who was just lost soul that had to be told what to do and then was just taking pictures wherever he could without looking how it may turnout. A lot, and I mean a lot of just pictures that have not been "clean up" exp. few pictures of the same situations without getting rid of the the one where some people close their eyes , or have awkward position etc. Instead of selecting the best. Then, taking pictures of the bride without any advise of more complementary position or background. List of must have pictures was given and was not done. And lastly, not familiar with a religious order and church pictures requested despite assurance at the time of signing the contract. My opinion, for the photographer to be good you have to meet him/her personally to make sure they truly understand your expectations, because now with the technology anyone can buy expensive camera and just shoot the pictures for that money. Essence, have a lot of different photographers and you don't know who will show up at your wedding, even if they tell you a name of the person. Then they give you hundreds of pictures they just took very fast and take pride of the quantity, but not the quality with important moments and set up. I would rather wait longer and not get a 1000 of pictures, but a 100 of nicely clean, selected one. We missed so much from church, as the 2 photographers didn't know their place and only shoot from the back. Sadly, I would not recommend Essence Photography and Video. And maybe there is a truth to it that if a company offers to many services they loose on the quality. read more

We found essence photography at a wedding expo. When we went for the consultation we were very impressed they said their photo style was "photojournalistic". My fiance and really liked this because we wanted natural, real, in the moment pictures. Unfortunately, the free engagement pictures were not with the photographer that would be taking pictures for the wedding. The pictures were fine, but not in a "photo journalistic" sense that they claimed to be. Almost every picture was posed and awkward. And instead of capturing moments as they happened the photographer mentioned "oh that was really cute we need to get a pic of that later" For the wedding our photographer was really friendly and very helpful in many things besides just the photography. This felt like such a relief the wedding day because she helped ease the stress. The next day, after the wedding I had messaged the photographer about getting 1-2 pictures for sharing purposes but never received a message back. We did not receive pictures until 6-8 weeks after the wedding, as we were told. But I had expected to at least receive 1-2 pictures so that I could have pictures to share of our wonderful day. As a reminder you will not be able to get the digital downloads until after you pay for your album. So I would do that ahead of time. When we finally received our pictures, we were not floored by them. For the amount we payed we expected a little bit more. The pictures were beautiful, but again most were posed, not in the moment or "photo journalistic". The more I looked at them, the more I liked them, but they were not artistically breath taking. We found essence photography at a wedding expo. When we went for the consultation we were very impressed they said their photo style was "photojournalistic". My fiance and really liked this because we wanted natural, real, in the moment pictures. Unfortunately, the free engagement pictures were not with the photographer that would be taking pictures for the wedding. The pictures were fine, but not in a "photo journalistic" sense that they claimed to be. Almost every picture was posed and awkward. And instead of capturing moments as they happened the photographer mentioned "oh that was really cute we need to get a pic of that later" For the wedding our photographer was really friendly and very helpful in many things besides just the photography. This felt like such a relief the wedding day because she helped ease the stress. The next day, after the wedding I had messaged the photographer about getting 1-2 pictures for sharing purposes but never received a message back. We did not receive pictures until 6-8 weeks after the wedding, as we were told. But I had expected to at least receive 1-2 pictures so that I could have pictures to share of our wonderful day. As a reminder you will not be able to get the digital downloads until after you pay for your album. So I would do that ahead of time. When we finally received our pictures, we were not floored by them. For the amount we payed we expected a little bit more. The pictures were beautiful, but again most were posed, not in the moment or "photo journalistic" The more I looked at them, the more I liked them, but they were not artistically breath taking. We did have a photo booth through Essence and enjoyed it alot. We got digital downloads right after the wedding through a flash drive. The attendant did a fantastic job running the booth and there were plenty of props and options for guests. It is not a traditional booth, but because of that it could fit alot of people! Guests could also get as many copies of the pictures as they wanted. We would give the photo booth a 5/5. Lastly, is the wedding video. We were not impressed with the video quality. We ordered blue-ray but the video was very grainy. I am obviously no video expert, but the move from one shot to another was not very smooth and looked choppy in the video. The videographer was very helpful and friendly. Overall the video wasn't horrible, but not the quality I expected for what I paid. My husband and I did really like the wedding highlights that were made in for the video. It took the best shots and blended them together. read more

Great service and beautiful Tuxedos! Gerry Avi and Chris Sigl are the best!! I highly recommend.

I absolutely loved essence. The constant communication, the fact that they have 3 services so you don't have to go to more then once place, how organized they are, and how nice and friendly you are. Most places are more concerned about making money off of you instead or the costumer service but they were on top of everything. They also have for your decision making portion part, your own wedding site to pick and choose your music for your wedding and what photographer you prefer. Most places just pick for you but they give you plenty of options which is rare now a days. Even though we have ended up not using them because we decided on an out of state wedding they did great in giving us all the information we needed and actually cared to enough to keep in contact with us to make sure we didn't need anything else. Thanks essence! If plans change we definitely will use you guys! read more

The team at Essence was Wonderful! I worked with Chris and Peggy on the office side. We worked with Ben as a photographer! BEN IS FANTASTIC! Every single shot he got! Peggy also saved our day when she assisted with timeline and helped us suggestions for a second spot for photos! Highly recommend for your wedding day! Price point was also very reasonable! read more

From the beginning Essence was amazing. Chris did our consultation and was so informative and helpful with everything. Leading up to our wedding Kathy, Karen and Peggy were so helpful answering all my questions/emails. We unfortunately had to postpone our original April date twice. They were amazing with our rescheduling and replying frequently to my emails when everything was constantly changing. They quickly got us our new contracts and dates changed. A week before the wedding we got bad news that our original photographer we had picked had to leave town due to a family emergency which we totally understood but were also extremely nervous not knowing what was going to happen. Peggy called me and explained everything to me, she was so sweet. We were assigned Kamil, he called me that night and we talked for about a half hour in regards to the schedule, timing, locations, what we liked and what we didn't like. He seemed to excited and thrilled. After hanging up with him he sent me a follow up email restating everything we went over to make sure he had everything correct! Come the day of the wedding everything with Essence went super smooth, Kamil was awesome! Super friendly, making jokes, keeping us all laughing throughout the day, while we were getting our dresses on he took some photos I didn't even request but absolutely love the eye he had for photography. Our location for post-ceremony pictures was extremely wet/muddy so the generic grassy pictures were out of question but Kamil did not disappoint with how he posed my Husband and I including our bridal party. We are absolutely in love with our photos. We had one photographer and received over 2,200 photos! Our videographer was extremely kind as well and really seemed to love his job and knew exactly what he was doing. When we received our photos I noticed there were certain ones missing that I knew we took, I wasn't sure if maybe someone's eyes were shut or they were blurry but I thought I'd ask. Peggy called me and had me explain these pictures specifically to her so she could find them since our upload had stalled due to there being so many photos! She found the photos I was looking for and uploaded them to our album. I know there are some mixed reviews but my experience was nothing but the best. Thank you Essence for making our wedding day to memorable! read more

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Our experience with Chris was awesome! He was the only vendor to take the time to call me immediately after inquiring info and met with us right away. During our meeting, Chris was very transparent and did an excellent job at answering all of our questions. He was not overwhelming and did not make us feel pressured into making our decision right then and there. We are very impressed with their services and their price for the quality that they provide. - We are excited to work with Essence Photo & Video and would highly recommend them to our friends and family! read more

Do not waste your money with this company. We went with the video services for our wedding day and the end result was awful. The picture quality is very poor, grainy and blurry at times. Additionally the camera would zoom around to different spots frequently making the finished product look no better than if I was filing something on my phone. So disappointing and a rip off read more

My husband and I got married on Sep 1st, 2019. We were living in Denver Colorado while planning a wedding in Chicago, IL (you can only imagine how crazy that is). We shopped around for video and photography, which are not easy things to do when you are out of state and prices can be ridiculously high. The things we loved about Essence were the availability, PRICES and flexibility to work with us. The first person we talked to was Chris Sigl. He was not a pushy salesperson!!! THANK YOU FOR THAT!!!! (believe me, it is very common to find pushy people while shopping around for vendors) Overall, he understood our stress of planning our big day out of state, and took the time to explain and walk us through the entire process. Then, he sets your portal login where you can ask questions and review their photographers (and their previous work-so you can based on that select who would you like to work with). Karen responded very quickly through this portal (and believe or not!!!! even after work hours- side note- this is huge plus when you like to plan every little thing!! the constant communication was huge for my husband and I). We decided to work with John for the photography. We felt that his previous work really captured what we were looking for. Prior to the wedding day, we got to speak with him about what we wanted and how we wanted it. He was very receptive and provided additional ideas. and not only that, but he helped us a lot with the logistics for him and the videographer on the big day. Again, communication is key on your wedding day!!!! He was on time, ready to work and really understood my stress the day of. His patience and consideration was key!!! Timothy was our videographer. He captured beautiful footage of our wedding. They stay the entire time with you, which is awesome because once you get the final product you get to enjoy parts of the wedding that you probably did not notice. Finally, the wedding album IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Very good quality too!! They really took the time and followed our feedback and revisions with the best attitude. I received previous of the photos with no issues!!! Just talk to them and they will get them to you. The wedding video was totally worth it!!! It includes a chapter menu that makes it feel like a professional film. I recommend them not only because of their great prices, excellent service or their high quality, but for their people skills! You want someone that can make your big day better and not a complete stress and chaos. THANK YOU ESSENCE!!! read more

The first day we met with Essence, we booked! We received a recommendation from a friend who informed us they book fast because they utilize Essence photographers and videographers rather than outsourcing. From the front office, (Karen) to the prep the week of with Eric and Dave (photo/video), I could not have asked for a better experience. The portal is a fantastic resource to have. Every conversation and every request is recorded. When speaking with both Eric and Dave, they were aware of my requests and were ready to rock!! Our date was July 8, 2017! Was out honeymooning!! Apologies on the review delay!! Photo - Eric quickly became one of the bridal party. We had an absolute blast with him!! Throughout the craziness of family photos, he was able to take lead and get them done in the most polite manner. My family is quite crazy ... in a good way. :) The bridal party enjoyed every moment! Everyone had a great time, while getting great shots. As a bride and groom, Eric was able to capture intimate moments and create those once in a lifetime shots throughout celebratory group photos. It was a perfect combination!! Thank you Eric for your vision, professionalism and being a fantastic piece of our special day!! Video - Dave was also fantastic! He and Eric worked together before, which was great to hear. I loved seeing their creativity come to life. Dave was able to be subtle and captured intimate moments beautifully!! So many guests loved his ability to sneak in and out and respond to their requests on the dance floor. In addition, we did a sparkler send off. I was thrilled when Dave suggested we do one more run through to gather enough footage!! Thank you Dave for your hard work, collaboration and ability to capture our special day!! Essence collaborated on every aspect from start to finish. Note: you do not hear from your personal photographer/videographer until the week of the wedding. Mine both called me on the same day, which was great! If you use the portal provided through out planning, they have everything they need! Thank you again for capturing our special day!! read more

Our experience with Essence on our wedding day was absolutely terrible. We were supposed to have Kelly as our photographer...we talked to her on Wednesday before the wedding and mapped everything out and we felt very comfortable with her. Saturday, my wedding day, at about 11:50 (photographer was supposed to get there at noon) I get a call from a man asking for my room number, I asked what he needed it for. His response was..."oh, nobody told you? I'm John, your photographer." Now, Kelly ended up in the emergency room Friday night and I completely understand that things happen, but I could not believe I was not forewarned of this. John assured me that he had the list of specific pictures that we wanted taken (he said Kelly passed everything along to him). We told him we weren't looking for old school but we wanted fun and modern. I feel like we were not listened to. When you are outside in -7 degree weather taking pictures, you can only tell someone something for so long before you stop trying. And since John wasn't listening to us, we stopped trying. Fast forward to when we got our pictures back...they are awful. The pictures are terrible for the most part and the editing was worse than the pictures themselves. There were a handful of nice ones. I requested pictures of the guests at their tables and the only one that was not taken was my family head table (one of the most important). So very many of our pictures are nowhere to be found (I don't know if they were so terrible he deleted them or what). Pictures we know for sure were taken and they don't exist. The group pictures requested, maybe half were taken. As a bride running around you count on your photographer to follow through in what they say. Well he didn't. Now, Essence tried to rectify the situation the best they could, which I appreciated. Kathy, a designer at Essence, worked diligently to try to "fix" many of our photos. She was wonderful. We also received almost a full refund. However, when it comes down to it I would rather have the "missing" pictures or the ones that weren't taken instead of money back. This was one of the most important things to me and the whole experience was horrific. This is a day that my husband and I will never get back and overall, something that cannot be fixed. We don't even have enough pictures that we like to make an album. How messed up is that? It is absolutely heartbreaking. read more

Joey was our photographer and he was great!! Our wedding was in September 2016, and unfortunately it landed on a rainy day. Oh well, what can you do!! Joey worked his butt off getting us all of the shots we wanted. My heart was set on getting outside photos- rain or shine, and I had bought enough umbrellas for everyone once seeing the forecast, and he was 100% on board! Poor guy tried covering up with a bag and eventually just gave up on that and ended up being soaked. Still smiling tho! He just did such a fantastic job and we were more than impressed. Negatives- I don't like how they pick your photographer for you (even though I ended up loving Joey!) it would just be nice to communicate with your photographer more than a week prior to the wedding. Also, I hate the way they send you the pictures, it's through an outside source and it is such a pain. We ended up losing half of our first dance pictures because somehow while downloading the pictures, the amount per file changed and our first dance pictures were lost! Joey- 5 stars for you! Overall- 4, mostly on the retrieval of the photos. read more

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I have debated and debated again what I thought a good review would be. The initial sit down was good, they went over everything with us as far as contracts, I should have listened to my gut about the red flag of reviewing them prior to our service. The day of our wedding our photographer and videographer were on time and roughed the terrible weather we had that day. We received our photos the full six weeks later and they are good. The beef I have is with the video. We loved the videographer, he was wonderful all through the day and stayed longer than he was supposed to. We waited the full 12 weeks for a video, and I'm not sure if I have ever been more disappointed. We paid a large amount for something we could have done ourselves. Our video didn't even have our first dance?!? I'm sad that I paid extra money to have them film before our ceremony, yet it wasn't in the video? And all the highlight video is just pictures from the day? Not exactly what I expected since the video they showed us the day of the consult was more quality. I'm also confused that it's 2019 and the video is such poor quality and bad shots from important details. While I am happy with the results of our pictures, can't say the same about our videos and it's not like we can have a redo. Update- Chris segal took the time to reach out to us and gave us the full footage of the day in better quality video. We are happy with the final product! Thanks for going above and beyond. read more

We met Essence through a bridal expo and ever since day 1, they have been amazing to work with. We met with multiple photographers/videographers and no one came close to the professionalism or prices of this company. I am having a very early ceremony and they have been incredibly flexible to fit my needs. They respond fast to emails have stayed open after hours to meet with myself and my fiance. They have an online portal where you can organize the day of your wedding. You can also upload a Pinterest board to make sure the photographer knows what type of pictures you want. Seriously a great great company! Professional, affordable, flexible and very easy to work with:) read more

We used Essence for both our photography and DJ. They were a great service and I'd highly recommend them! Our photographer Peggy was awesome to work with. She made our family photos rub smoothly, and really listened to us to make sure we got the type of photos we wanted (or didn't want.) The photos were beautiful and the turnaround time was quick! Pur dj was great. We gave him a few specific songs and some guidelines, but he filled in the rest. We had some unusual requests he was able to find and he read the room to see what the crow responded to. He kept the party going! The sound system was perfect for our space: clear, but not overwhelmingly loud. We also used their photo booth. The attendant had a lot of props, and kept the photo booth running smoothly. We had our photos quickly too! All around a great business for your wedding services. read more

Excited to have booked with Essence! They photographed my soon to be brother-in-laws wedding a few years back and we were happy with the work, then meeting with them was great too. There's a lot that goes into planning the wedding and meeting with Chris he really helped us figure out the best packaging for US rather than being really pushy with getting everything, which is such a nice relief when you have so much else to worry about while planning! We met with more than just them and overall everything offered, being able to personalize it and not take what we don't need while adding in what matters to us, the pricing was VERY competitive and they were very thorough with the consultation. Will keep posted as time goes on but as of right now very happy with how everything has gone! read more

We'll start from the top here. Hang tight. This is going to be a long one: Essence has several locations. I used the Chicago office on Elston for my wedding photography (no video). A family member recommended Essence to me because she used them for her wedding and said they were fantastic. They were one of the cheapest packages out there, which is why I hired them. I'll admit that there were some red flags when we were booking them that should have made me run in the opposite direction, but because I have never worked with a photographer before, I didn't know any better. The manager at their Chicago office was totally pushy. We booked more than a year out, but he kept telling us we had to deposit NOW or we would lose the photographer we wanted. I told him that we were definitely planning on booking and we'd have the deposit to them within the week (I just had to find time to get down there with the money), but he still wouldn't hold the date and photographer for us until he had money in hand. It was literally 3 days, which I find absolutely ridiculous. Red flag 1. We were able to see the photographer's portfolio, but we weren't allowed any contact with the photographer until a week before the wedding (Red flag 2). We wanted their senior photographer because his portfolio was great and he definitely had the photojournalistic style we were looking for. We ended up getting him, paid our deposit and pretty much lost contact with essence until a few weeks before the wedding. I definitely started to rethink our decision on the photographer by this point, but we had already paid the 50% deposit, and I couldn't afford to lose $850. About a month before the wedding, I get an email with the information sheet they want us to fill out asking us to indicate the wedding party and immediate family members. It also asks you to mark which pictures you want so the photographer knows which pictures are needed and other info about the day. Ten days before the wedding the 10 day forcast came out calling for rain, so we needed a back up for our outdoor shots that were planned. I called Essence to see if there was anything they could do to help us come up with an indoor location for pictures. Nope. There was nothing they could do. We had to figure it out on our own, from finding a place to getting the permits. Everything. Essence was no help whatsoever. We ended up paying $100 for an hour to take pictures at the Lincoln Park Conservatory (which ended up being a waste because it didn't end up raining, so we went with our original plan. Oh well). Our photographer called us three days before the wedding to confirm the details. It was a 10 minute conversation. I'll say this: On the day of the wedding, the photographer was on time, dressed well, polite to our guests, unobtrusive, patient with a nervous bride and respectful to everyone there. He was a really nice guy and was there with us from 10 in the morning until 10 at night, snapping pictures the whole way through. Unfortunately, that's where my compliments end. Let's start with the pictures: Of the 900 pictures the photog took, I liked maybe 6 of them. The rest were on par with the pictures our family and friends took with their personal cameras. The portraits at the front of the church are off center, the angles were horrible (that's great, yet another picture of the back of my head. Fabulous). Our ceremony was in a very large and beautiful Catholic church, and he failed to capture any of it. We made it clear that we weren't fans of having our picture taken and needed a little direction. There was none of that. In the forms we submitted before the wedding, we noted all of the brothers and sisters and wedding party members. Out of 900 pictures, there were 14 pictures of my aunt, who is a very lovely woman, but considering there was not a single picture of either of my husband's two sisters with the exception of the off-center family portraits taken after the ceremony (seriously. Not a single one), we could have done with less pictures of Aunt Nancy. My mother's husband is no where to be found except in the formal portraits, which made up about 5% of the pictures. There are no pictures of my in-laws at the reception. None. If the photographer didn't understand who the immediate family members were (even though they were the ones that stuck around after the ceremony for formal pics), I wish he would have said something. Moving on to the process after the wedding: What a nightmare. So, our package came with a 10 page photo album and a canvas of a picture of our choice. We were also able to order pictures online. We had to order all of these things separately. There was no single process to complete our order. It was all a big pain. There are a million independent photogs out there who will give you great pictures and great service. Stay away from Essence. They were horribl read more

Pretty much a hack job. 1. they had us fill out a questionnaire that took a good 2 hours. You basically outline every 'must capture' photo opportunity. They do this so you don't miss the most important photos in the choas of your wedding day. We documented that we wanted a picture of the bride and her dad and the bride and the flower girls... amongst other obvious photos. We didn't get them. Originally, i put the blame on us. How could we not tell her to take the photo. But in the chaos of the day and ALL the pictures you take, you just assume the most important ones are in there. Anyways... we complained good and hard and got a decent amount of our money back. hindsight being 20/20... you get what you pay for. read more