Choosing Steven as a wedding photographer was a necessity to my husband because of the following story: About 15 years ago my husband was broke and working as a pizza delivery guy. One day he chose to bike to his bank to cash his paycheck and get cash necessary for payment of bills for the month. Somewhere along the way he lost his wallet, containing about $900...all the money he had in the world at the time...all his money to pay rent, bills, etc. Upon return to his apartment he noticed the loss and began to fret uncontrollably, went back to retrace his steps, etc. Later in the day he received a phone call from Steven saying he'd found his wallet and letting him know where he could pick it up - it was but a few blocks away. When he met Steven and retrieved his wallet (all the cash inside) he was incredibly grateful saying "You have NO idea what this means to me. If there's ANYTHING I can ever do for you, please let me know". Steven replied "Well, I've started this wedding photography business, so if you ever get married I hope you'll hire me." "Done." my husband replies. Fast forward to the planning of our wedding. He shares this story with me and shows me the website...turns out Steven has become some sort of world-renowned wedding photographer, fetching as much as $15K per event and all expenses paid to weddings overseas. We discuss the price and my husband impresses upon me how much Steven's gesture meant to him...the price is not an object in this case. OK...it's his parents $ after all...who am I to argue? Steven remembers my husband and is SO touched about having been remembered himself he offers to shoot the wedding for $8K when we express concern over his price. Steven is a GREAT guy. VERY down-to-earth, personable and fun. The services he offers and his quality of work leave a lot to be desired in my mind, however. He shoots film only...and only in black-and-white (at least this was the case 4 years ago). As a former student of photography, I understand the appeal in the purity of this as an art form. In retrospect, I don't appreciate it as a service to document an important event. Our photos were dark, muddy and boring. Of the few hundred proofs we were given to review (for a short time online and as hard-copy proof sheets) I had a hard me picking any that I felt compelled to spend the egregious amount of $ he wanted for full prints (some of my favorite pics of our wedding were taken by friends and by the disposable cameras we placed on the tables at the reception). No digital option was offered. As a photo-hoarder (5000+ pics posted to Flickr) this really pissed me off...especially for the amount of $ he charges just to shoot the event. Since our wedding, several of our friends have wed, all of them spent less than half what we spent, and all of them got both BW and color as well as a digital package option, and their photos are FANTASTIC. I understand and respect that my husband had a pact to keep with Steven, but were it not for that, I would have been infinitely happier with another photographer. read more

I love our wedding photos - but they were done by Chris Guillen (who we found and booked through RLW), so just call him if you're looking for a photographer. His business is listed separately as Chris Guillen Photography. He was fantastic - got so many great shots but wasn't intrusive - we honestly really enjoyed having him there. I still look at the photos from that day and feel like I'm there all over again. Steven Gross, on the other hand, was prickly, pushy, and at times downright rude. For some reason, every time I spoke with him after the wedding, he repeatedly mentioned a mildly embarrassing event that happened there (and I'm not sure why, since he wasn't even there and it wasn't that big a deal - though frankly, it was tiring that he kept bringing it up). I admit - it took us a long time to get around to choosing the photos for our album (2+ years) - but we had paid our (enormous) bill on time so he had our money, and part of the package we'd paid for was the album. When we added more photos than our package covered, we ended up incurring a cost of nearly $1000 for about 25 additional photos (another reason to go with a photographer who will give you rights to the digital photos - RLW won't and you pay through the nose for every print). Once I'd ordered the album, I got no confirmation or ETA - until a couple weeks later when I got a sharply worded email from Steven that I hadn't paid for the extra photos. Ummm, well, neither he nor his assistant had ever asked me to - and you'd think we hadn't already paid him (on time) for thousands of dollars for the photography already. I authorized him to charge 50% of the amount due since I wanted to see the album and pay the balance when I picked it up. When I did pick it up, just a couple weeks after it came back from the book binder, it was beautiful - thanks to his wonderful assistant, Erin, who worked on the design and ordering of the entire thing. And what do I find but that Steven had already charged me for the balance. Maybe he is short on cash but that's no excuse to be rude to clients - especially since we always paid on time. Next time I want to drop serious coin for beautiful pictures, I'll choose someone who isn't such a prima donna. Actually, I'll call Chris Guillen myself and leave RLW out of it entirely. They added no value - just headaches and extra costs. read more

We were so fortunate to have Steven and Mary shoot our wedding. We decided to use two photographers from the studio so that we could utilize Steven's talent with black and while film and still get color digital shots (which Mary took). Mary also shot our rehearsal dinner which turned out to be one of the best ideas we had. Mary was wonderful at mingling with all the guests and it helped us get photos of all our family members without anyone worrying about missing an important wedding day shot. We found Steven through the referral of a friend who had been to a wedding he shot and was amazed at seeing the photos afterward. I think her exact words were something like "I was at that wedding and it was great but he made it look absolutely fantastic - the bride looked better in his photos than in real life". Good enough for me :) Working with Steven was so easy - he is easy going, accommodating and flexible but don't let that fool you into thinking that he is laid back behind the camera. Just the opposite - he is intense! Thinking about seeing his waggling eyebrows or wolfish grin while shooting our photos will make me smile for years to come. I am usually a camera shy person but Steven makes that impossible - you have no choice but to focus on him. So rather than being intimidated by a strange mechanical box you feel supported, comforted, accepted, intrigued and then playful with the man behind it. It was a joy working with Steven - he is a true master. read more

I had Real Life Weddings photograph my wedding this past June and couldn't be happier. Being a professional Chicago wedding photographer myself, I wanted someone with extensive experience and a creative eye. We met with Steven, who is such a personable, down-to-earth guy, but his package was out of our price range, so we had one of his associates, Karra, shoot our wedding. Karra was fantastic on our wedding day, interacting with our guests and families with ease and getting really genuine smiles and moments throughout the day. Karra shot black & white film because that's what I really wanted and her assistant shot digital color photos, so we got a nice variety. Karra also shot a handful of images with her panoramic camera and this amazing vintage medium format camera that shot GORGEOUS square images. We got about 2100 photos to look through, and it took weeks to narrow them down for our wedding album. Being in the wedding photography industry, I think I'm qualified to say the images from my wedding are truly beautiful, well exposed, and artistic. If you want a zillion trendy, cheesy posed formal shots for a cheap price, go somewhere else. Real Life Weddings is for the customer who wants timeless photojournalistic coverage of their wedding. Worth the money. Update: Got the album - the prints are gorgeous! Our families were wowed. :-) read more

The images captured by Steven Gross, Real Life Weddings of our wedding in July 2009 are fabulous! My husband and I are amazed each time we look at them. Steven captured not only the architecture of the city and the space where we were married, the details of the setting, and the light and shadows, but his images beautifully reflect the mood, emotion, and spontaniety of the event in an artistic and photojournalistic style. He caught every single aspect of the wedding and reception, but we never really knew he was there except during a few posed photos. His work in daylight, dusk, sun set, and during the fireworks was exceptional. We highly, highly recommend Real Life Weddings and Steven is the best of the best! read more

All I can say is WOW!! This guy is a rockstar. We spent a lot of time choosing our wedding photographer. It was a hard decision but finally decided on Steven. Honestly, we could not be happier. He may not be the cheapest, but it was the best money spent out of all of our wedding vendors. He was such a part of our wedding day. Was everywhere he should be without being obtrusive. The guests loved him and we received many compliments after the big day. ...And the photos. I had no idea how many amazing moments were happening around me. You get so wrapped up in the day, that it is impossible to absorb it all. Steven stepped in and just caught so many beautiful images. It was shocking. Spend less on the food. This guy is wonderful. read more

I about rolled off my chair laughing when I read a previous review of Real Life Weddings that described "The services he offers and his quality of work leave a lot to be desired in my mind". That's too bad... it's exactly the opposite experience my wife and I had 11 years ago when we hired Steven Gross. When my wife and I began planning our wedding, we knew exactly how we wanted that day captured - with spontenaity, ease and imperfection. Yes, imperfection. In other words, we didn't want the "picture-perfect" posed photographs. You know, the ones that have everyone smiling even though half the folks are bored, tired and might not even want to be at the event. The photos that take the bride and groom away from their guests for half-hours if not hours. The photos that, when looked at years later, indicate how nice everyone looked but fail to communicate the joy, friendship, connection and fun that created that magnificent day, perfectly and imperfectly. There's nothing wrong with those staged "portrait" wedding photos. We just wanted "real" captured. When I walk through my dining room and look at one or several of our wedding pictures, I immediately return to that cold, January day in 1998 where our friends and family traveled from miles around not only to celebrate our special day with us, but to warm the hearts of everyone they'd meet that evening. There are moments of laughter, of melancholy, of friendship, love and absolute joy. These photographs are the best time machine I know of... and they're one of the best ways to get present to why Natalie and I got married. Two imperfect lives coming together to create perfection. So, if you're looking for a wedding photographer who will make sure to capture the largest number of smiles and primpings of your wedding, please don't hire Stephen Gross. It's likely you'll be disappointed. However, if you're looking for a wedding photographer who will capture this most special of days in it's truest joy, celebration, beauty, and essence, then you will never find a more qualified professional. read more

The important thing to know is Steven E. Gross is a true artist. If you think wedding photos are not important, or a part of your wedding where you can scrimp on quality and save money, then don't hire him. If the photos are important to you (and they should be - as Steven says, " your flowers will die within a week - your photos will last forever"), then I can't recommend him highly enough. He's got an amazing eye and you will treasure the work he does for the rest of your marriage. I've been to way too many weddings where the photographer was bored, lazy, or just not into it - none of which describes Steven - he clearly loves weddings, loves photography, loves people. Yes, it's expensive, but it's worth it. And hey, if you REALLY can't afford to pay the Michelangelo of wedding photography to beautifully record the most amazing visual memories of the most important day of your life, then why not hire one of the fabulous cadre of photographers who he works with, many of whom he has also trained? Chris Guillen or Steven Serio, for example, are both incredible photographers and all around great guys. I LOVED the job Steven did for us at our wedding, and the only thing I regret is that we didn't also spend the extra money to have Chris or Steven Serio there to capture the day in color, too. That's just me, though, I can never have enough photographs :) Seriously, though, the work Steven did was just amazing, and beautiful, and is up everywhere in our house. He did such an incredible job of documenting our day. I'm so glad he was there!! read more

We used Real Life Weddings for our wedding and they were terrific. We did a ton of research on photographers and decided on them because of the expressiveness of the journalistic images in their portfolio. They were pricier than most other photographers but we felt that the quality of the images were worth the extra expense. The pictures capture the emotions of each moment and really tell the story of our wedding that we can relive through the photos for the rest of our lives. We had two photographers, Steven Gross (the owner) shot in black & white film and one of his other photographers shot color digital images. Steven has a really great personality and was fun to have at the wedding. They are not cheap but they are fantastic. read more

My wife first saw Steven's work when he gave a presentation to an arts camp where she was a counselor, and she fell in love with his style of photography. If you are into stuffy poses of everybody sitting around a table, then maybe he is not for you. But if you desire a unique and artistic approach to your wedding, than you can not do any better than using him. He really became part of our wedding and captured all the different moods of the event. His photography goes beyond the pedestrian and he finds ways to capture the personalities of people in a way that only a true artist can see. Needless to say we love the pictures from our wedding and highly recommend him and his associates. read more

We, like many, did a ton of research on photographers for our wedding. A great photographer was very important to us as our wedding album would be the lasting reminder for years to come. I enjoy photography and I was in charge of selecting the photographer. I poured through all of the wedding websites looking at hundreds of photos. Then I saw Steven's work. We were done. His work is so head and shoulders above anything I saw. Hands down. He is a bit more expensive than most, but you get what you pay for. We went to his studio to talk to him and Steven is such a warm soul and all around great guy, we were immediately very comfortable in talking with him about what we did and didn't want in our photography. As we were paying for much of this ourselves, Steven understood and was gracious in his pricing. We had two photographers. Steven shot B&W film and his assistant shot color digital. As our wedding date approached, we were excited just to have Steven attend our wedding for over the weeks prior, we had gotten to know Steven better through discussing the specifics of our Big Day. On our wedding day there were of course a million things going on and the last thing we wanted was a pushy photographer herding our loved ones around like cattle. Steven and his staff are pros. They got us all where we needed to be in a kind, professional manner and lightened the mood with a joke here and there that made us all smile. Steven and his staff were so great at reading the room and effortlessly blending in and becoming one of the family for the day. Never did we feel that Steven was in the way. We were happy to see him interacting with our family. Now lets get to the photos. Fantastic! Incredible! Unbelievable! Breath taking! Steven's photographic eye is incredible. He is such a professional, he has done this so many times, he captures all the minutia of life that we want to remember from the biggest day of our lives. If you are reading this and are thinking about a wedding photographer, finish up this sentence and call Steven. You will not be disappointed. read more

I read the review below & I am pretty sure the photographer Karra no longer works here...she does still work for Chris Guillen http://chrisguillen.com/#the-group-1e84c0 Steven photographed my wedding & it was fine...but nothing out of the ordinary. There were more shots of my girlfriends & their chests than my mom & dad which was unfortunate. Steven also did not ask me what I wanted in terms of pictures & did not provide us with a questionnaire like all of my friend photographer's had. I recently worked with fashion photographer who I guess also shoots wedding http://jeremylawsonphotography.com who I would check out. He was AWESOME! read more

Steven Gross and Real Life Weddings came highly recommended to me by a commercial photographer, and that recommendation was spot on. Steven was very approachable and responsive when I called him and at every step of the way thereafter. I found his prices to be very reasonable -- perhaps because we had a small ceremony in Chicago on a week night. He and hie assistant both took hundreds of pictures at our very small wedding, and the pictures were truly amazing. There was a nice mix of arty and fun shots -- of fancy shoes, wine bottles, reflections in the mirror -- and of money shots of the siblings on each side of the family, various couples, cute kids, etc. All of the pictures were shot digitally and in color, and I received a CD with 100 pictures to have printed myself. I have shared the CD with other members of my family, and the feedback has been great. I think Steven is great and recommend him without reservations. read more