Stephanie SeRine Photography

I met Stephanie years ago when we worked together at Columbia College. She and I have remained friends throughout the years and there is no one else I would have imagined to take my pictures. She offers very real shots - the moments that you'll always remember, captured in photographs. She sent a list of picture ideas to me when we booked our package. The week before the wedding, my mom and I sat down and sorted through which pictures we'd like taken. Stephanie was very accommodating with taking pictures (there were a few people I didn't want pictures with, and she didn't make it awkward at all, like "Now, a picture with these people...oh yeah, sorry I forgot") She was a true professional and handled all of our odd requests like a pro. We even had a photoshoot of the groomsmen at a skateboard park (with custom decks that said Groom, Best Man, etc). We just pointed where we wanted a picture and she posed us perfectly. You may think I'm biased because I know her - but in fact, it's almost opposite. We both went to a very prestigious art school which means we both expect the highest quality related to imagery. I know the quality of her work because I had the same education - can you believe some wedding photographers don't even have a college degree?! Yikes! Stephanie is so polite and she made sure to get all our biggest moments. We just got our 5 DVDs today of all the pictures! She's also a huge animal lover, so snapping pictures of my dog & I while I got ready was hugely important to me - when I was getting in my dress, my lab laid on the train and fell asleep! It definitely helped having someone who loved my pets as much as I do!

We found Stephanie during an online search for photographers. We were really impressed with the samples that we saw on her website so we contacted her to talk about doing our wedding. She and my husband ironed out the details of the contract. Then Stephanie and I met to sign the contract and answer any questions. I had one concern regarding the lighting of our ceremony which she was able to help out with. Other than that, she did not have any other suggestions or requests prior to the wedding. I had never worked with a photographer before so I didn't know what else to ask her. On the day of our wedding, Stephanie met us at the venue. I gave her a list of the family pictures I wanted done in a specific order after the ceremony because my family can be overbearing. Before the ceremony, she mingled around a little bit taking pictures of guests and took a lot of pictures of the groomsmen but did not come back to take any pictures of me getting ready. She got some good shots during the ceremony. Even though I had given her the list of family pictures, I still had to direct everyone because she wasn't taking control. She had some nice ideas for pictures of just us before we went in for the reception. She got some pictures of the bridal party and us entering as well as cutting the cake. While people were ordering and waiting for food, she did table pictures. Then she sort of disappeared. I remember seeing her sitting at a table by herself eating (I had placed her at a guest table so she wouldn't have to do that ). Then she went to the bathroom multiple times, one of which was during our 1st dance. So we had to "stage" our 1st dance again later on so that she could get pictures. She took a lot of candid shots of guests during the rest of the reception. Following the wedding, she posted a few pictures on her Facebook page so that we could preview them. Two weeks after the wedding, she mailed us 5 DVDs of our wedding photos. That is over 1000 pictures. It basically included every single picture she took, including the ones where she took shots in rapid succession. There were a few pictures that she turned black and white but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which pictures she picked to do that too. I have no idea which pictures she retouched because they all look the same quality. So now I have to sift through all the photos. We thought she might have been high at our wedding because she was so spacey and blaise about the whole process. We only paid $350 for her services so I guess I couldn't expect more.