Tolman Media Northwest

We loved working with Tolman Media. Everyone was incredibly amazing on a personal and professional level. Tolman captured our wedding day perfectly. Neither my husband nor I consider ourselves as being good in front of the camera, but the photographer and videographer helped guide us when needed and we absolutely love how our pictures and video turned out. We couldn’t have asked for a better team than Tolman.

Amy and Taylor are AWESOME! Amy was super attentive during our meeting and asked tons of questions to make sure we were getting what we wanted out of our video. She's awesome at keeping you informed on what's happening and what the next steps are, which is a godsend in the middle of planning all the things. Taylor was also awesome- we chatted briefly two weeks before our wedding and he was super chill and also asked lots of questions about who to focus on and who to keep apart and what we wanted to pay attention to. On the day of he showed up right on time and seemed to get along really well with our photographer. OUR. VIDEO. IS. BEAUTIFUL. PERIOD. The music, the lighting, the pacing, the cinematography is all phenomenal. Everything felt super easy and seamless, like we didn't have to worry about a single thing. 100% recommend- they're going to do an amazing job.

We just engaged in September and pictures really weren't on our mind at first. Once the fall season really hit (we had no idea it was THIS beautiful in the PNW), we really wanted to have our engagement pictures done as soon as possible, before the leaves fell for the season. A lot of photographers are booked solid for the season so we weren't even sure we would be able to find someone but we were hopeful. We really just happened to stumble upon Tolman Media and within a few days we had spoken to someone and made a deposit. They promised that we would be able to get a shoot in within the next week or two. I didn't know that we had to get in touch with the Northwest division of the media group so it seemed like we had to speak to different people every few days, I thought it would be a simpler process, but that was my own ignorance. We were connected with Allison, who was very communicative, professional and accommodating, ON TOP of being an excellent photographer. Our session was supposed to be around 60 minutes and she spent far more time with us, making sure we got the shots we wanted, and she even offered to stay later if we wanted to go to another location (at which point we already loved what we had so didn't want to take any more of her time). I believe she had just come back from vacation so maybe she didnt have many galleries to edit prior to ours but we got our gallery back the very next day! We are just so happy with all of the pictures. Its funny because my fiancé and I have never had pictures done like this and it always feels awkward. Allison just made us feel so comfortable and honestly she's so talented all we had to do was stand there and she got an amazing picture. Overall we had an wonderful experience and I would recommend Tolman to anyone!

While everyone on Tolman's team was very kind, we ended up being very disappointed in our photos. (And it wasn't just us. Our bridesmaids were also really surprised at how poor the quality and the day-of experience was.) Because they use what seems like a large pool of photographers and videographers in their various locations across the country, I would advise doing some research on the specific photographer assigned to you. We first booked in Arizona, and our photographer was going to be amazing!! Then Covid hit, our wedding had to be canceled, and we ended up doing a redo wedding in Oregon. I want to commend Tolman for being gracious in allowing us to transition from the Arizona team to the Pacific Northwest team. That was super cool of them. But, I wish I had done some research on the photographer assigned to us. A quick look at our photographer's Instagram showed she did not photograph weddings (or people really) but had a very unique style that was very different than the style advertised on Tolman's website. Our main disappointment with the photos was the fact that we didn't get any posing direction on the day of. I had spent a long time carefully detailing the photos I wanted in a spreadsheet ahead of time, and when it came to the day of the event, there was no direction given to us. Additionally, the photos I was most looking forward to (bridal party photos) were either really unflattering angles, not everyone looking at the camera, or just too candid. (There is maybe one or two bridesmaid photos that I would want to post or frame. The rest look like behind the scenes/in between real photos. ) Another huge disappointment was the editing. My face looked red and blotchy in a few, hair was not touched up in the slightest, color was mostly washed out (this was during golden hour). I wish I had good things to say, but even when Tolman was willing to re-edit our photos since we were unhappy, we think they might have just edited from the previous JPEGs rather than from the originals, so it made little difference. I would definitely be careful when booking. Make sure you know who will be covering your event and ask for a portfolio to show you what you can expect. You can't go back and redo it, and that's why I'm so sad! Don't trust the online portfolio. It did not match up with what we received at all.