Essence Photo & Video - Orland Hills, Illinois

Ariana Gazzillo

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.

McKenna

I couldn’t be happier with the effort and time put into our special day. Thank you so much to our OUTSTANDING photographer Peggy, Videographer Jesse, and DJ James!!! I am in absolute awe of the dedication and attention to detail these three had to make it the best day ever. Everyone worked together so well and it’s very clear to me that this team loves what they do. If you’re on the fence with choosing your vendors- seriously look no further. Everything ran so smoothly with Essence being a one stop shop for the three services (there’s even more offered by the way!!) and I couldn’t have asked for a better team. We all had a blast on top of the excellent service. I received multiple compliments from my guests about Peggy, Jesse, and James.
If I could rate my review higher than 5 I would.
Thank you again for everything. We are absolutely over the moon!!!!!!! We will cherish our day and this special experience for the rest of our lives.
Thank you all so much for being apart of it.
Love,
McKenna and Cody Harrison

Kevin Casper

We loved Essence for our wedding photo, video and formal wear for men in the wedding party.

Gerry was amazing to work with and provided great insights on trends, what looks good with different themes and made us felt like we were VIPs through the whole experience.

Chris was proactively communicative through the whole process, responded quickly to inquiries, extremely flexible to ensure our wedding went as planned with photo/video/photo booth and was awesome to work with the day of the wedding.

I already have one person from our wedding party using Essence for their wedding and a couple other's planning on going to them when they begin planning their weddings.

Really happy that we were able to work with Essence for the wedding!

Alexis Zervos

We got married 9/3/23 and I can’t brag enough how wonderful our wedding day went with our awesome crew from Essence.. dj terry was so much fun & photographer Joe and videographer Ken were so great with capturing out photos and video footage. We obviously haven’t got our pictures back yet (it’s been 3 days lol) but I have 100% faith that they will blow us away. I would recommend them time and time again! They are the best! Also Chris, Gerry and Peggy were awesome and super responsive made the whole planning experience very easy

Erika Molina

Our wedding was August 4, 2023 in Orland Park and we worked with Chris Sigl since fall of 2022 to get everything together. Chris was so easily accessible and helpful and took so much of the stress of the planning process away! We did our engagement and wedding photos through Essence as well as our videographer, DJ and tuxes. We loved all of our services! Joey was an amazing photographer, I couldn’t speak more highly of him or his work. Our DJ and videographer were great too. I wish we had done the Photo Booth through Essence too! I want to again thank Chris Sigl for all of his help and being so accommodating for us, as well as my father and our groomsmen. Him and his team really went above and beyond to make sure the groomsmen and my father who is disabled had their tuxes in time and made it easy for them to pick them up. I had to bother Chris with questions so many times and he was always there when I needed him, reassuring a stressed out bride that no question is too small! Thank you so much to Chris and Essence for making our wedding so beautiful, unforgettable and most importantly go off so smoothly without a hitch!!!

Terae Tatum-Blakeley

Essence Photo & Video in Orland Park was one of THE BEST decisions made when planning our wedding. The service they provided was so professional, efficient, and personalized at the same time. My husband and I were so pleased with the process in addition to the end product. We were blown away by the way the video and photographs captured our day. Anyone who is looking for a wonderful experience and magnificent memories that can only be captured and memorialized by skilled photographers and videographers, Essence Photo & Video is the place.
Rob was our photographer, Jesse was the videographer, Gerry/Chris worked with us with the formal wear & Chris was the general manager/sales director. All put together, they were a magnificent team!

Cathy Zielezinski

When we began planning our wedding vow renewal, our first stop was Essence Photo/Video in Orland Park. They were recommended by our son and our niece who both used their services for their weddings and they were very pleased with the results. We met with Chris and he was fantastic. He explained everything available, pricing, bundles, etc. We signed with them for Photo/Video/DJ and tuxes. They were phenomenal. Ron at Spinnin Disc's was so helpful. Our photographer Ryan and Videographer Jessie went above and beyond what we imagined. They were outstanding. Our DJ Chad listened to all of our requests and the music from the ceremony through the reception was fabulous. The tuxes were exactly what we had wanted and everyone looked terrific. We really cannot say enough about everyone at Essence. If you are planning a wedding or some other type of celebration, we highly recommend that you contact Chris . He will make your experience one you'll remember forever.

Greg Mclain

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