it’s all about the experience.
Here's what you can expect

Welcome. Here is a sneak peek into how we work, with much more to walk through on our first call together. Reach out to us with any other questions or to request availability and pricing info.

  • We require at least one call with our couples before booking, to ensure we are a good match. Personality is just as important as style and skill, so we custom-match our couples with the associate to make a perfect fit. Our goal is to make some lifelong friends along the way!

  • The straight answer, no. Do I think they can be a valuable experience? Yes. If you and your fiance have yet to be in front of the camera, engagement sessions are a nice way to explore how comfortable you are before the wedding day. We would rather see couples prioritize wedding day coverage vs a 'test shoot', if that is the sole purpose. 90% of our couples share how surprisingly at ease they feel, both on their engagement session and on their wedding day (again, that is why we emphasize that personality match with our clients!).

  • If we had to put a name to it, we would call our style documentary. The magic is in theo natural and organic moments. A lot of our day is paying close attention to those special little moments you may not even get to see yourselves.

    The other half of the magic is our unique approach to directing you and your loved ones. Our goal is to create micro-moments with everything we do and avoid rigid/unnatural posing.

  • Yes, in fact, we encourage it! Buffer time is the key to a joy-filled day. It makes for a stress-free day where you can fully enjoy and celebrate with your loved ones, which in turn helps us capture those raw moments we specialize in!

  • We are 100% inclusive of who can work on our team and who can be a client of Golden Hours. We have been blessed to photograph many types of cultures, religions and people across our weddings, including; Catholic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Muslim, Agnostic, Christian, Jewish, LGBTQ, Chinese, and Greek Orthodox ceremonies. As always, we would absolutely love to learn all about what is special to you and your families. If there is a specific type of event you'd like to see samples from, please ask!

  • This is a top priority for us. All of our associate packages default to two photographers (which is the best backup you can have!). Each camera has two backup memory cards to duplicate files while we shoot. From there, all of our footage and edits are backed up on multiple hard drives.

  • While we LOVE working alongside our own photo/video teams, we often work with other companies and are always happy to collaborate!

    Typically the photographer directs a lot of the day. Thankfully since we take a documentary approach for both photo and video, it is seamless for us to shoot both simultaneously.

  • Most of our couples book 12-24 months in advance, that said, we don’t have a hard deadline of when we close our books. Inquire to check in on your specific date!

  • We have been capturing weddings for over 14 years in Chicago! While we love the inspiration of a new venue (and you better believe Chicago has them popping up all over!), we are thankful to have experience at venues all across the city.

    Check out some of our favorite venue features below.

further questions?