Kelli Sent on 04/23/2014

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Tom was amazing, he worked so well with everyone and I gave him a huge list of all the photos we wanted taken and he was so helpful to get all the photos we needed. He was patient as w had a bridal party of over 20 people, he was creative in ways to take amazing photos-- the photos are absolutely beautiful! the turn around time for our proofs was so fast-- he worked with us however we needed-- I would highly recommend him and his wife as well. I wish we had used them for video as well, but we made a bad decision on that and went with a "friend" big mistake. Tom is professional and everything he does is top notch! We are now using him to help us fix our wedding video which is basically a terrible dark camera video. Tom works miracles and I know it will be just as beautiful as our pictures and photo album- thanks to him for getting the important shots of the bride walking down the isle, being introduced.. etc.. if it wasnt for those photos we would have no documentation of those memories- He is the best! and i cant say thank you enough!- Kelli and Dave Manzo

Christie Sent on 10/14/2010

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Tom and Shirley were great! They took lots of pictures and were very flexible. They had no problem taking pictures at different locations for us and they came out amazing! They were great to work with and would highly reccomend them to future brides and grooms!

Melissa Sent on 09/20/2010

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I cant say enough good things about Tom... To start he gave me the best price around, and i mean the best. He stayed in contact with me all along up until my wedding date arrived. I was completely at ease with Tom and as all of us brides know it can be a tiny bit of a stressful time. He was wonderful at the wedding. Everything was great. My pictures were done about a week after i got back from my honeymoon, how aweseome is that?! And i literally cried (my husband got teary eyed as well) when i looked at the pictures for the first time. I was absolutely taken back by the quality and the moments he captured. I was just floored. Dont even think twice about using Tom... He is the greatest.

Pat Sent on 07/30/2010

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My daughter in law could not have made a better choice when she chose essence. The wedding day did not present the best conditions for pictures. It rained off and on...beach pictures were out of the question!

We have amazing pictures on line and can not wait to see all of the proofs on CD!

Tom and Shirley know their stuff and took advantage of every opportunity to give my son and his wife a life long photo memory.

The parents of the bride are overwhelmed with their options for Christmas gift giving.. and I am overwhelmed by the pictures that truly captured the emotion of the families and our children on this wonderful day. I do not know how the bride and groom will ever select pictures for the album!!!!!

I knew that we made the right choice in choosing essence during the reception. I glanced out the window at Jack Bakers and saw the beautiful Sunset I thought - that would make an amazing backdrop... I looked for Tom and Shirleyto give them a heads up and finally saw them out on the dock taking pictures of Anna and James!

I am not even 1/3 of the way through the online pictures and I am thrilled!!

I would recommend essence without reservation. They truly made lemonade out of lemon weather. The MOB and MOG are thrilled with what we have seen so far....we wish we could give 10 stars!!!!

Pat Burns

Anna Sent on 08/02/2010

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I loved everything about Essence Photography and video. Tom and Shirley were extremely professional and my husband and I were extremely please with the quaility of their work, ESPECIALLY because it rained. They managed to get some amazing photos despite the weather. They were not obtrusive and they were extremely professional and polite to all of our guests.

I would highly recommend them!

Jennifer C. Sent on 09/04/2010

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OUTSTANDING!!!! Words can't drescribe how happy my husband and I are with everything that Tom & Shirley have done in regards to the services provided for our wedding.

From day one we knew that what was going to be left after all of the planning and preparation of our special day was to be taken care of by New Jerseys best photographer & videographer. Having Tom and Shirley both being a part of our wedding day made them like family and I would not change anything in the world.

The Video....Spectacular! The Album....Breathtaking! The Photographs....Gorgeous!

Without a doubt Essence Photography should be at the top of everyones list for getting the professional quality of service a newly wedded couple needs...having them be a part of your event makes everyone go a lot more smoothly with no hesitations on whether or not they have been the right choice. Not only will Essence Photography remain in our hearts, but their work will remain in our home and with our family for generations to come, as well as with our friends whom we have recommended them to everyone we know for every event we can think of.

Essence Photography Thank You Thank You Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren Sent on 08/06/2010

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It was a pleasure to have worked with Tom and Shirley for my wedding. We loved all the pictures he took, before and during the wedding. Tom couldn't have been more accommodating and easy to work with. His easy going manner made picture taking so easy and enjoyable! Tom was also very creative with posed photos and captured some very special moments. The quality of his work and his professionalism were most admired.
At a time when people are price conscious, we felt his pricing for photography and videography were quite fair. It is also nice that Tom can offer a videographer service. I know from other friends it can be quite challenging to find both services from the same person.
We highly recommend Essence Photography. We would be happy to talk to anyone about his beautiful photography and his prompt correspondence with his clients.

Jessica Sent on 08/31/2010

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To me, the most important decision I had to make was chosing a photographer. I wanted a photographer/videographer that could capture the wonderful memories created on my wedding day. Tom and Shirley were able to do that and more. The first meeting I knew I would chose them. They were very down to earth people and extremely flexible. I feel like they got to know us as a couple and what we wanted. Tom made my beach engagement shoot in October fun (even though it was windy and cold). He even got my husband to smile. They were on time for my pre-wedding pictures and wedding. They were very professional and not in the way at all during the wedding/reception. My husband loved the fact that we didnt spend the whole wedding taking pictures. My family and wedding party loved them too. I couldnt have asked for better wedding pictures, album and the video captures so many memories. Everyone was impressed by the album. I received everything in a timely manner, and not to mention the cost for everything was very reasonable.

Rebecca Sent on 12/08/2009

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Tom and his wife Shirley did a wonderful job capturing all of the special moments of our wedding day, without being intusive. They did a package deal for both the photos and videography. They were friendly, helpful, punctual, and very easy to work with. Their price was also reasonable. We were very happy with them and would highly recommend them to other couples!

Ralph D. Sent on 12/13/2021

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Value + Creativity X Service = Essence!

Tom was a rockstar! He just shot a large family portrait on the beach featuring family travel challenges and little kids to keep focused...The Essence team was professional from first click and continued to deliver on site bringing creative input to our shots and keeping time and money in mind. Worth the call, as we've used Tom since our wedding over 15 years ago!

Erin Sent on 11/16/2009

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Tom and Shirley were wonderful... easy to work with, professional and courteous. Tom was able to truly capture the moments of our wedding. Our album came out wondefully! Excellent value for the price- willing to build a custom wedding package!

Susan Sent on 11/02/2010

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My husband and I only booked Essence photography 2 weeks before our wedding. They were very nice and were very helpful at making our last minute schedule work. The wedding video is awesome! The still shots were good. All in all, I would recommend using them. Good price and very professional.

Christina Sent on 07/29/2010

0.6 out of 5 rating

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The photography was poor quality, blurry amateur pics, no direction or set up creativity, video was shaky and had flowers from his home one month after our wedding with our invitation being filmed, lies about delivery time of proofs, book and video (which was 4 weeks late) he never sent it out on time to editor. He is purposely sabotage me because of this review. There is a lack of communication on his part as far as product, service, time frames with his affiliates (video and www.colleges.net) with us. Please contact me at salisorders@gmail.com if you want further information or proof of his lack of professionalism and lack of delivery with product. Please ignore his rebuttal BELOW which is all lies. He is not delivering us the product in the time frames he told us which we have in writing and does not update us on any progress when he said it would take longer when my husband just spoke to him on phone 7/30. Tom said he is not going to make me happy and make me wait and will not give us a time frame for when we are getting our pictures. We were very easy going in the beginning with him and he offered us $100 off book. How could he say we beat him up on pricing when he offered us $100 off and took us on as client but when we paid $400 extra for hi def video, he came back and told us he couldn't do it and wanted to keep our money and give us regular video. AS far as taking the cheapest video, we paid $400 extra for hi def and it is our choice what we pick. We had no wedding party so why do we need more than a small book? Our choice!!! Tom said he never did video before and then subcontracted Bob out for photography which is why both are bad. He will not release my Hi Def CD photos and admitted he is not going to reply to any emails I send him. HOW'S THAT FOR PROFESSIONALISM. I can prove my emails are professional and courteous. His are not. This WAS NOT a last minute booking. WE booked in February for April wedding because he had date open. See www.weddingwire.com where he states "We also have super low budget deals for last minute open dates(under four months from date of wedding).We also shoot files only jobs as well as unedited videos to help people through these economic times we now face." He is a liar and I can prove it. I work for attorneys and am going to sue him. He cannot post my pictures on line with out my consent. I do not want my pictures posted. He is going to post the last one I approved as "acceptable" when he cropped it and took over a week to crop 4 photos. He will post the best ones not the bad ones. Most of them have my veil falling off, hair in my face, blurry, squinty eyes, bags in background, people in background, no cropping, etc. Photos posted: The one with the roses is one I asked him to crop 3 times. There were people hanging on stairs for our entrance out of church. Any professional photographer would have cleared way for US. He calls it a candid shot. I call it crap. It took 3 times to crop the groom's mother and father out after I specially instructed him to do so the first time. The other ones are ok but blown up are blurry. Flowers are not clear. I have one picture of my mom and me dancing and it is completed unrecognizable. Blurry beyond all repair as well as others. Out of 466 photos, it was very hard to choose 75 for our album. Contact me for more info. DO NOT USE As an update to the rebuttal below that he changed and just noticed, this is true to my experience with him. Others may have received no problems with him but I did. It seems intently. I have no anger. I just wanted my wedding day photos to be clear and then some. My grandmother passed away a month ago 8/16 and I have ONE photo of her when I stressed it was important to me. She was 98. The photographer took one pic and I have about 3 seconds of her on video but 5 seconds of him at the bar. Go figure. The beginning of the video he has my invitation being filmed on top potted flowers that aren't mine of a different color. He did this a month later when he asked me for a my invitation that he forgot the day of the wedding and when he was a no show at my house with the photographer to film video coverage that we paid for "all day", not "hourly". MIA, lost money. We are trying to let this go and I am trying to get my book from him and part ways. Update 10/25/10: We received our album/hi res cd on 10/23 (6 months after our wedding). in this day and age with digital photography it shouldn't take this long. Tom played games and made me wait. Bravo. If you want to wait for your precious once in a lifetime photos, go with this company. Book has blurry shots that his wife say are clear which are not. They said it was an action shot. Meanwhile there are two other actions shots below that one perfectly blurry one that are clear as well as another photo on the beach that is not clear. His wife and Bob the photographer need glasses. According to professionals he had his camera on auto and a slow shutter speed. He was lazy. If you do go with this company be forewarned and do not use Bob. Tell him to go see an optometrist or take digital camera lessons...... 10/27/10 My aunt ordered pictures back in September from the album designer’s online website that Tom gets a cut $$$ from and she never received them. Her credit card was billed and he claimed the order never went through. When she inquired about them he said she didn't pay and to send another credit card and he would process the order. Tom was purposely withholding her pictures too after she paid which has nothing to do with our situation. Deceitful and intently wrong. He said he was sorry after she left him a voice message and that was giving her free 8.x10s (overpriced photos). There was no reason he needed to mess with her.

Essence Photography and Video's reply:

We have been in business for over 25 years........this is sad but it does happen from time to time........amature photos? look for the last shots posted ......the wedding business is a very unforgiving business especially when people who read these blogs were not there to see the circumstances..........a lot of rambling and alot of lies.... I will not respond to this anymore............There are some very angry people in this world and every once in a while you come across one of them.......our past referrals will speak volumes for our busniess.........hey that's what the web is all about?........vent even if it isn't warrented..... ......................"Peace be with you"

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