I wanted to thank everyone for these wonderful letters, emails and reviews…
When I began planning our wedding, photography was a top priority. I knew how fast the wedding day would fly by and I wanted beautiful pictures to tell the story of the day. I couldn’t have picked a more perfect photographer than Craig Carpenter!
I did a lot of research, calling almost every photographer on my venue’s preferred vendor list. I loved Craig’s work, but talking to him made me even more confident about my choice. He seemed to really get my vision for our wedding day, especially the fact that I wanted a mix of formal photos as well as some candid, photojournalistic shots. Craig was readily available at all times via phone and e-mail. I was planning our wedding at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, NC, but I live in Washington DC. The fact that he was always available, even though I wasn’t in NC, was a huge help! Since Craig has such a great reputation, he knew my venue very well and he also knew my wedding planner. The fact that everyone had worked with each other before made things even easier!
Our wedding was April 16, 2011, which was the same day tornados came through the Raleigh/Durham area. I had been watching the weather VERY closely, hoping that it wouldn’t rain. The ceremony was supposed to be outside and I really wanted some outdoor pictures. After working with Craig for my bridal portraits, I had a lot of confidence in his abilities and he certainly delivered on our wedding day! He brought umbrellas, cute signs, and rain boots to use as props for the photos. There is one picture where I am looking out the window with all my bridesmaids. The bridesmaids are holding signs that say “Rain Rain go away!” It was such a cute picture!! Craig made sure to take advantage of every brief period of sunshine and we took lots of pictures outside. We even jumped in his car and went to the Old Well to take a few pictures. I had really wanted pictures in front of the Old Well and due to the rain I wasn’t sure it would happen. Craig made it work and put me totally at ease!!
We have gotten countless compliments from all of our friends and family about Craig’s professionalism and the quality of his photography. He really knew how to make us all feel comfortable, which I think is key to getting good photographs. He worked so hard the day of our wedding to catch every little moment. It seems like every time we look at our pictures we notice a new detail that we didn’t see before. Everyone was so surprised that we got so many outdoor, sunny pictures, despite the weather.
There are so many beautiful pictures it is hard to choose a favorite. I loved a picture of my husband and I during the ceremony. You could see both of our expressions and his sister was in the background. I also loved the pictures of my dad and I dancing. There were also a few pictures of my husband and I after the ceremony that really captured the happiness and love we were feeling at the moment. The emotion on all of our faces made the pictures priceless. Craig truly is a master at capturing emotion and telling the story of a wedding day! We are so glad to have found such an amazing photographer and I would highly recommend him to anyone!
Sara and Terence
I had the unique experience of learning about Luster Studios even before I was engaged. From the first time I viewed Craig’s photography, I was hooked! Once my boyfriend became my fiancé, I showed him and we both became “stalkers” of his website. We were engaged for over 2 years before we tied the knot so we had plenty of time to make sure we liked Craig’s style before booking him. Every time new photos were added, we found ourselves dropping everything to view them. We continued this behavior after we chose Craig as our photographer – for more than a year, and viewed his spectacular work in anticipation of when it would be our turn!
With Craig, it became quite evident that he was not your average photographer. His ability to capture both traditional “posed” formals as well as unique candid shots (which we both preferred) is unmatched. More than that, though, we could tell that he really enjoys learning each couple’s story and catching their personalities (both individually and as a couple) in his engagement/wedding photography. He truly is a “Wedding Photo Renaissance Man” for many reasons.
In an effort to keep this review to a reasonable length I’ll focus mainly on the wedding but did want to share that we also booked Craig for our engagement session and rehearsal dinner. If you get a chance to see our engagement photos, they will speak for themselves as to their quality and creativity. We displayed many of the photos in a slideshow during our wedding weekend and overheard many “oohs” and “ahhs!” At the rehearsal dinner Craig’s attention to detail also exceeded our expectations. For instance, I had given my bridesmaids and two mothers brooches to wear on the day of the wedding. To my surprise, he had taken detailed photos of each brooch either with someone holding/wearing them or artfully arranged and lit by candles.
On the day of the wedding, Craig was prompt and professionally dressed – what you should expect. We learned first hand that his mind’s eye is turned on from the moment he arrives. He had already scoped out the best backdrops, and you could almost see the ideas swirling around in his head. As I had my one moment of stress before the ceremony, he gave me a little pep talk to lighten the mood. That effort was appreciated.
Throughout the wedding day, his role changed as needed. We sometimes wondered how he would be able to capture all the special moments we desired, but he somehow seemed to always be there when we needed him. While taking formal or group shots, he is part photographer/part comedian as he lightens the mood and gets the best reaction out of everyone. During the ceremony and reception he becomes what my sister referred to as a “photography ninja.” We were amazed at the moments he caught because we didn’t even realize he was in front of us most of the time. We’ve attended weddings where the photographer’s presence was definitely known – to the point of being annoying. So, this skill is a definite bonus for Craig.
When all was said and done we were blown away by the range of shots that he provided and WE LOVE all of our photographs! Everyone keeps telling us how beautiful/handsome we looked. There are many stand-out photos that simply take your breath away… or make you laugh… or tear up. Those are above and beyond our expectations and are beautiful and special in their own way. The mix of photos is interesting as well. While we prefer the photojournalistic style of photos, we also have several posed, kind of traditional group shots. Those are important to our family. So, everyone was pleased.
Craig even caught several photos of my husband smiling. He doesn’t like to “fake” smile for photos, so the fact that Craig caught his real smile – twinkle in eyes, dimples showing – made me VERY happy and I feel that this was a direct result of Craig’s warm and outgoing personality. He also made me feel like a celebrity. I look beautiful in the photos, and well… I feel like I look like a movie star. There is one shot where my long veil is blowing in the wind. It is just stunning. I also really love two close-ups – one of my mother’s reading glasses atop her “toast note cards” on the tabletop and another of my sister’s maid of honor toast shot over her shoulder as she read it. He even accommodated a couple of last-minute requests from my mom for family group shots after the reception. He really puts in that extra effort to make sure that the client has all of the shots they want before he leaves.
One final thing that we really appreciated was when Craig posted “teaser” photos for everyone to view while we were on our honeymoon. Luckily, we had Internet access and I looked at them at least once a day for two weeks. My mother admitted to doing the same thing. And, each time we received an alert that additional photos had been posted, we became so excited to view them! With so many excellent shots, we simply couldn’t decide which one’s were our favorites.
As most couples probably do, we did want to mention that we had considered a few other less expensive photographers, but honestly, looking back Craig’s raw creativity, true expertise, his ability to capture moments and the attention to detail, it was well worth the investment! We felt that he captured the true essence of our wedding day, which was important to us. Many of our friends enjoyed his photographic style so much that a couple are hoping to book Craig in the future. We cannot stress enough just how pleased we are with everything.
Years from now, we will look back on our photos and remember the day perfectly. We’ll laugh at my grandfather’s approach to our dance together. We’ll laugh again at the best man’s toast. We’ll smile at the fact that my mom and sister made it through their toasts without crying – though we can tell their eyes were misty in the photos. I could go on and on because I really fell as if we have every moment documented in a beautiful and creative way.
We can’t thank you enough!
Lia and Steve
When we started planning our wedding, here’s what we cared most about: finding a venue that would provide great food and the photographer. I pictured myself looking at my wedding photographs years later, showing my future children, always being able to look back with the best memories. After settling on The Carolina Inn, we dug into our photographer search and it took a loooong time. We spent days looking at wedding magazines and countless websites. Craig’s was the last one I looked at, as these things tend to go. In our notes for other photographers, we had jotted down, “Good, but not great,” “Absolutely NOT,” and many other comments, but for Craig, it was, “Wow–love, love, love–perfect.” We liked some formal shots at weddings, but mainly wanted natural photos. Over and over again I saw that Craig captured beautiful unscripted moments between couples, families, and friends.
We emailed, talked on the phone, and we felt comfortable with Craig from the start. He was always quick to get back to me, answered all of my questions, and I felt reassured that he would capture my special day in just the way I wanted. We decided to book him right away.
On the day of the wedding, I was stressed to high heaven. Craig was one of the few people that calmed me! I knew he was there for me, to make me look my VERY best, and to capture all of my favorite moments. He was one of two people that told me to “just breathe” (the other being my husband), which I desperately needed to hear sometimes. He took all the pictures I asked for, including driving us to a couple of locations. He took pictures of us at the Old Well on the campus of Chapel Hill, just as I asked, but he also had us sit amongst the newly bloomed flowers and then standing while kissing each other (with my leg kicked up and back, of course!) Craig also took wonderful photos of us under the Davie Poplar Tree, as I asked, but then also suggested capturing us walking together back and forth across the freshly green lawn. I didn’t know how any of these pictures would turn out, but THOSE turned out to be my favorite photos!
After the wedding, supposedly relaxing on our honeymoon, my husband and I were actually on pins and needles, waiting to see our pictures, eager to remember our day. The wedding had gone so quickly, and it was as if we needed to see the pictures to be reassured it really happened! We weren’t disappointed. Craig quickly posted highlight photos on his blog, and quickly uploaded the rest to his proofing gallery soon after. The photos were gorgeous! Family and friends raved! Their favorites were the ones he captured of my husband’s nine-year-old daughter (now my stepdaughter) who stood with us during the ceremony and held our rings. The pictures of her crying makes people gasp–they can’t believe how sweet and powerful they are! And SO many of them are like that! My parents walking me down the aisle–that picture makes me want to cry and smile proudly at the same time. The pictures of the father-daughter dances (with me and my father, and my husband with his daughter) are fantastic, honestly, take my breath away!
I would definitely, with no doubts, recommend Craig to others (and actually, I already have!). His work is amazing and I will just say that in all of my searching, I found other photographers in the area to be comparable in price, but lacking the skill, personality and passion that Craig has. I ended up with over 700 pictures, and I would have paid the same amount for even less than that because of the quality–they’re priceless.
Sincerely,
Michelle and Michael
Craig!
We just wanted to let you know how much fun you were to work with. You knew exactly what you wanted to do with us and were very focused on delivering beautiful pix. After viewing your portfolio I knew you would do a phenomenal job with us on the rooftop of the Kress Terrace. It is hard to pick my favorite photo since they are all so good; however, the photograph where you captured our reflection from across the terrace was AMAZING! We must have been 100 feet away! We are going to highly recommend you to everyone we know. You’re very professional, focused, fun, and had a quick turnaround. Everyone who has seen our pix have absolutely loved them! Thanks SO much for capturing us beautifully at our dream venue.
Cicely & Tony
Craig,
We both wanted to thank you for photographing our wedding this summer! Our photos are simply amazing. We were already drawn to your style before meeting you and were so overjoyed when you agreed to photograph our own wedding. As you know we did a lot of research for a great photographer in the area and you were our first choice. As both of us are filmmakers, finding someone with a good eye and who had a professional understanding of light and framing was crucial. We feel so lucky to have found you!
Not only did you exceed our expectations professionally but you were such a pleasure to work with as well. In fact, many of the guests are still asking about you! I hope you’re in the mood for traveling because it looks like you might have some international invites coming up! Your work is unique and your photos manage to capture so much life and energy in a single moment. I don’t understand how you did it but during our wedding you captured perfectly some amazing moments and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time – like when the priest called Ossama “Obama” by mistake!
As we’re choosing the photos for our wedding album at the moment, it is with great pleasure that we discover something new in our photographs each time. Sometimes it even seems that more than one photographer was shooting as you seem to have that uncanny ability of covering more than one would expect – from tiny details at the church, to the entire wedding group cheering on the dance floor. Our favorite photograph is probably the one where Ossama is lifting me up and my red shoes pop out – I’m so glad that I look so light in the photo!
Thank you for sharing our day with us and we really hope to have the chance to work with you again in the future at another event. We will definitely keep you in mind and would be honored to have the chance to be part of your work again.
Warmest regards,
Annemarie & Ossama Bawardi
We don’t have enough superlatives to describe how pleased we are with Craig and his work, but we’ll try. We found his blog online and literally spent an hour and a half looking through a year’s worth of entries, each story better than the last! He has a knack for getting to know his subjects and finds a way to let their personalities shine through in pictures. His creative eye captured the essence of the day’s events, the true personality of the people, and told their story. I had to book this photographer!
After experiencing his technique and character first hand on the wedding day I must say that he’s been an absolute joy to work with from beginning to end – professional, responsive, creative, kind, and oh, did I forget mad-crazy-talented! Everyone who has seen the photographs has been blown away – he really does make it look as special as it felt that day, and has given us the gift of memory, of being able to re-feel the emotions of the day through his photographs. We recommend Craig without reservation – he is amazing and we will be following his work and plan to hire him to capture our additional special moments in the future. Thank you!
Christine & Tim
Dear Craig,
I’ve been wanting to write you a “Thank You” note for a long time but every time I started I would find myself “emotionally tongue tied” trying to find the words to express how much we treasure our wedding photos. As our one year anniversary approaches I’ve decided to push through and send you this letter.
First, let me say how glad we are that we chose you! Your photos have proven to be one of the most important parts of our wedding day. As we planned for our destination wedding, we considered getting a local photographer however, after viewing your portfolio I was hooked! It still amazes me that we handled ALL of the logistics by phone and email. From executing the contract, to providing expert advice on our timeline, we always had the utmost confidence in you. Working with you was easy and we appreciate that you handled every aspect of the photography flawlessly.
As you know, our wedding photos document my final days in the United States before leaving to live with my husband in England, but I don’t think it really hit me as to the importance of all of these wonderful moments you’ve captured until I settled in my new home. These photographs are not only a reminder of our wedding day, but of our dear friends and family who are now so far away! Thank you for that.
We are astounded and deeply moved whenever we view our album! It’s a vibrant blend of posed and photojournalistic styles. You posses an uncanny ability to capture the emotion of the day, including sensitive and touching moments. I smile, laugh and cry each time we flip through our pictures as they candidly tell a story of how our guests experienced our wedding.
I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to photograph us and neither would our guests. They commented on your warm and professional demeanor and I remember watching you as you moved amongst everyone in an unobtrusive manner. Now that we’ve experienced working with you first hand I now know why everyone looks so natural in your photos. You were engaging, respectful, and kind. You really do put people at ease and it shows in your work. I still don’t remember your presence during the ceremony… and yet… we have dozens of wonderful pictures!
Craig, we are so grateful for your contribution to our wedding day. It is through your talent that you have given our families a tremendous gift that we will be able to share for many years to come. Many, many thanks for being part of such an important day!
Warmly,
Stuart & Sabrina
As we planned our wedding, I was concerned with EVERY little detail, but my husband really only cared about a few things… typical male! :) The photographer was at the top of his list though. Our engagement and wedding photos were very important to both of us right from the beginning of our engagement. We wanted to find someone that we felt completely comfortable around and could trust to capture all of the moments and details that made our wedding day so special and memorable. Craig definitely met all of our expectations… AND more!
From the very beginning, Craig was really great to work with. He was so easy to talk to on the phone and in person, and was very timely in returning phone calls and emails to be sure that everything was in line. You can really tell that he has a true passion for what he does! He’s somehow able to capture all of the different types of styles and personalities in his photos while keeping an attentive eye to every detail. We were surprised at how far he’ll go out of his way to meet your needs and to be sure that he gets the best shots for you. He even laid down in the middle of a puddle on the street to get a cute shot of us during our engagement shoot! Now that’s true dedication!
On our wedding day, I had no worries about the photography and that’s the way it should be! I knew that I could trust Craig to be in all of the right places at the right times and he was. He caught all of the special moments that made up our day and his photographs tell the story. I love looking at them! We’ve had countless compliments from family and friends about our pictures. Craig is also very quick to get your pictures to you after a session (unlike what I’ve heard from some of my friends about their photographers) but he doesn’t compromise the quality. We especially appreciated the teaser photos he posted during our honeymoon. I would definitely recommend both him and Luster Studios to anyone… and have already done so! Thanks for everything Craig!
Jackie & BJ
In our search for a wedding photographer my friends kept telling me how difficult it was to pick the right person to document our special day, but now that I’m married I get to tell others how easy it was for me! We had emailed a few other photographers before meeting with Craig at Luster Studios, but he was our first appointment. After our consultation there was no doubt in our minds that we had found our perfect fit! We didn’t even bother meeting with anyone else. His examples from other weddings were so unique that we knew that he’d be able to capture all of the the moments we were looking forward to remembering for years to come.
Of course, on our wedding day my husband and I were nervous and anxious that everything would be pulled off without any problems. I must say that from the time Craig walked into my bridal suite, to the end of the night, I never once worried that my photographs weren’t being taken care of. I probably wasn’t the easiest bride to deal with (as I always manage to stress myself out over the little details) but I can honestly say that I was less anxious knowing I didn’t have to worry about what a great job he was doing.
If that wasn’t enough, Craig is also somehow able to capture a lot of different styles but still show a consistent story and look. He took beautiful portraits of my husband and I, captured fun moments of our entire bridal party on the Umstead lawn and ALSO caught my little cousin doing “the worm!” He really managed to put into pictures exactly how that day felt for us – wonderful!
When we saw our final set of photographs my friends and family were amazed. My mom actually cried (again) when she saw how beautiful they were. Our group portraits are in the foyer of our house, and NO ONE can resist stopping to awe over them when they first walk into our house! And Magnus (my husband) always manages to show off a photo Craig took of us changing our statuses to “married” on our iPhones in the church. He was so happy that he snapped a picture of that!
Since our wedding I’ve been sure to spread the word of Craig’s professionalism and skills to anyone who will listen. I’ve enjoyed seeing his recent work that he’s done at other weddings and every time I show someone our pictures, I make sure to tell them to recommend him to any bride-to-be that they know!
Amber & Magnus
When we first started planning our wedding, we knew that photography was one of the most important aspects. We wanted to be sure that all the most important memories are captured, and in a way that represented our true personality and style. After looking through MANY photographer websites and blogs, I was convinced that Craig had the perfect style. The colors just pop in all his pictures, and I could always see the energy of the moment captured in each photo. From our initial meeting with him, I knew we had found the perfect match, both stylistically and personality-wise.
During our engagement session, we really got to know him and were so excited when he came up with one creative idea after another! We had never had professional photos taken of us so we weren’t sure what to expect, but Craig’s disarming style helped us loosen up quickly – and that’s when he was able to get some of our favorite shots! He really helped us feel at ease and it’s perfectly evident in every photo.
Throughout the year before our wedding I would frequent his blog and send him little notes when I saw pictures of other weddings he had shot that I REALLY liked. When our wedding finally arrived I discovered that he had been making notes of all those comments so that he could be sure to incorporate those elements into our own photos. But his creative and professional personality was what many of guests commented on. They were amazed at how he was able to seamlessly integrate himself into the ceremony and reception without being too obtrusive. That was just one of the many little touches that showed us how much he cared about our individual event.
We received RAVE reviews from our family and friends after the wedding day when they finally saw the photos… Without a doubt, between his photographic style and his personality, Craig fulfilled my idea of an ideal photographer. We have the most amazing engagement and wedding photos, and had a lot of fun with him along the way.
Stephanie & Mike
Craig is magic! My bridal portraits and our wedding photos are all so amazing! He is super easy to work with both in front of and behind the camera and was easily one of our best decisions for our wedding day! He did a lot of work to help us out and get the most of his services since we had limited time to be in NC. He was like super man the day of and seemed to be in just the right place at the right moment. My guests made comments about how they couldn’t wait to see his photos because he was able to capture special moments of them or their kids during the reception. He was always very professional and handled everything with grace and a great attitude! The preview pictures I have seen so far are awesome and I can’t wait to see the rest! Highly recommended! A+
Heather & Jesse
“I just got back from a wedding where I saw a lot of friends that I have not talked to in a while, but they all have seen my engagement pictures on Facebook. They were all raving about how they are the BEST pictures they have ever seen! This is coming from people who have just recently gotten married or are ENGAGED right now, so that is a HUGE compliment! I of course agree, but I am biased :-) Just wanted to pass that along, they are amazing! I can not wait to see the rest!” – Lindsay & Hugh
When we were planning our wedding, the whole process was very overwhelming due to our short timeline. Our future sister-in-law recommended her photographer (Craig) who would be shooting her wedding that next year. Not only was his photography beautiful, but after we met him we realized that he was also someone who was dow to earth and easy to work with. We consider it a stroke of luck that he was available to shoot our wedding, and couldn’t have been happier with the way our photographs turned out!
To be honest we weren’t entirely sure what we wanted to see in our wedding photography other than the “basic shots”, but Craig not only captured those wonderfully, but went above and beyond to document all of the other special moments from the day! Now that the day is over we love reliving out memories of all of the moments that we knew he was taking as well as the “behind the scenes” photographs that we weren’t able to experience first hand. All of our guests enjoyed the way he interacted with them. He was involved and excited but never overbearing. That meant a lot to us since our family and friends are so close to each other.
We didn’t truly understand the importance of wedding photography before meeting Craig, and now, we are forever grateful that he was an integral part of our special day. We’ve even had the pleasure of interacting with him at two other weddings since our own, and each collection has proven to be beautiful and unique!
Craig, thank you so much for everything, you’re wonderful! Looking forward to our next wedding “date!” ;-)
Ayanna & Adib
Craig,
David and I are celebrating our one year anniversary and wanted to send you a giant, THANK YOU!!! You were simply fantastic throughout the entire process from the first time we met you to the delivery of our final photographs. We were very impressed with your work, and while we were loved the formal pictures, our VERY favorites are the candids that you took. You have a real gift there!
At the wedding you were totally professional, didn’t get in the way at all, and actually, became a favorite with our guests. Many of our friends were actually seeking you out to be photographed! In the candid pictures you managed to capture genuine smiles and laughter from my friends and family. Looking back it means so much to us to know that they were having a good time. You went above and beyond in accommodating any quirky requests we had and were a total blast to be around during our reception. Our wedding day was the most fun we’ve ever had and you were a big part of that all the way around. Our wonderful collection of memories worth even more to me now than they were right after the wedding.
Monika & Dave
Where do I start? Almost a year and a half before my wedding, I met with Craig at the same coffee shop where I met Thomas. After a lengthy initial phone call and that meeting at the Royal Bean, I knew that I wanted Craig to photograph our engagement pictures and our wedding. He was the second major decision I made (after Highgrove), and he proved throughout the entire process that I made the right decision!
Craig consistently worked with me to facilitate the process, whether it was working out a payment schedule; choosing the best location for our engagement session; getting on his back in the middle of hay to get the right shot at the NC Fair; delivering our photos in a quick manner; communicating quickly through email or telephone; arriving as early as we did the day of the wedding; making sure I got the most important shots on my list; staying after the reception was over to get some additional shots; attending our after party to celebrate with us more, or blogging our wedding before we left on our honeymoon, Craig was an absolute STAR. I have gotten tons of compliments on our photos (epics and wedding), I most definitely recommend Craig to any and everyone. You get all of your high resolution images that have been individually re-touched with your package, and I can truly say that we’ve made a new friend. (A+++)
Bridget + Thomas
We couldn’t be more thrilled with the service we got from Craig at Luster Studios! After an exhaustive searching for the perfect photographer, we booked him after he responded to an initial email inquiry with a lengthy personal phone call. We desperately wanted to avoid boring wedding photos, and we sensed that Craig had just the enthusiastic personality we were looking for.
And we were right! Craig was an absolute pleasure to work with from start to finish. He made all of the arrangements for the bridal portrait session, and spent many hours making sure that he captured the perfect combination of fun and classic portraits. He was very flexible working around our busy schedules, which took a lot of stress off of the wedding planning.
Even though our wedding day was cold and rainy, our photographs make it look perfect! We’ve gotten endless compliments on the high quality of photography and on our choice of a photographer. A few of the most special shots are SO stunning that it’s actually hard to believe that it is us!
Craig is obviously very passionate about his work, and it shows in his fun-loving, enthusiastic personality and in his art. In hindsight, we would have paid almost anything for some of the moments he captured. We continue to follow Craig’s work on his website, and sincerely hope that he’ll be our photographer for other exciting events in the future!
Vanessa & Ben
I had the unfortunate thing that shouldn’t happen, my first photographer and I had a miscommunication and my day was booked to another couple. Here I am a month before the wedding still looking for a photographer. I had to find one that week so I started searching. I found Craig and decided to meet him to review his work and get a feel of what I was looking for. When I met Craig for the first time, I felt very comfortable. I told him my deal and I never felt like, “Oh no… he’s going to take advantage of my situation.” I left knowing all of my questions had been answered. On the day of the wedding he was very professional towards me, my husband and our guests. After I looked at the photos (2 weeks later… fast!) I said to myself, “Where was he for that photo? I didnt even see him!” He captured awesome photos without getting in the way of everything. He also never asked the family to get out the way or for anyone to do anything out of the ordinary. He did an awesome job with everything. I will be getting more photos done by him in the near future.
Kim & Mike
As we searched for a wedding photographer, we sorted through a lot of websites but always kept coming back to Luster Studios. We were impressed with the blend of traditional wedding photos (formals, etc.) and more photojournalistic ones that captured moments most would have missed. We also liked that Craig’s work treated ceremonies and bridal portraits with a sense of respect and dignity. This was important to my mom and we were very shocked to find that this was not always the case on other photographer’s work! After much research we met with Craig and one other photographer and decided to go with Luster Studios. We actually called him from the car immediately after meeting with the other photographer to book! In the end we appreciated Craig’s professionalism, quick response to our questions, and LOVED his work of course!
During our engagement session, Craig was very generous with his time and went out of his way to make sure the entire experience was unique and meaningful to us. He took us to Camp Kanata where my husband and I had met. As we strolled through the camp and reminisced about our time there as counselors he put us both at ease. It was a fun a walk down memory lane for us and the final photos were truly gorgeous. Craig created some wonderfully romantic photos of us in a canoe on the lake and even our camp director commented how he had captured the camp more beautifully than he’d ever seen! My family loved looking at those, as well as the bridal portraits. The variety of bridal poses were wonderful and the session was fun for me, my mother and my mother-in-law.
Our wedding day photos were just as meaningful. They fit our personality and sense of style perfectly and allowed us to see moments we had missed at the actual event. It was so touching for me to see the moment Jay’s family shared before the ceremony as they remembered his father in prayer and then to see our friends and family having fun at the reception. The “wardrobe malfunction” series (where the strap of my dress kept falling off off my shoulder during our ceremony) made us both laugh really hard! Craig captured every “major” event of the entire day, from the exchanging of vows to our first kiss as a married couple, and we treasure those memories.
We were so excited when we saw or photographs online and also received them on disc (a wonderful option!) Selecting photos for our album was a challenge because there were so many wonderful ones from which to choose. In the end, I think we have a nice mix of traditional posed shots and photojournalistic shots and I know that our album and the parent albums will be lifetime heirlooms.
On a personal note as one who does not consider herself photogenic, I was especially pleased with Craig’s work! I rarely like photographs of myself (okay – I usually hate photos of myself and hide them) but when I saw the pictures he took, from the engagement session to the wedding day, I was so relieved and eager to share them with family and friends. He had this wonderful ability to set me at ease so I could just enjoy the day without worrying about the camera. Simply put we are so grateful we found Craig and have such wonderful memories to share with others!
Ann and Jay
