Bella Pictures

04/29/2008 Posted by DeputyJess

I live in South Bend, IN (which is about an hour and a half east of Chicago). I was married last June and hired Bella to do my wedding photos. They were all over bridal magazines and bridal websites alike. I thought that I was choosing a top-notch service. WRONG! All the coordination before the wedding went smooth and I was confident. An hour before my wedding, I got a call letting me know my photographer was late because he didn't know that they was a time change (we are an hour ahead of Chicago). He missed the "getting ready" part of the day, missed me walking down the aisle with my father and the first 20 minutes of my wedding ceremony. Those are just things that you can't re-shoot. I was calm at the time because there was nothing that I could do. Needless to say, after my husband and I got back from our honeymoon we were on the phone getting a portion of our money back. Then I saw the pictures. They weren't bad, but they aren't that great either - I mean nothing compared to the pictures they have advertised all over. One of the things that I liked about Bella were the albums. They are flush-mounted and look really pro. I had to go through a very confusing process of picking out pictures for the album (and I didn't know where to start since the fist part of my day was not photographed). I sent my pictures in and got a rough draft back for my album which looked like a grade-schooler put it together. It wasn't organized and they used pictures multiple time and disregarded the pictures that I wanted in the album. GRR! Now, with about 2 months to go until my first year wedding anniversary, I don't have a photo album, nor do my mom and my mother-in-law have theirs. Bella has really screwed me over on this one and I just hope a future bride will see this review and opt for a different agency.

Pros: Everyone you talk to is nice

Cons: They screwed up my wedding photos

04/18/2008 Posted by Brooke3782

As a very picky "Bride-to-Be", it was a tough sell going with what originally seemed like a larger photography chain. I had read all the message boards on theknot about what to look for in a photography company and I have to admit, I was skeptic. Much to my surprise, Bella Pictures exceeded my expectations in both the competence of their customer service and professionalism of their photographers. My consultant was incredible during the planning phase and leading up to my wedding day, and the photographer that I was matched with couldn't have been a better fit had I hand-selected him myself. Bella takes a lot of time to listen to what you're looking for and there is even an online photo rating system that helps to pin-point your exact photography style. They claim to only work with "the best," and I am here to affirm that that is true. My photographer was not only super friendly and a lot of fun to work with, the photos turned out beautiful and I barely remembered him being there! My only complaint was that I had too many favorite photos to fit into my 40 page album. My wedding book is in the final stages of being printed and bound and I will be sure to follow up on here once I receive it. The way that the photography comes together in this "storyboard-like" format is amazing to me as paging through my online album proof was like reliving the day all over again. Best of all, I own all of my digital photos on printable discs and I received them right away. When shopping around, there was really nothing that compared... at least not for the quality I wanted and the professionalism that I couldn't afford to compromise. For the best value and overall experience = Bella Pictures A++

Pros: Copyrights on DVD given immediately, fantastic talent and really sweet consultant

Cons: Its not really a con, seeing as I loved my photographer, but there's a need to trust their "matching" system.