Zach Caddy: Photographer

We are thrilled with our choice to have Zach photograph our elopement. He was simply incredible. We had a busy route planned through Chicago, hitting all the spots we wanted shots at the most. Despite the excitement and distractions of the day, Zach kept us on track and made the whole experience relaxed and enjoyable. He played the role of being our “handler” in the best way possible - funny, personable, and skilled at making us feel like we were just out enjoying the day, rather than posing for a photo shoot.

Working with Zach was a delight. The photos turned out perfect. There is great variety in the shots he took and looking through them now feels like re-living the whole day for us. Each photo holds a memory, and the entire album is more than we could have hoped for. We can’t recommend Zach highly enough!

Zach photographed our wedding and we are so thrilled with his work! His positive and friendly attitude, guidance and direction, and artistic talent made for the perfect wedding photographer. Thank you, Zach, for beautifully capturing memories of our big day!

This review is painful to write, but it is indeed necessary with all of the bumps in the road we experienced. We met with Zach virtually, and we’re excited to work with him. He seemed laid back, knowledgeable, and on the same page as us. We explicitly asked for posing and gave physical consent for us to be posed, hair to be fixed, etc. Zach agreed this was no issue and completely understood that we are not naturally photogenic and not really the type to know our angles.
The wedding day comes, and Zach is 20 minutes late, and this is after he asked us to start 30 mins earlier than we intended. He also didn’t answer the phone until the third try to reach him. I digress. Luckily, my husband and I had a plan of locations, as it seems Zach wasn’t aware of the location, nor was early to do any scouting. We did our first look, did family portraits, and left. He did not offer any ideas, poses other than look at each other, kiss and walk towards camera. It also seems family portraits are the bane of his existence, as we didn’t get many, none of me and my sister, none of both sets of parents etc. Day off, as the bride it’s easy to overlook what’s going on, but i felt like i was directing the entire day.

Another thing is 1/4 of our photos was us and our families sweatily setting up our reception space. Completely unusable, only would need a few of those. Also, there wasn’t many showcasing the space, but lots of close ups. Let’s just say there was 15 photos of favors but none of my siblings at the entire event.

Let’s get to the most important part of this review. There was no family portraits of us and parents and siblings at our ACTUAL WEDDING VENUE! The first look location is for formals and extras not to be encompassing. The wedding reception photos were all candids and mostly people’s backs. No “posed candids” (i.e. go hug your brother) we’re taken or directed. Zero photos or photo ideas were directed by Zach. He also seemed distracted and my guests told us he was on his phone and at his car multiple times within the 6 hours he was there. Many times throughout the night i had to hunt him down for photos to be taken. Also my list I gave him was somewhat fulfilled but was treated as a checklist, not to capture memories. For example, we had an audio guest book. I asked for photos of guests using the phone. I got one photo of a distant friend using it. Not the groom, not the grandmother, not the mom, dad etc. Speaking of parents, my MIL was not in a single photo at the wedding event. She was devastated and so are we. We only had 48 guests, and barely anyone was in photos besides a select few of apparently who Zach thought was photogenic. Zach was the vendor we spent the most money on, as it was a small intimate event, and the whole situation was so disheartening. I will say I liked may photos me me and my groom and his editing style was good but the album felt
so incomplete. My advice is book an engagement session, and unless you are a model hire someone who will take photos not from knee level and leave you with awkward double chins and weird posed hands, spend the extra money on photos, you can’t go back and it’s the most important part of the day to be able to capture the memories forever.

I hired Zach to take photos at my Xmas party. He maneuvered around the party and took incredible shots!!! I would highly recommend him :)

We are so glad we hired Zach to photograph our small wedding. We were initially drawn to the images we saw on his website, his use of color, and beautiful composition. Despite it being a late November day, the weather cooperated and we were even able to do a quick shoot before the ceremony. Zach made us feel at ease and the photos are a reflection of that: natural poses, genuine expressions, and beautiful candid shots. We got our images within 2 weeks and can't stop looking at them. Hiring Zach was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding and we can't recommend him enough!