My name is Erik and I am the groom from our wedding. While I am writing this review, my wife Kim and I agree completely with what is written here.
Chris is an amazing wedding phot...ographer. He really made our special day that much more special. During our initial conversation before he was hired, Chris impressed us with his keen knowledge of professional-level photography. He also clearly understands the differences between shooting outdoors and indoors - and it showed in the finished product. We were also happy that Chris had experience shooting in the particular wedding ceremony venue we had selected.
Before Kim and I traveled out to Kalamazoo, MI from our Appleton, WI home for our wedding weekend, we had a post-hiring phone meeting with Chris where we discussed the wedding itinerary with him. He asked detailed questions about our plans and the timing of those plans. Our answers allowed him to craft a photography plan that would maximize the number of good pictures he could take with the available daylight. Since our ceremony was not going to start until 4:00PM on winter Saturday afternoon, he suggested that we do the "first look" and wedding party photos before the ceremony, because after the ceremony there would be insufficient daylight to do those shots outdoors.
I asked Chris to photograph our wedding rehearsal. Since I have never been married before, I was unaware that this was an unusual request. He asked me what I was looking for and I told him I just wanted as many candids of the wedding party as possible. Those photos turned out amazing, even though Chris would probably tell you that it wasn't really a difficult assignment.
About a week after our wedding, we received the "sneak-peek" photos. They were spectacular. But we were really blown away when the final, full portfolio was released about six weeks after our wedding. The photos were made available to us via a professional photography delivery website. There are at least 350 photos in that portfolio that were culled from several thousand raw photos taken by Chris and Eric the day before the wedding (the rehearsal) and on our wedding day (10 hours of shooting; the ceremony and the reception).
The package price included full end-user rights to all of the photos. We just sent out a printed QR-codes to all of our thank you card recipients that leads to our wedding photo website. From there, anyone can download the full-resolution version of any photo in the gallery just by clicking on it.
One of the most impressive aspects of Chris' services is that he is able to deliver absolute top-quality photos while keeping a low profile, except when he needed to assert himself - as when arranging posed shots. Taking great photos while minimizing his own footprint on the proceedings is the hallmark of a top-notch wedding photographer. And Christopher Deau certainly is top-notch. We would recommend him to anyone who asks.