Courtney Kent Photography

solutely stunning, and not just the beautiful portraits of us and our bridal party, but the incredible candid moments that truly reflect the joy, love, and energy of the entire day.   One of our favorite things is how thoughtfully she documented our guests. She caught so many meaningful, joyful, and unexpected moments that we didn’t even realize were happening at the time. Looking through our gallery feels like reliving the entire day from every angle.   And somehow, she even managed to capture some super fun action photos of all of us jumping into the lake. Those photos are fun, dynamic and completely “us,” and they’re some of our absolute favorites.   Courtney has an incredible eye for storytelling and genuine emotion. If you’re looking for a photographer who will give you not just beautiful images, but a true, living record of your wedding day, we couldn’t recommend Courtney Kent Photography more highly.

incredible and accommodating she was. One thing that truly stood out to me was her emotional intelligence throughout the many moments that come up during a wedding day. I often felt like I didn’t even need to explain what I needed—she just knew. That was especially appreciated, given this was my first time going through the wedding process. We aren’t based in Traverse City, and Courtney made everything feel seamless and easy from a remote perspective. Communication, planning, and coordination were all effortless, which gave us so much peace of mind leading up to the weekend. We are absolutely thrilled with our photos—especially the film shots. They feel so organic, timeless, and true to the day. She captured not only beautiful moments between us, but also incredible photos of our guests and the scenery, far beyond what I could have hoped for. We truly could not have asked for more from a wedding photographer, and I will 100% be recommending Courtney to anyone getting married in the area.

clearly provided different package options so I did not feel stressed about cost and could pick what works best for our budget. On the day of our wedding, she was professional, providing guidance when we needed it, and also staying out of the way to capture those great candid moments as well. I was happy about the timeline for getting our images back. She provided us with a mini collection of photos soon after the wedding day, and a full album shortly there after that. Working with her was very transparent and I’m satisfied with our results.

ion and individual style shines through each photo, and I cannot stress enough how unique her documentary-style images are, capturing the most outstanding moments that we as bride and groom failed to see ourselves (all in addition to standard wedding portraits!). From our very initial inquiry, communication with Courtney was consistent and professional. Throughout the months leading up to our wedding, we knew we had made the right decision to work with her as her organization made our planning such as breeze. On our wedding day, Courtney and her second shooter Hali made us feel so comfortable as if we had been friends for years. It made for the most outstanding photographs that truly captured the personality of us, our family and our friends. I cannot thank her enough for not only capturing our special day so perfectly, but for making the entire day so easy and fluid, taking away stress by assisting in an abundance of ways we did not expect. We HIGHLY recommended Courtney Kent Photography, and cannot wait to work with her as a family for years to come :)

that she was able to capture so many different moments. We would highly recommend her to everyone!

of our pictures. She was extremely thorough, and we were able to touch base with her several times before the big day and help to be on the same page of our "vision" for our big day. Because of all her effort and planning, the entire day felt seamless and and truly just magical. My biggest fear for the day was not being able to feel present fully or pulled in a million directions. Courtney's pre-planning for our day, artistic eye, and overall professionalism truly helped capture our big day in the exact way we wanted. We also chose Courtney because we wanted to give our business to an LGBTQ friendly photographer, something Courtney is very passionate about in her work.

s in our engagement photos! She is professional and one of the kindest humans! She was in constant contact with me throughout the wedding process and we consistently shared ideas! She made wedding planning a breeze! 10/10 would recommend

nd as a support person on our special day. Her work speaks for itself and her unique documentary style preserved our wedding exactly as it looked and felt, capturing stunning portraits, detail photos, as well as heart warming candids. Courtney was an irreplaceable part of our wedding day and we will cherish her work all of our lives.

to understand our vision and helped us feel comfortable every step of the way. On the day of the wedding, she was organized and calm, which helped us stay relaxed during what could have been a stressful time. We are so grateful for the memories she helped preserve. If you're looking for a talented photographer with a great eye for detail, we highly recommend Courtney!

so comfortable.

day of, she was incredible. She brings such a genuine joy, supportive energy, and skill to her work. She made us feel so comfortable and able to be ourselves and captured so many special moments in photos. We will treasure our wedding photos forever!

was the wedding day but she made it feel like we hadn't just met her that day. Before we booked her she sent us examples of previous weddings she had done and we had a phone meeting to get to know each other before anything was officially booked. We also had multiple phone meetings in the months leading up to the wedding to make sure we were all still on the same page and that everything we wanted pictures of at the wedding was going to be taken care of. We also liked how long she was there the day of the wedding. She was able to capture so much of the day and we're so glad to have those pictures. We had multiple people comment to us that they were impressed with how much she scouted out the venue when she got there to make sure we were doing pictures in the best areas. After the wedding she got the pictures to us when she said she would and we couldn't be happier with them. We hope to work with her again in the future!

tire day. It was clear that they genuinely care about capturing the best moments. Our guests raved about them all day long! When the photos came back, we were blown away by the quality—bright, beautiful, and truly capturing the essence of our special day. Courtney exceeded all of our expectations, and we are so grateful to have had her as part of our wedding. Thank you, Courtney, for everything!

pe of Northern Michigan and she more than delivered. During the planning process, she was incredibly organized which helped us structure our day to achieve the shots we wanted with family, while also enjoying the occasion. I made a throw away comment I would probably jump in the lake before the ceremony and Courtney recommended we document it. Guess what is our feature photo in our dining room now? Us in the lake. Courtney is as kind as she is talented, corralling and soothing toddlers, dogs and family to get the most heartfelt moments because she knew it was important to us. I simply can't recommend her enough.

o work with and captured our wedding day so perfectly. She worked with me and our wedding coordinator to finalize our schedule, was flexible day of when we got a bit behind schedule, and ensured we got all the pictures we wanted. She also included so many fun candid photos so we can relive the day all over through our pictures.

ement and wedding photos easy and fun. Courtney is very creative with her photos and really captures the moment. Her candid photos were exceptional, you can really feel the emotions through them! We highly recommend Courtney!

ve and beyond to help us feel comfortable and excited for our dream cross-country skiing engagement shoot (she even took photos while on skis herself!) and on our wedding day. And this is coming from two people who typically avoid the camera. She remembered small details and made family portraits in all their combinations a breeze so we could prioritize spending time with our guests. The final results were amazing and we are so grateful to have so many heartfelt candid photos with easy online access for sharing. We would recommend Courtney in a heartbeat and would love to work with her again for any occasion.

ed in to help and was wonderful! Courtney answered all of our questions and made it easy for us from the start. Not being in town, using her portal was very helpful in communicating with Courtney and in reviewing her contract and questionnaire. Courtney is very sweet, personal and caring! She took the time to get to know us and our story. It is like we have known each other for years! She wanted to be able to capture our personalities in the photos. Courtney had experience with our venue which was very helpful as we had picked our venue online and would not see it personally until our wedding day! Courtney was great in giving us guidance on the location for our ceremony at the venue. Planning an outdoor ceremony in October in TC is a little risky but Courtney gave us ideas as to where to take other photos should the weather not be ideal. Several of Courtney’s characteristics that we found extremely beneficial were her calmness and a quiet sense of confidence. Her positivity and encouragement were very reassuring not only from the planning stages but also on our wedding day! All of that said, her professional and exceptional pictures were AWESOME! Courtney completely captured our day! Many of the photos are truly works of art! The pictures of us were wonderful. She also coordinated and took care of getting all of the various individual and group photos that we had requested. She also took the time to capture various photos of the historic venue and how we had our reception decorated. It is going to be hard to limit what photos we want to order! Shortly after our wedding, Courtney sent us an initial group of photos that we could see and share. After reviewing those photos we could hardly wait to see the full set of photos! Courtney was an integral part of our wedding – everyone loved her! We received several comments from our guests complementing Courtney! Courtney is a great photographer and a great person! Two great characteristics for a wedding photographer! We plan to stay connected with Courtney as we will likely need new photos down the road!

wedding planner in the months leading up to the day (read: met with us numerous times, helped us think through day-of details, helped us create a detailed schedule for the day, etc), and played a huge role in making sure the day ran smoothly. She is communicative, organized, and professional. Her photos are colorful, creative, and make you feel like you're back in the moment it was taken; She captured raw, candid moments we will cherish forever. Above all, Courtney is just a wonderful person. She is energetic and makes even the most camera shy feel at ease. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a photographer in the area.

She answered any question we had and gave us the most gorgeous photos to look back on!

to learn everything about our day and photography wants before the wedding and served as basically a photographer and additional coordinator all in one. She captured our wedding day naturally and perfectly the way we wanted and we are so happy with our pictures.

nt events in their lives. Each interaction with Courtney prior, during and after the wedding was relaxed and helpful as we planned out when, where and how to get the photos we might be looking for. Her guidance, recommendations and support throughout the process helped us greatly. Our incredible candid moments that were taken throughout our wedding are a true testament to the relationship that Courtney builds with couples, along with the rapport developed almost instantly with families, friends, kids and maybe pets on the day of the special event. Everyone in our wedding party and family noted how she felt like a part of the group during the pre-ceremony photos and activities. Images from the initial preview to final gallery, have been amazing. Each photo brings a smile to our faces and allows us to really take in all of the special parts of the day that we may have missed- beautiful design elements, family and friends interacting and kids enjoying the dance party. Friends and family continue to comment on how much they love the photos. We are forever grateful to Courtney for beautifully documenting our special day and giving us a way to remember the joy we had celebrating with those most important to us.

day. She was fun, energized, and most importantly professional and INCREDIBLE at capturing our favorite moments. We just received our wedding photo book and I'm in awe of how great of a job she did. My wife has said multiple times "I can't believe she caught that moment on camera", I can't recommend Courtney enough! Thank you Courtney!

feel comfortable and beautiful in front of the camera!

t have been more professional throughout the whole process! We were so happy with how our photos turned out and are so lucky to have had her capture our wedding day!

coordinator all in one, plus probably multiple other titles. She was so friendly & personable and made us feel so comfortable on the other side of the camera. My husband and I have never had any form of professional photos taken of us, but she made it seem so natural and easy. She captured the most genuine reactions and personalities from our wedding day and our engagement photos. She kept us on our timeline on the day of and helped us review the timeline multiple times prior to the day of to make sure we would be as stress-free as possible. She really did it all for us and we could not be more grateful. We received ~1500 photos in < 2 months post-wedding, and we're so excited to somehow work on narrowing it down to a number we can actually print for frames, our wedding photo book, and gifts. Thank you for everything Courtney!!!

rect both family portraits and couples in a fun and natural way. Her ability to capture both the emotions and the artistry of a wedding day in a vibrant way that transports us all back into the moment is remarkable. Thru the planning process, Courtney is organized and collaborative to ensure that the timing of the day is not rushed but still sufficient to capture all of the candid moments. She is a gem and we at Juniper & Lace Events love working with her and her team!

want by your side during your special day. Courtney took our engagement photos and we were beyond impressed with her professionalism and talent behind the lens. She seemed to "get" our silly humor and weird antics. We felt so lucky that she would photograph our big day as well. Courtney, not surprisingly, was incredible during our wedding day. She was calm and focused and made sure to capture all the important photos as well as the more personal photo details that we wanted to have. She would check in with us regularly and made sure we stayed close to our timeline, so the day would run smoothly. She was calm and firm when directing family and friends for photos. We had every confidence in her. Her second photographer was wonderful too. Shonda was very helpful, friendly, and took some great photos as well. They worked well together. Courtney is also prompt with her turn around time in giving you a preview of her images. We eagerly awaited this preview, knowing they would turn out breathtaking, and they were! She captured who we are with great artistic skill. I can't say enough wonderful things about her. If she is available for your special event, hire her immediately! Courtney Kent Photography is simply the best you will find!

professional and easy to work with. She actually helped me more than anyone with putting together my day of timeline! Her assistant Beth was also great. Both were very personable and did a great job getting shots without being intrusive to your day. We are still waiting on our photos but based on the previews we received we are already so excited. The pictures truly capture the emotion and excitement in the day. Can’t recommend Courtney enough!

new Courtney was a true professional, and she fielded all of my questions with grace. I am a true type A personality who needs to have all boxes checked and questions answered, and she went above and beyond to make me feel secure leaving our booking meeting. We then booked our (very affordable) engagement session in the woods of northern Michigan in the middle of winter, and she was completely on board with whatever freezing ideas we had. I treasure the memories we made that day, and I have the evidence on our living room wall! For the big day, not only were they there from makeup application to messy dance floor, but they managed to capture photos of every single person at our wedding. That is an incredible feat! I truly cannot recommend this photographer enough, and I am so glad we decided to hire such a talented and kind team.

ly captured all the emotions and all the love on that day and we are forever grateful for the beautiful pictures to always look back on.

al photographer until 3 months before. Courtney was referred to us and, it turned out, there was a hometown connection for my husband! Thankfully, due to a COVID Postponement, Courtney was available! We planned a very small wedding with just our immediate families for a total of 14 people. Courtney was the only vendor present, so naturally, I was a little nervous it would feel awkward - but it wasn’t at all! Courtney immediately felt like an old friend and it felt like she should be there. She was easy going, made us feel comfortable and natural, but remained professional. We got the the sneak preview (which included way more Photos than expected!) about a week after the wedding and the rest of our photos are expected this weekend (7weeks post wedding). Our wedding was supposed to be outside, and the ceremony was, as well as some games and organized photos, but dinner ended up being inside our home due to weather. I was very emotional about this because I was worried about the photos not being how I pictured them. But getting our sneak preview photos, my anxiousness melted away. They were all incredible! I couldn’t stop scrolling through them. Seven weeks later, I still scroll, anxiously awaiting our final gallery. I would highly recommend Courtney and would hire her for photo shoots in the future!

r wedding up north and didn’t think we would be able to find a photographer on such short notice. Luckily, Courtney came to our rescue and was willing to shoot our wedding. She gave us a custom package price for the elopement style wedding we wanted and was so flexible and easy to communicate with! Not only this but our wedding photos turned out to be everything I ever imagined and then some!! Without her help our wedding would have been a disaster and we wouldn’t have been able to commemorate our special day. She is so talented!! Thanks again Courtney!

sional people and take AMAZING pictures! Even if you're not very photogenic! :) We loved dealing with them the day of and the previews we've receieved are incredible!

ead photographer. Her husband, Michael Kent, is her second photographer and together they truly are the dream team! Hiring them as our wedding and engagement photographer was one of the best decisions my husband, Tom, and I made when planning our wedding! We knew ever since our first conversation with Courtney back in August of 2019 that we had found a truly special, unique and talented team of photographers who love what they do. Courtney and Michael genuinely care about everyone they photograph. They made us feel that capturing this incredible time in our lives was just as important to them as it was for us. I greatly appreciated how Courtney and Michael made the whole process so personal. They really helped make the experience of getting engaged and then getting married that much more meaningful and exciting for us. The first time we met Courtney was at our engagement session at Pyramid Point in September of 2019. She made a great first impression on us! Courtney was so fun, easy going and she made us feel so comfortable. Our engagement session was very special to us for two reasons: this was the place where Tom proposed to me the year before and we got to include our dog Gordon! Gordon definitely stole the show but Courtney also captured a ton of beautiful photos of Tom and I where our engagement began which was so meaningful for us. Courtney finished our preview photos in about a week and then finished our full galley in about a month after our engagement session. We received 350 photos from the 2-hour engagement session! She made our pictures accessible to us on an online viewing gallery and she also mailed us a custom made USB. The next time we saw Courtney, and finally met Michael, was at our wedding on 8-1-2020 at Aurora Cellars! The investment we made in hiring Courtney and Michael as our wedding photographers was so worth it! First of all, we got two wedding photographers (Courtney and Michael), not just one! This was super important to us to have two photographers to divide and conquer. Second, they provided 10-12 hours of photography! This covered our entire day and we did not have to worry about missing photos of anything. Third, we only had to wait a week to see a preview of our wedding photos! Courtney posted a gallery of 74 beautiful photos from our wedding to her website that we loved seeing while still on our honeymoon. Fourth, we will get 800-1,000 wedding photos! If you’re like us, the more photos the merrier! So this part of the package made us really happy! All our photos will be available to us on an online viewing gallery in 6-8 weeks and then we will get a USB drive of all our photos 8-10 weeks after our wedding. Fifth, we will receive 50 black and white photos and we will get the color copies of these images as well. Courtney’s message to her clients is this, “You’ve been working hard to create a beautiful life. Let me help you capture it.” We love this statement and we are so appreciative of how hard Courtney and Michael worked to capture the most precious moments of our life together. We can’t wait to have another session with Courtney in the future and we highly recommend Courtney Kent Photography to others!

photos!!

have ever taken! Would absolutely recommend Courtney for anyone getting married!

unfold. We cannot recommend her enough! Not to mention the photos are absolutely gorgeous!

d to organize small group pictures, Courtney would jump in and say, “Let us do that”. We can’t thank them enough and would highly recommend their talents for your special occasion.

ting a big smile and quick to laugh made them an awesome fit to our wedding day. They take the time and effort to tune into their clients to capture moments they know will mean most to you and therefore the photos you receive are prices! We can not recommend them highly enough!

ble to adapt quickly as the events of the day unfolded in order to capture all of those priceless moments. Courtney's meticulous planning and detailed Day-Of photography schedule basically allowed us to forego a wedding planner, because she already had the timeline completely laid out for us! Leading up to the wedding day, we had a few very productive in-person and over-the-phone planning sessions with Courtney during which we discussed details of the location, timing, personnel, etc. On our wedding day, I'm fairly certain Courtney and Michael were at the venue before my husband and I were, and they had a wonderful way of always being in the right place at the right time, while never feeling intrusive. After the wedding, we quickly received a card from them with a few prints of highlights from the wedding, and soon after they sent us a thumbdrive with digital files of all the day's photos. We loved working with Courtney and Michael so much that they have practically become our family photographers, having also photographed both of my sisters' weddings. We simply can't say enough good things about them.

to-earth style - they capture real people, real weddings, and real feelings so well. But, over time, we realized that they helped us in many ways beyond photography. Before the wedding, we decided to shoot engagement photos with Courtney - she helped us get comfortable in front of a camera and get really excited about the opportunity to document our wedding day through her lens. In preparation for the wedding, they sent us a Google doc wedding day organizer and met with us to talk through the flow of the day, photos we want to capture, and overall get organized. Having recently gotten married, they shared tips and experiences from their wedding day and others that they have photographed that were so helpful. On our wedding day, Courtney brought her calm, joy and organization to all aspects of the day.  We have big families and were grateful to have The Compass Points Here on top of the photo list, organizing people to make sure we captured everyone. When we got access to our photos, we were thrilled with the beautiful photos and the thoughtful way that they were delivered - online access, plus a thumb drive and a few beautiful prints. We were all so impressed by Courtney and Michael that my two sisters booked The Compass Points Here for their weddings over the next 18 months. Courtney and Michael are consistently amazing to work with and in their art - we can't recommend them highly enough.

ichigan and we’re SO HAPPY we did! Throughout the whole process from our first meeting with Courtney and Michael to receiving our finished products, we were thoroughly impressed. I remember our first discussion with them well. My husband and I had many phone calls with wedding vendors throughout the planning process, but discussing details with Courtney and Michael was easy and fun. They understood our vision for the day instantly. We felt that they genuinely were excited for us as a couple and were looking forward to documenting our day. We decided on a package including both photos and a short film of the event. The final product for both photo and film far surpassed our expectations. For anyone pondering whether to budget for the featured film option, based on our experience with The Compass Points Here, I would say DEFINITELY DO IT! We have watched the video with friends and family countless times. It brings me so much joy to revisit the memories of our wedding AND it is so fun watching everyone’s reactions as they watch, reliving one of the best days of our lives. I cannot say enough about this company and the products they create. I’ve continued to follow their work even after receiving our wedding photos and am consistently impressed with their vision, creativity and skill. I look forward to working with them on projects, both big and small, for years to come. A million thanks to The Compass Points Here!