Matthew Kuehl Photography

My husband and I hired Matt for our wedding two weeks ago, and we could not be more thrilled with our decision. Matt was professional, kind, and is so talented at his craft.
Leading up to the day, Matt was extremely communicative about the details of the day and made sure that everything was all set before the big day arrived. On the day, both he and his second shooter, Janet, were amazing at both capturing candid moments and getting wonderful posed shots of us, our families, our wedding party, and our guests. They were vocal when they needed to be vocal (posing us, etc.), but most of the time, we had no idea they were even there. The result is almost 600 incredible, natural photos that truly capture the spirit of our wedding.
Matt’s price cannot be beat, and you get such a phenomenal service for that price. You also cannot underestimate how huge it is that you will have full rights to your photos. We had a CD of our photos in our mailbox two days after Matt asked for our address, and we now have them to treasure forever.
Matt’s posed shots are wonderful, and we absolutely love them, but what sets Matt apart from the others is that he has a knack for capturing incredible moments. The photos Matt got of my dad seeing me in my wedding dress for the first time, of my husband and bridesmaids laughing at a photo one of them had taken, of my flower girls talking to me before the ceremony… These are photos that we treasure and that have immortalized such special moments to us.
We cannot say enough good things about Matt and his business. He has our highest recommendation.

Matt was easy to work with throughout the whole wedding process. He was mindful of what we do and don’t like in our pictures and did a great job of capturing candid and spontaneous moments. We had hoped to avoid having a «in-​your-​face» photographer, and we’re glad that was never an issue with Matt. His style is relaxed, but it’s clear from our pictures that he didn’t miss a thing.
We also found his prices and photo rights couldn’t be beat. He turned our pictures around quickly and we’ve been thrilled with the results.

I wish I could say I had the same experience with Matt as the other Unilocalers did. My husband and I hired Matt for our wedding this past May. The portfolio he showed us was pretty good and the price was even better, but if I had to do it all over again I would have paid a little more for a better photographer.
When we met Matt at our first consultation we felt he was not very friendly but chalked it up to him being ‘artistic’. At that meeting I specifically told him that I wanted to meet him at our wedding venue as we got closer to the date because it was a unique place with unusual lighting (not the typical banquet hall) and Matt said that was no problem. When I called him a couple of months before our wedding to set up that meeting he asked why we wanted to meet with him and seemed very annoyed. We did set the appointment but because he had to reschedule so many times we were never able to show him the inside of our venue (another story!).
We asked Matt where we could take pictures with our wedding party before the wedding. He suggested the bridge in Lincoln Park for the beautiful backdrop of the Chicago skyline. I arranged for a shuttle to take the wedding party from our hotel to Lincoln Park before the wedding (which Matt opposed to taking with us but eventually did). When we got there Matt ran off leaving us not knowing where to go and me wondering around in my wedding dress! We eventually found him near the bridge we were to take pictures at. My wedding party lined up in front of the bridge, Matt took ONE picture and said he had what he needed. We were all very confused. Matt did take some additional pictures of my husband and I but we thought we were at LP for the backdrop of the city skyline?!? And we wasted $ 350 on a shuttle that had a 3 hour minimum and we used for 45 minutes.
When we got to the wedding venue to take family/​group pictures Matt did not call shots or pose anyone and it turned into a bit of a chaotic scene. Additionally, there were 2 locations in the venue I wanted pictures taken of my husband and I, and again, Matt only took ONE of each. Matt just seemed annoyed with us the whole time, and when my brother asked him a couple questions about his camera (my brother does photography for a hobby) Matt was extremely rude to him. Then when his ‘assistant’ showed up I learned Matt had never met him before which surprised me. Later, my day-​of coordinator had to pull Matt aside because she was getting so upset with his attitude.
When we got our pictures back we were so disappointed. The ONE picture on the LP bridge was terrible, and the portrait shots were not much better. Every picture has someone looking in the wrong direction, or some of the men in a picture had their hands in their pockets while others didn’t, some pictures had the bridesmaids holding up their bouquets while others were holding them down, etc. They just didn’t look like a professional took them. Also, there were almost no pictures of guests. The candid shots, although great, only included our family and wedding party for the most part.
I know this has turned into bit of a rant, but I think people that are considering hiring Matt need to know my experience with him. However, Matt did produce some great shots of just my husband and I as well as some good candid shots, so it wasn’t a complete loss. But Matt definitely taught me a lesson– when someone’s price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

My friends and I hired him at the last minute to take photos at a Prom theme party. He replied to a Craigslist ad my friend posted.
He was very friendly and we had no trouble working out the details with him. He was extremely quick to reply to our emails which was so helpful.
The day of, the arrived on time, and was very professional. He also went above and beyond. He helped give us some great ideas for poses. He really sprung into action — saying you pose like this, and have this expression, etc. The final result was better than we could have hoped for.
Just the day after the event Matt had already posted a 37 photo preview for us! It made my day!
I would definitely recommend hiring him. His work is great, and he is also a really nice guy.

There are so many choices when it comes to wedding vendors, sometimes it can be hard to make a final decision. I knew from the minute I saw Matt’s blog that I wanted to use him as our photographer for our wedding. There was just something about his pictures that made me feel good. I know, that sounds cheesy, but it’s true.
The day of our wedding was amazing. What I really loved about Matt and his assistant, Ernst, was that I don’t think I saw him the entire time! He was never in my face or in the way but he managed to capture some of the most amazing moments. We have such great photos, I can’t even believe it! Matt is very professional and has such an incredible eye. Even the usual posed shots that everyone hates to take (lol) came out beautifully.
My only regret is not sending him a shot list of essential photos and for me being so disorganzied with the timing of everything. Even still, he managed to work with what we gave him and get some great shots. Oh and the Monday after the wedding he put pictures up on facebook so that we and our friends and family could have a sneak peek. I loved that.
I can’t say enough good things about Matt. I really can’t. I would use him again in a heartbeat. If I lived in Chicago I would hire him to take photos for all our major life events. You will not regret hiring him.

We hired Matthew for our wedding, and it was amazing. He and his assistant were both professional and awesome, well coordinated, and had lots of great ideas. A sneak preview album was uploaded to Facebook for all of our friends and family to see before we even got done with our honeymoon, and our full photo gallery was available very soon after that. Our pictures turned out amazing, and we have received tons of compliments.
We are so happy with his work, as are our family and guests. This was one of my favorite surprises when we reviewed the photos — every single guest was in at least one shot, and usually more than one. He caught numerous guests during cocktail hour, he got every group that was seated for dinner, and any couple that decided to dance, he got a photo of them. It’s one of my favorite parts of his amazing photography, which I still can’t get over.
We’re currently trying to decide which ones to frame, and we are having too hard of a time trying to decide — there’s so many we love!

We hired Matt for our wedding photography and he was excellent — always at the right place, swooping in to capture whatever was happening. But the best thing was how the photos turned out. We continue to get compliments like «those are the best wedding photos we’ve ever seen». In conversations about our wedding people often bring up Matt, his team and the photos. Really superb work. We couldn’t have made a better choice!

My photos are fantastic! I called Matt at the last minute (just the day before I wanted to get photos) with an odd request. I just wanted some candid shots of me and my best friend during her first visit to Chicago. Matt did a fantastic job of capturing moements of us just talking and playing around as we explored the sights of the city… Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, etc.
The whole process took about 2 hours and his price was fantastic. All my friends have commented about how great the photos look and how he did a great job of capturing our personalities in the shots.
I highly recommend Matt as he was able to capture exactally what we were looking for with very little direction.
Oh, did I mention that I HATE, HATE, HATE to have my picture taken and was not entusatic about the experience going into it. However, Matt managed to ease my nerves and captured some great shots.
I highly recommend using Matt if you intent is to capture the «moment» and not just capture some standard picture of your special times.

Our photos are gorgeous! Matt was flexible with our time and location, really patient with my husband and I who were not exactly experts at modeling, and he got the most beautiful candid real moments. He does a great job capturing movement, laughter, and just getting the best moments on film. I’ve had so many guest tell me they are some of the best photos they’ve seen.
He was really professional and even brought a second photographer, Gill, who was also excellent. He went to the location before the event to check out shots/​lighting, they were there early set up and ready to go, it was just a huge part of the wedding day that I didn’t have to worry about at all. They were really reasonably priced, and I can’t imagine better photos. I recommend them as highly as possible to anyone.

My husband and I chose Matt to be our photographer because his work looked beautiful, and his prices were affordable. We are SO happy with our choice! My friends and family raved about our photos! Matt was flexible and friendly, and he captured every special moment on our wedding day. I highly recommend him for your photographic needs!