Timothy Whaley & Associates

We’ve all heard the saying you pay for what you get. Well that’s one of the reasons we chose TWA. We wanted a quality product and exceptional service. They come highly regarded in several magazines and various venues. Please do yourself a great service and take your business elsewhere.
Planning the wedding was a great experience and we receive excellent service from all our vendors except TWA. For the record the photographers were fantastic this is strictly about the way he company is ran.
We walked in to an office sat down with a associate and he went through he packages, we were promised a lot however we feel as if we were duped after the fact. We left the meeting after signing our contract as we felt they were a good fit.
Engagement photo session was «free» however this is when I started to have my doubts on the company. We were offered x amount of save the dates for free however if we wanted different ones there was an upcharge. With that we bought our save he dates from a different company.
after calling and asking a question about our package or policy that was in place the associate told me over the phone «well didn’t you read the contract». I was thrown back by this. That’s poor customer service. I am paying you for a service I expect to be treated like a valued customer rather than being asked if I read the contract. This happened again through and email. Another associate told me to read my contract. WHAT? Is this in there «customer service resolution»?
After our wedding we waited 6 weeks before we could even see photos and to do that we needed to go back into the office to talk with an associate. This is were you MUST buy an album in order to receive your wedding pictures… Again it’s in the contract, I get it. However it was not made explicitly clear. We were told once again to read the contract.
Please do yourself a favor and find a photography company that will truly value your business. Trust me… I have several friends that recently got married and has wonderful photography companies. I was told a few times «well we’ve had excellent reviews over the last 26 years» and «we’ve been voted highly in the Chicago land area»… How? Why? I can’t imagine that…

We used TWA for our wedding, and really it’s just been a giant train wreck since our wedding day. Why not 1 star? simple — the photographers we had were excellent, and took some great pictures.
The photographers would be given 4 or 5 stars if not for the company behind them. Aside from their pricing on things being lucratively high (albums start at $ 1500), everything is a project and a pain point. There is very little professional guidance along the way to creating your highly over priced photo album. The guidance they do give incorporates a slew of some of the least favorite pictures of anyone you ask. Keeping in mind that every 3 photos for your album is going to cost from $ 40 – 75 why would you have 6 pictures dedicated to uninteresting building fronts?! It’s my wedding album, not an advertisement for a hair salon!
So you go through the pain-​staking process of trying to select the recommended 100 photos out of the 1,400. You narrow it down, they give you the price explaining that if they need additional pages the price will increase — but hey, you already chopped down to their recommended number; you’ll be fine! …until they give you your first proof on your album… with 45% more slides than was discussed. Only an extra $ 700, no problem!
So you look through what they put together trying to understand how to make this work. They have an archaic system where you can leave notes about the edits you want to make, but they can’t even assemble your album in a chronological order. So in order to change one thing you also need to change 3 others.
I’m dreadfully close to just disputing the charges, and purchasing a digital release on photos to make my own album.
The whole point of using a larger photography firm is so they can apply professional and creative direction to something you aren’t adept at. TWA has dramatically missed the mark — when I’ll actually have my wedding pictures in hand? Lord only knows that answer.

I used this company for my wedding several years ago and had a terrible experience. I should have trusted my gut and cancelled after they changed my photographer for the second time.
The woman who arrived to take pictures the day of the wedding was polite but looked as if it was painful for her to be there.
The pictures and photo book I received were poor quality. The cover and binding are good construction and it will last for many years but the pictures inside are poorly cropped and blurry. For example, in a picture of me, my mother, and father, they cut off part of my fathers head. Another photo in the book is very blurry.
I’m very disappointed in the quality of my experience especially for the price. Maybe things are different now.

I was very concern about this company after reading all of the bad reviews. I decided to give them a shot and scheduled an appointment with them. BIG MISTAKE. They emailed me multiple times to confirm my appointment and send me a survey in multiple times. I answered their survey and confirmed the appointment. As if that was not enough, they called and continued to send emails with the same information. Not to mentioned that one of the ladies was rude to my fiancé. The photographer called but left no message. He sent a email and lied about leaving messages on my phone. He asked AGAIN for the information I had provided 3 times already. So annoying! There’s definitely no communication in this company and no professionalism. You are clearly a number, rather than a unique costumer. This is a great company if your interest is to be stocked by them and have your inbox filled with emails from them.

TWA did the photos for our wedding, and our experience was a mix — some good, some bad.
On the good front: The wedding album is beautiful! It looks professional, is well laid out, and tells the story of our wedding day very nicely. Also, our photographer was great to work with — nice guy, aware that he needs to not overly intrude, suggesting interesting and varied shots. And TWA was great about re-​opening the website for me to view photos after my aunt unexpectedly passed away so I could get photos of her for the funeral. TWA even provided the prints I picked out for free when they found out the reason.
On the bad front: I felt like I was dealing with used car salesmen — they want as much of your money as they can possibly cajole out of you. Every time I turned around, there was a «special offer» that was valid only if I ordered RIGHT NOW or that had some sort of catch (e.g., «free» in-​studio photo sessions that are worthless unless you also spring for a bunch of money for the prints). There are a lot of «freebies,» but don’t let that distract you from the cost vs. value of the main product you are buying. TWA also repeatedly asks for friends and family’s e-​mail addresses, ostensibly so they have the opportunity to view the photos, but really so TWA can pressure them to buy photos, too. In fact, it’s like a schoolkid’s fundraiser — if you and your friends/​family buy a total of $ 1000 worth of products (not including the album, of course), you get X for free; if the total is $ 2000 worth of products, you get X + Y for free; so get out there and pressure your friends and family to buy our stuff! Plus, their prices are quite expensive. Don’t get lured in (as we did) by the relatively reasonable up front photographer fee. The decent albums and all of the photos/​products on the back end are very pricey.
Finally, and most importantly, the photographer took a lot of photos (600+) and at first review of the proofs, we were very happy with them — a nice mix of close ups and more panoramic shots, good action shots during the reception, various groups of people, etc. But, it took me awhile to realize two very fundamental problems. First, there were ZERO photos of just me (the bride) in my wedding gown. Second, TWA told us that almost every single panoramic shot was not suitable for a large (18×20) print because the image would be too grainy. What exactly is the point of a panoramic shot (e.g., us with an expanse of dramatic dusky sky) if I can’t get turn it into a nice, large print? Even some of the closer shots of the two of us were not usable for a larger print. The process of selecting photos for prints and the album was very frustrating because we couldn’t use some of my favorite proofs.

Beware of this photography company! They give you an awesome presentation but do not hold to it. They do not know what customer service is and threaten you. Instead of working with you they work against you. And if they are not adhering to the contract they put all the blame on you. Plain and simple… not the photographer to use! One star is even too much to give.

I planned on using them for my wedding photography about a year ago, but had to cancel my contract after I met with my photographer and did a bit more research on TWA. I recommend you do the same and make up your own mind about this company. They are not cheap services and you are paying good money for your wedding photography and you should definitely get what you pay for.
I met with my photographer and he was very nice. He explained to me that he takes photos at the weddings and gives raw images to the studio for them to edit. He has no control over the edits that take place. I later found an add on Craig’s List from TWA looking for photograph editors «NO experience necessary» this did not sit well with me, mostly because during their sales pitch they specifically say they are «experienced company with experienced photographers» First Lie… I usually never give the opportunity for a second lie.
After all this I asked to see a wedding album from start to finish and not just the best images of random events, which they could not do. Furthermore, they could not provide me with credentials for their «experienced» photographers. How long have they been shooting wedding? How have your photojournalistic photographer gained their experience? etc. I was disappointed with the lack of answers to my questions and quickly asked for my deposit back. It is true that not everyone with a camera is a photographer and you should definitely take the time to find a good photographer/​company to work with. Everything about this company feels like a sale and not an experience.
I will say that once I asked for my deposit back they were pretty quick about helping me through that process. I will also mention that I reviewed them on a different site and received threatening emails that if I did not pull my review down I would have a law suit on my hands. Part of their contract has a non-​dispargement clause which pretty much says you can’t say anything bad about them… This is crazy!!! Needless to say I do not appreciate being threatened and I am very glad I did not use them. Horrible company!

We selected TWA to photograph our wedding in August 2014. We were «matched» with Joe (main photographer) and Jillian (action photographer).
Before the wedding, I met with Joe via teleconference twice for at least two hours each time to clearly describe my vision for the wedding. I also sent him multiple examples of photographs I liked to visually describe tour wedding style. This included natural-​looking photos and minimal posed shots. I specifically mentioned that we were taking four hours of photos before the ceremony because I did not want to be dragged into the hall continuously throughout the reception.
Not only was Joe awful to work with on my wedding day, but the photos are extremely disappointing. Joe refused to take a photo of me with eleven of my family members (five of which had flown in from Ireland for the wedding) because «he just couldn’t get everyone in the shot.» Our awkward, posed wedding photos are not even high quality. The shots are in direct sunlight, and we are squinting in almost every photo. In one of the only photos we took in the shade there is a large, blue, rusted mailbox in the background. Not exactly the treasured memories I was anticipating.
Jillian is the saving grace for this review and the only reason I am giving two stars. She was professional on the wedding day and truly took some beautiful photos.
With regard to the other aspects of the experience, this company requires so many in person meetings, I felt like I picked up a part-​time job. When I shared my negative experience through a survey, I received an email from a TWA representative that she thought Joe was truly a great photographer. Although it’s nice to get a follow up email, I’m frankly not interested in the rep’s opinion of my photographer. I shared my experience (as requested by the survey) and was met with a patronizing and meaningless response.
I honestly regret using TWA for my wedding and would encourage future brides to explore the many other options for a wedding photographer.

Our photographer Tom was great! He also did our engagement photos and on the day of the Wedding he was there and ready to help! He made sure to get the pictures that we wanted and worked hard to get the pictures that we needed. Overall, impressed with TWA!

Can I give zero stars??? STAY AWAY BRIDES!!! Our wedding was in Sept 2013 and how I felt after looking thru my photos was complete disappointment! The ones they show you when you come in for the consultation (and on their website) are artistic and beautiful and I told them what I want and don’t want… mine ended up looking like a regular adult /​teenager took them and they weren’t touched up or anything — fyi each additional touch-​up or enhancement is like $ 10+ per photo. YES PER PHOTO! Not to mention for people to purchase photos online are ridiculously expensive so much so that pretty much no one bought any. I even heard from our guest after looking at our photos that were untouched and not done very well. Very embarrassing because the photography was probably my main vendor I was excited about!
The day of our wedding I had Doug and Jerry (who were very very funny and really two great people to spend the day with).THAT IS MY ONLY POSITIVE COMMENT ABOUT MY WHOLE EXPERIENCE WITH THIS COMPANY!
I want to mention a HUGE FACT THAT BRIDES NEED TO KNOW is that if you don’t spend $ 4000+ on an album to purchase on top of the money that you already paid for their services-​YOU HAVE TO WAIT 6 MONTHS TO EVEN HAVE THE OPTION TO REQUEST A DISC OF YOUR PHOTOS!!! 6 MONTHS!!! They don’t tell you that until you’re ready to purchase your prints! We got married in Sept 2013 and they told me in July 2014 I could request my disc and that will take an additional 2 – 3 weeks after that! Very disappointed! Needless to say it’s July and I still don’t have my disc because I only bought an album for $ 700 the basic min amount I could.
The free 125 thank you’s they offer you are a joke too. Here I was thinking I was going to get a nice heavy cardstock type photo to be the thank you to send out… it’s a 4×6 photo (literally a photo with the photo paper writing on the back). It also took three tries to have them correct our thank you’s…one correction I had to tell them was to crop out the side magazine rack that was in our photo… seriously…should I even have to ask that?
I would also like to add that unfortunately we used their video services too. They also messed up my wedding video and it was a battle (I mean a battle including 12+ emails with me finally getting upset) to get them to fix it. I finally told them there are elementary mistakes on my video that I shouldn’t even need to battle with them on (including a 5 min period on the video where the camera was pointing away on the dance floor where no one was standing!!! All the dancing was to the side of the camera not even in the view).
Very unhappy and they charge way too much for their understated and boring photos you actually get. On the plus I LOVED the personality of Jerry our photographer, but as a whole very upset.
Also brides keep in mind when looking at the KNOT (which is where I based my decision off of) companies can PAY The Knot to remove bad reviews!!! Yes no wonder why they’ve won Top of The Knot for the last 8 years or something like that. It’s crap in my opinion!

We won a package from them

I am thankful I requested my deposit be returned to me after reading the reviews about their final products, but their Unilocal reviews were not even brought to my attention until after I had decided that I no longer wanted to work with this company.
First, the initial meeting, otherwise known as the sales pitch. The pressure to put down your deposit during your consult is extremely high. If you lock in that day you will get a free this and a free that — they make it sound like such a great deal! Also, you can always get your deposit back if you don’t like 2 photographers they recommend to you. And you read that right, THEY pick your photographers. You do not get to see any portfolios and choose a photographer. Your sales person picks for you.
Okay, we get the first recommended photographer, Wally. Wally has done over 700 weddings. I wouldn’t know this by his portfolio because he didn’t bring one. In fact, he said that the photographers were not allowed to bring a portfolio and that he would email me a link later that night. I know this because during our consult with Wally he was sure tell us just how amazing he was and how our wedding was «not a big deal» because he had done far bigger and better weddings. I learned that Indian weddings have over 1100 guests so our wedding with ONLY 200 guests is «nothing.» Oh yes, that is what a bride wants to hear. Now, we had told our sales person that we would be having 7 children in our wedding party (yeah, I know we are nuts but that is not the point). Well, you would think that they would assign us someone who works well with kids. No. No. No. Wally tells us how the children are going to misbehave and that he will not even try to get good pictures of them because they will probably not have had naps that day. Yes, that happened. Needless to say I left that consult and sat in my car bawling my eyes out and my poor fiancé had to remind me that it was going to be okay.
I email my sales guy and tell him that Wally is not going to work out and that we would like to meet with another photographer. I tell him what happened the night before. He did apologize but was quick to point out that he was surprised of our reaction because he had never had any problems with Wally before… well probably because you only allow your bride and groom one meeting with their photographer before the wedding and charge for any additional meetings. I am SO thankful we decided we wanted to meet our photographer very early on in the planning to ensure there was a good vibe and that we were willing to do all the detailed planning via email at a later date. Most couples wait until they know the more details — as it is recommended that you meet with the photographer 3 weeks prior to the wedding day (like you can make any changes then!!)
Anyway, then they recommend another photographer and actually send me the link to his portfolio. I emailed and called this photographer, as I was directed to do. After over a week and not hearing back, I emailed my sales guy and said I was done. Business etiquette is 2 days tops and it had been over a week. At first, I received an out of the office reply. A few hours later I received a «payment reminder» from someone else in the office. I replied with «see attached email sent this morning.» and copied my email requesting my deposit back. A few hours later I have a missed call on my cell phone from our photographer. I was really explicit in my email to my sales rep that I did not want to hear from this photographer, as I already had no respect for someone who didn’t have the respect to get back to me after over a week. It isn’t like we are paying a few hundred bucks here — when it would have been all said and done, I would have paid over $ 3000 to TWA!
I didn’t ever respond to the photographer. I did get an email from my sales rep apologizing for the miscommunications. He told me some lame excuse about my email to the photographer being found in a spam folder and him not having any missed calls from my number. He said that the photographer did try to call me earlier in the day and left me a message. And that is when I wanted to lose it! He couldn’t have left me a message because I don’t have voicemail set up on my phone! He asked if I was still willing to meet with the photographer. Once I said I wasn’t, he did send me the cancellation agreement. It took a few days to get my refund back in my account, but they did refund our deposit without a fight. That is the only reason I am not upset that there is not a zero star feature on Unilocal.
Good luck engaged couples!

I used Timothy Whaley for my wedding.
Our photographer was professional and a lot of fun the day of my wedding. He took some nice photos, but I was overall kind of disappointed with my wedding photos. The albums and pictures I saw advertised on Timothy Whaley’s website and in their studio were beautiful and artistic and wow-​ing. I feel like only a few of my wedding pictures were really great, but overall, I wasn’t blown away by the beauty of my wedding pictures. Overall, they were mediocre and just okay.
They also shot some of our engagement pictures (not the one in my profile picture) that came with the wedding package. I was very disappointed in my engagement shoot. There were maybe one or two photos of the 25+ that looked somewhat decent.
TWA is very expensive and not worth the price for the quality of pictures. I wouldn’t have minded paying as much as I did for my wedding pictures if the quality of my pictures were a lot nicer and more artistic.
The service and people we spoke to and worked with were nice and professional.

Meh. This review is based on my initial consultation and follow up communications. I did not hire them for my wedding.
Their office in Lombard was very nice & their sales pitch was well rehearsed & professional. Everything sounded great and all of the sample pictures were beautiful. Once I started asking questions, I could tell this wasn’t the photography company for me. I didn’t like how you are matched with a photographer instead of choosing one. I did however like that you have a backup in case your assigned photographer cancels. I asked the sales rep how many photographers work for them & he said he had no idea. Really??? They emphasize that you don’t have to commit to purchasing an album until after the wedding. What they neglected to mention is they will not release your digital prints until you buy an album. Sneaky, sneaky!
I was pressured to put a deposit down on the spot because it was refundable. I resisted. They said they would shoot me a follow up e-​mail summarizing everything we discussed. I «promptly» received that follow-​up e-​mail 2 weeks later.

If I could give TWA zero stars, I would.
I was incredibly particular about choosing all of my wedding vendors, and TWA was no different. During our introductory meeting, I was very clear about the kind of photos I wanted. We walked through examples, I pointed out what I did and didn’t like, and they assured me that they could provide exactly what I was looking for. When I finally got assigned a photographer and met with him in person, he also assured me he was the man for the job, and we discussed who we were as a couple and what we were looking for in our wedding photos for over an hour. We wanted natural looking photos with an artistic flair and very few photos with us looking at the camera.
Not only did we not get the photo style we were looking for, the quality was incredibly low and unprofessional. I have a DSLR camera and am confident I could’ve taken better photos myself. And they took nearly two months to even send an online gallery, when most of my friends got their photos within a week!
Then, you have to pay an additional $ 2,000 for a bridal book. I was again assured that a team of designers would bring my vision to life. What I got back was seriously a joke – totally unprofessional with some of the photos not even centered on the page! AND if you have more than one round of edits, they charge you!
On top of all of this, the customer service has been atrocious. They require so many in person meetings and calls, it is exhausting. They take a cookie cutter approach to all of their weddings and customers. And after I gave two bad reviews on their surveys, no one even followed up with me or asked why.
I deeply regret using TWA for my wedding and would encourage anyone reading this to stay far away from them and go with a more trustworthy, smaller company or independent photographer.

I really enjoyed working with TWA and loved my photographer Jerry and my videographer Rex. They were very professional, Jerry had a lot of good ideas, he even helped me pick location where to take the pictures due to the fact that my first choice did not work out. I got my video back in 2 weeks and my proofs, much faster then expected even with wedding season in full blown session!

Ok — update as promised once we received our album. Phenomenal. Absolutely beautiful. Incredible craftsmanship and quality present on every page. Worth every cent. We had high expectations and this album met or exceeded them all. I am a firm believer in ‘you get what you pay for’ — it wasn’t cheap to purchase, and sure doesn’t look it either. Thank you TWA!

One day after posting the below-​review, Timothy Whaley himself, or he said he was Timothy Whaley, called my cell phone to complain about my Unilocal review (even though these are supposed to be somewhat anonymous). He argued with me about how great of company he has and told me I needed to take my review down. Once I mentioned I was an attorney and that I had a right to share my opinions, he THEN told me I was lying and that it was illegal to impersonate an attorney. Rightfully so, I ended the conversation, only to have him harass me and continue to call me back and email my personal email account.
Even more so than ever, I HIGHLY recommend never contacting this studio.

I am writing this review also in advance, my wedding is 3 months away but I booked with Timothy Whaley probably over 9 months ago. The consultation was great — I liked meeting with a real photographer, he had really good ideas and the photos they showed were beautiful. I have had a really long engagement and TW has been great to work with, my assigned photographer has emailed me numerous times about setting up a time and a place to meet, and the specific contact people I have on my «team» are always reminding me when payments are due.
I am really surprised by the negative reviews, a lot of them are about the consultations, not even from people who have actually selected and used them. I also think it is really cool that the owner himself has come onto Unilocal to respond to a lot of the bad reviews with an apology and an offer to try and make things right.
I am really excited about the photography at my upcoming wedding and am confident that my photos are going to be amazing. I am especially excited about having a photojournalist :)

I should update with the ‘response’ that my fiancé recieved from this fine, upstanding example of what is wrong with the wedding industry today.
So, these guys like to hide behind their stupid little nomination by that website, ‘the Knot.’ Except, well, they will nominate anybody for their little ‘award’ it seems (this company being proof, in my mind.) Yes, instead of an apology of wasted time or their horrific, demeaning treatment, my fiancé got an email bragging about how they have their little internet award and a half-​hearted discount offer. Oh, how did they know? Of course I’m willing to pay well over a thousand dollars for your service because you have an award from the internet! And especially after reading other reviews, I’d love to have photos that will most likely come out wrong, crappy, or just plain *boring.*
I still get garbage mailed to me by them, postcards and such, and I take great pleasure in destroying each and every one of them. I alternate between burning them, giving them to my cat to tear up, and tacking them to dartboards.
Brides and grooms, do yourself a great favor and thoroughly research photographers before you set up appointments, because jerks like these will waste your time, and probably end up screwing up your wedding day if you ignore those red flags and trust them anyway. We deserve better.