Joel Marion Photography

I made the mistake of buying two sessions off Groupon to get photos done with Joel. He is very nice, and probably better at taking pictures that doesn’t involve kids. I really REALLY wanted to get a good photo of my family and while there’s one from each session that is… ok. I didn’t get THE picture that I can order on canvas, which was the point of me getting photos done. My kid is little and wasn’t quite wanting to work with the camera, but, I would assume most kids are probably that way. Joel couldn’t get his attention, so every picture is blank face unless I was behind the camera getting him to smile. But I take pictures of just him all the time… Most shots were off center, and not artistically off center, just. awkward. And they are almost all so close, you have no idea we were in a really beautiful park. He missed a lot of good shots while checking his camera and looking for another spot to walk to as well. We have a handful of good photos from the two, but I wish I would have looked into another photographer that specializes in kids and family sessions. Those are the only professional photos I have had done since my son was born and they were pretty disappointing.

I hired Joel Marion to do our wedding photography. After seeing how many photographers there are out there, it can be an overwhelming process, but to be honest, Joel had two big things going for him. (1) He did my sister’s wedding and her pictures were absolutely beautiful (he was a known quantity) and (2) As I already stated, his pictures were absolutely beautiful.
Don’t get me wrong, I did my due dilligence and made sure I checked other photographers, but in the end, I knew I wanted to go with Joel, no question.
When you are going into your wedding day, the last thing you want to be worried about it whether you have a photographer you trust to get all your pictures, or get pictures you like, or a photographer that doesn’t show up in flip flops and cut offs (seriously, I’ve seen it happen)
I was so comfortable with Joel from the start. Our package included engagement pictures. So on a frosty day in January, we headed to the City Museum. We got some seriously awesome pictures that day, and couldn’t wait to order them. They were the first pictures we hung on our wall in our new house and we get tons of compliments.
Now my wedding pictures. Oh my, they are gorgeous. My main problem is narrowing down to my favorites because there are so many that I just love! He took pictures of everything: programs, flowers, people, the church, the ceremony, great pictures in Tower Grove Park, gorgeous reception pictures. I seriously cannot compliment him enough. I LOVE my wedding pictures.
His wife runs the business side as well, and she is an absolute joy to work with.
If you are looking for an excellent wedding photographer, I cannot recommend Joel enough. He isn’t just some fly by night guy with a digital camera, he’s been doing this since everything was on film and every shot counted. Trust me, it does make a difference. I am so happy with my photographer choice.

We too purchased a Groupon from Joel Marion. I was incredibly impressed from start to finish. For starters, we were able to book an appointment time very quickly – and change the appointment time 3 times without any complaints from Carol, who handles scheduling. On the day of the shoot (finally – I was traveling a lot on business), Joel was exceedingly professional, showed up on time, and took his time to ensure that we got a variety of poses and photos. Rather than asking Joel to come to a park closeby, I figured that it would make more sense to ask if there was a park where he likes to shoot (as photographers seem to have a knack for good angles, spots, etc. at their favorite places). We went to Twin Oak Park in West County – it was absolutely beautiful. About a week later, we received a link to view the photos online and an invitation to pick up the disk…
The photos turned out even better than expected – we have paid much more than $ 60 for a photo shoot with a CD (going rates are in the $ 500+ range, even for so-​so photographers) and were very, very happy.
There’s no question that there are probably «better» or «more artistic» photographers in St. Louis – but you’ll pay over $ 1000 if you are buying a decent number of prints, or, heaven forbid, need the photo release – but considering the price, the flexibility, and the overall quality of the finished portraits, we couldn’t have been happier.

How to word this as nicely as possible because he was very sweet. Without the Groupon there is no way I would have paid for this.
We got 1 hour in the package, but he was 15 minutes late, so our very rushed session was actually only about 40 minutes (he had clients in the next hour slot that he didn’t want to be late for– ouch). Tower Grove Park was our chosen location since it has meaning to our family. Rather than go in and around the park he shot next to a building and a fence. Our pictures look like they were taken in a parking lot, not the park. He would only shoot in shade which did help the pictures, but it would have been nice to be told this before hand so I could find a better location.
We got 5 nice pictures out of it, but it was incredibly disappointing.

As soon as I saw the Groupon for this deal I was intrigued. After researching his website I realized what an amazing deal the Groupon offer was.
We chose the Jewel Box in Forest Park on a beautiful Fall day in October to shoot our family portrait. Joel was great with the kids and my 18 month old boy barely stays in one place but I knew Joel captured some great shots. We did multiple family shots, the kids together, individual, mom and daughter, dad and son. My 4 year old daughter felt like she was a model… Joel just kept shooting and she loved every minute of it.
When we got our high resolution DVD a week later I could not be happier. Apparently he sold over 1000 Groupons and he personally does each one. If there is another similar special I am on top of it for next year. Thanks Joel!