Cherise Kiel Photography

We flew out to Arizona for vacation (from Chicago), and hired Cherise for our family portraits. The session itself was AMAZING, and we received such gorgeous images that we will cherish forever. The images were delivered to us before 10 day suggestion, and are now printed all over our home. I would, and do, recommend her over and over again.

Cherise is an excellent photographer with a great vision. We were very happy with our engagement photos as well as our wedding photos! She was very attentive on the day of our wedding not only with the pictures but with making sure my dress, vail and hair was in its right place for the best photos. She took all the photos we asked of her and even took photo requests from our guests even though she had her own timeline to follow. She was kind and courteous to us and our guests, professional at all times! She even stayed late to make sure she was able to photograph our grand exit when we were running behind schedule. Her editing is natural and makes you look your best in photos and not overly photoshopped. We were very happy with the prints she provided to us and her website where she publishes your finished photos was easy to use to download your pictures. Most importantly, beautiful photographs is what you will get with Cherise! We look forward to working with her again in the future!
–Anna Van

Cherise is a very skilled artist, and a joy to work with. I am a professional photographer myself, and know that investing in quality, professional portraiture is an important investment for my family.
We were very happy with the images she’s captured in the several sessions we’ve had with her. Not only were our images delivered before the 2 weeks she originally quoted (they were online within a week!) She provided extra images of my rambunctious family.
In our last session, my son was a little terror that wanted nothing to do with pictures. She managed to tame him, entertain him, and capture some amazing images.
We are beyond thrilled with the portraits, and the experience we’ve had with Cherise Kiel Photography.

I found Cherise online and thought she had amazing work and let that alone speak for itself. Unfortunatly, I wish I had researched reviews prior to having our session. Two stars are simply for the shots she captured. In regards to business matters, she falls way below standards. She is quick to respond to initial FB messages; take your booking fee and then pretty much is AWOL. Her email said she will typically contact you a few days before your session (ummm…shouldnt you do this more than just typically?) Needless to say, I did the coorespondence to confirm our appts and assure myself we were still on. She never asked anything about our family (ie: likes, hobbies etc) in an effort to help with a location or props. This was the practice of other photographers we have worked with in the past. Our FB sneak peaks were posted that night as discussed and we were told it would be 2 weeks for our gallery to be posted. A few days after the 2 week mark our gallery was up. After we selected prints, we have still not received an invoice to pay (which means more waiting). After a week of no response from Cherise, I emailed her, FB messaged her and still have had no response. Curious as to what «timely» means to other reviewers. Whats annoying is she continues to post pictures on FB as her messages and emails go unattended to. I agree with the other reviews in that her lack of professionalism is why she is should NOT be trusted as your photographer. Almost a month after our shoot… I have no pictures… and no invoice to pay for them even though I selected them. Wedding photos generally have a turn around of 4−6weeks…so why are my family photos rounding the 4 week mark. with still no word from her??? So sad that a talented photographer loses referals for her poor business ethic!!! Get your customer service and your business in order before booking and taking peoples money.

Cherise is awful!!! We signed up for her first year package. At first when signing up for one of Cherise’s photo packages she is sweet and will communicate with you within a matter of minutes. Once you pay and book with her then let the torture and anger begins. Her photos are okay, but save yourself the time and money and choose another photographer. It will take months for you to get your product and to have her respond to you after you have paid her a significant amount of money. Cherise is a terrible communicator and does not know how to run a business at all! It’s funny… when she first posts your pictures online for review, you have 13 days or so to view them. If you do not make a selection at that time, she will then remove the photos and will charge you $ 50 dollar fee to post them back online. Cherise should pay my wife for all of my wife’s efforts of trying to get our pictures that we paid good money for and a response back from this lady! Needless to say she will not be taking our son’s year picture. Cherise is great at making facebook post. Maybe she should pay a little less attention to facebook and email her clients!

Cherise is a great photographer, but is terrible at communicating and running a business. My good friend had a similar experience and I see Facebook messages that are similar, so I know it is not just me. Cherise does not respond to emails or phone calls. It could take up to a month to get an email response, which is completely unacceptable when you are trying to plan engagement sessions or find out where your pictures are. It started off rocky when it took 3 months to get our engagement pictures. We wanted to use them for our Save the Date, but after several emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages, we just couldn’t wait any longer and used a different picture for our Save the Dates. Next, I asked for our guest book in April for our June wedding. After several emails, she assured us we would have it in April. It never came and she showed up with it on the day of our wedding. I had no idea if I would have my guest book the night before our wedding due to her lack of commitment and communication to us. She made every excuse in the book, i.e. My email isn’t working, the photo company I use sent the wrong stuff, I never got your email, blah, blah, blah. Because of the lack of communication and commitment, we almost fired her but were afraid we wouldn’t find anyone in a couple months. We also told her we would not pay her the remaining of our balance until we received our book and pictures in a timely manner. Everything went smoothly at the wedding, although she did show up about 20 minutes late. She did get our pictures on the website within a few weeks, which was shocking. It took 9 months of communication via email to get the wedding book done because she refused to meet me and get the wedding book done in a couple hours in person. She was supposed to order it in February. Our one year anniversary came and went in June and we still didn’t have our wedding book. She never once emailed or called to say the book had been ordered (this was the case for our engagement pictures and our wedding pictures). When I reached out again in June, she assured me I would get the book that Monday since she already sent it. Well a couple Mondays went by and no book. I emailed her 3 times asking for the tracking number so I could follow up. Of course, there wasn’t one because she never mailed it. I got no response. Did I mention she updates her Facebook every hour, but can’t communicate with paying clients? My husband and I were moving in July so I was worried we would never get our book. I finally emailed her, although I really wanted to post on Facebook, that if I did not receive my book within the week, I would begin posting on every site I could find. No response but the book came 4 days later, post marked the day before. What a joke. She still hasn’t made any attempt to reach out to me.
I highly recommend not using her if you need pictures in a timely manner. It won’t happen. I promise. This same thing happened to my friend, and I wish I never hired her.