Chicago wedding photographer Steve Koo specializes in modern, nontraditional wedding photojournalism. He combines his background in wedding photojournalism with a love for fine art to create contemporary, beautiful wedding photography. While based in Chicago, Steve travels both domestically and internationally for several weddings and engagement sessions every year.
He balances his documentary style wedding photojournalism with fine art portraiture. While traditional photography will always have its place, he uses his background in fine art photography to make your portraits beautiful, fun, and nontraditional. Most of all, he wants you to have fun. While you're having fun and letting the day's events unfold, Steve captures the emotions, laughter, and tears that make your wedding day its own.
He balances his documentary style wedding photojournalism with fine art portraiture. While traditional photography will always have its place, he uses his background in fine art photography to make your portraits beautiful, fun, and nontraditional. Most of all, he wants you to have fun. While you're having fun and letting the day's events unfold, Steve captures the emotions, laughter, and tears that make your wedding day its own.
Services
I want you to love your wedding photos. Working with couples who see beauty in the moments and emotions that make up a wedding day reminds me of what an amazing and important job I have. I accept a limited number of weddings every year so I can always be the energetic, fun, and easy-going photographer focused on capturing your day.
Best wedding vendor decision we made! Hiring Steve as our wedding photographer was by far the best decision I made in my wedding planning process. I blog stalked Steve for months before hiring (and almost everyday thereafter) and was excited to see that Steve was constantly improving on his already amazing talent.
Reviews (22)
Vanessa Nomellini
Nov 01, 2021
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Steve Koo is one of the most amazing photographers. His photos are not only stunning, but he has a unique talent of capturing the emotions of everyone in the photos he takes. On top of that, Steve is a wonderful person. He genuinely wanted to get to know us so that he could tailor our wedding photos just for us. From our first consultation to the day of the wedding, he made the process comfortable and seamless. He makes it a point up front that he is the type of photographer that blends into the background, rather than trying to set up the moments he captures. And he wasn’t wrong! We heard from
Katy K.
Oct 21, 2021
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Steve photographed both my Sister and her husband's micro-wedding in 2020 (when they had to postpone their actual wedding), as well as their recent vow-renewal and celebration in 2021. As a wedding planner, I referred my Sister and brother-in-law to Steve and I'm so glad I did. He is such a talented photographer and his calming, yet fun, and professional nature is the perfect personality to have on wedding day. He made everyone feel so comfortable and managed the schedule so well. I simply cannot wait to see the magic that he produced from last weekend's celebration! You will be
Grace Kim Kellogg
Jun 21, 2021
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Steve was exactly the kind of photographer we were looking for!
We wanted someone who is good at turning unscripted moments into beautiful memories, and someone who could capture the intimate yet stunning, traditional yet unconventional nature of our small ceremony at our church.
I love the way Steve uses movement, natural lighting and colors to bring life to each photo—when viewing the entire album, it feels like you’re reading a unique story book.
Even moments that are usually frowned upon (such as my husband’s dad having his phone out to record the entire ceremony) ended up being a
We wanted someone who is good at turning unscripted moments into beautiful memories, and someone who could capture the intimate yet stunning, traditional yet unconventional nature of our small ceremony at our church.
I love the way Steve uses movement, natural lighting and colors to bring life to each photo—when viewing the entire album, it feels like you’re reading a unique story book.
Even moments that are usually frowned upon (such as my husband’s dad having his phone out to record the entire ceremony) ended up being a
Katie Osberg
Jan 25, 2021
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I can't say enough great things about Steve Koo Photography! My wife and I were lucky enough to land Steve as our photographer, and we couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome of both our engagement and wedding photos. Steve does an incredible job of capturing the moment in the most candid way possible. Outside of a few formal shots, I loved that nothing felt too staged. In addition, Steve was able to capture our personalities with his approach. While posing for a ton of photos can be awkward at times, he made us feel comfortable, and kept the mood light and fun. Professionally, he is incredibly
Lyndsey A.
Jan 21, 2020
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Steve Koo Photography is the best!! I couldn't have asked for a better wedding photographer and overall photography experience! Not only is Steve one of the nicest and most genuine people ever, his photography is absolutely stunning. I found Steve through a friend who used him for her wedding - I was obsessed with her photos. From the moment I had my first call with Steve I knew I wanted to work with him. Steve was super accommodating to travel to a destination of our choice for our engagement shoot. We got to know him a little bit and learn to feel comfortable being photographed. Our engagement
Kylie P.
Jan 11, 2020
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Steve was hands down our favorite vendor of our wedding. We aren't the most photogenic people and Steve helped us feel comfortable and made the photo taking experience enjoyable and fun for us. The photos from our wedding turned out amazing and captured all the best memories! He was professional throughout the entire experience. We would highly recommend Steve to anyone and everyone!
Burger Wedding
Dec 05, 2019
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Steve is the best! We hired him and an assistant of his for our wedding a couple of weeks ago and he was so fun and professional and made sure we got all of the photos we wanted. The entire process was seamless and simple from booking all the way up to the actual day of. They spent the entire day and evening with us. He even sent us a sneak peak video slideshow of some images and it was such a tease because they were so awesome we cannot wait to see the entire album. Our experience was so wonderful and Steve and his assistant photographer were such a pleasure to be with all day! I cannot say enough
Kimberly T.
Jun 20, 2019
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Steve was great to work with! We live about an hour and a half outside Chicago, and he came out to us to do our engagement shoot. He was so easy to work with, and made us comfortable, both during our engagement session and at the wedding. On the wedding day, he seemed to be everywhere that something important was happening, but was not obtrusive and for most of the day, I didn't even realize he was there. He was also willing to go out and take some nighttime shots with us in the rain/snow, and made sure to get all the shots we want, but made sure to get us back as quickly as possible so
Sammi Nadel
Oct 25, 2018
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Steve Koo is simply the best. Every time I look through our photos (which is A LOT), I feel as though I'm reliving the wedding because of how he captured the joy of our day in such a candid, natural way. Each picture is so perfectly composed and artistic, and is the exact opposite of the stuffy, traditional, boring photos that I previously thought all wedding photos were. Besides his incredible talent, Steve is absolutely the nicest guy around and was a pleasure to work with. He was on time, professional, organized and calm. I truly cannot recommend him enough and feel beyond lucky to have had
Tiffany D.
Aug 30, 2018
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Steve took some "Wall hanger worthy" engagement photographs a few weeks ago. He was very patient with us during the process especially when the weather did not cooperate the first time around. Steve's pricing reflects the value and expertise he has and I encourage you to look at his blog to get a feel for his photographs as they are phenomenal.
Aileen Chan
Jul 28, 2018
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Steve is seriously the best. As soon as we got the wedding venue and date, we booked him immediately! He shot our engagement shoot and our wedding .He is incredibly professional and knows what he's doing. He's also got a great personality and got along with my friends getting ready with me too. Steve has impeccable attention to detail and is incredible at capturing the most important parts of your big day. All of our guests loved his shots and they really bring tears to our eyes every time we see them. Steve does whatever is necessary for the shot. See the picture of him on the sidewalk in downtown
Victoria C.
Jul 12, 2018
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My husband and I hired Steve to photograph our wedding for our wedding in Lake Geneva, WI in May of 2018. I would give Steve 10 stars if I could.
First, he is incredibly talented. I knew I wanted to hire him after looking through his work. Steve is an artist. Very impressed with the quality of his photos. His photos speak for themselves. Follow him on Instagram!
Second, he turns things around in a very timely manner. He got us our engagement photos in less than two weeks and we receive a preview of our wedding photos a couple of weeks after our wedding as well!
Last, Steve is so kind and
First, he is incredibly talented. I knew I wanted to hire him after looking through his work. Steve is an artist. Very impressed with the quality of his photos. His photos speak for themselves. Follow him on Instagram!
Second, he turns things around in a very timely manner. He got us our engagement photos in less than two weeks and we receive a preview of our wedding photos a couple of weeks after our wedding as well!
Last, Steve is so kind and
Amy L.
Jul 01, 2018
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We just got our wedding photos back from Steve and they are amazing! He took photos of everything, but somehow was never in the way at all. No one even noticed him, but turns out he was everywhere taking photos.
The photos are outstanding. Most photos are candid so they really show what happened throughout the wedding. They are the best candid photos I've ever seen. Steve also took some outdoor photos of us at night that look like they belong in a magazine.
The weather was not what we expected and I love the photos even more because of it. Steve made a cloudy Chicago day look super dramatic
The photos are outstanding. Most photos are candid so they really show what happened throughout the wedding. They are the best candid photos I've ever seen. Steve also took some outdoor photos of us at night that look like they belong in a magazine.
The weather was not what we expected and I love the photos even more because of it. Steve made a cloudy Chicago day look super dramatic
Gabriella M.
Feb 09, 2018
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It is hard to put into words how thrilled we were (and still are!) to have Steve as our wedding photographer. He perfectly captured the essence of our special day and told a story that not only reflected our love and happiness, but the joy we derived from friends and family who celebrated with us. Steve is kind, patient, and extremely professional, and it was such a privilege to work with him. We will cherish our gorgeous photos forever -- thank you, Steve!!
Melissa L.
Jan 18, 2018
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Steve Koo is a friendly, cheerful, happy, and incredibly skilled photographer. In all of our consultations with him he was smiling and so excited for the adventure of our wedding to take place. He got to know us personally, so that he would know what was important for us to be captured on the day of the wedding. He even became quick friends with our two rambunctious dogs on our engagement shoot! He showed up full of energy on the wedding day, and chose an excellent second photographer as well. The range of photos he provided us range from the classic portraits (at our request) to broad, expansive
Megan Z.
Jan 06, 2018
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We had an amazing experience with Steve! Right when we got engaged I began researching photographers, because that was one of the most important elements of our wedding (for me). We made a short list but Steve was definitely #1 on that list. We were thrilled he was available for our wedding date and that we got the opportunity to hire him. He made everything super easy leading up to the wedding with a questionnaire a few weeks out that helped him gather all the information he needed (agenda, photo groupings, style preferences, etc.). And we did a quick phone call the week before to do a final run
Laura G.
Dec 10, 2017
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Finally getting around to writing wedding vendor reviews and I HAVE to start with my favorite. Steve is incredible at what he does. If I could afford to have someone follow me around forever and take photos of my daily life a la Beyonce, it would be Steve. He's great at capturing candid moments that so many other photographers would likely miss. On our wedding day, he was the perfect balance of delightful and invisible. He's super friendly and all interactions with him were easy/fun, but he was also amazingly unobtrusive throughout the ceremony and reception. I don't even remember
Melanie P.
Nov 09, 2017
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This review is LONG overdue but we want to make sure Steve Koo gets the credit he deserves! We first met Steve at our engagement photo session in Chicago. Steve's personality is warm and friendly and we instantly clicked with him... It was like hanging out with an old friend! He helped us to feel comfortable in front of the camera and it really showed through our engagement photos. He shot our destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas in May 2017. He brought his assistant Angela Rene with him and we absolutely LOVED working with the both of them. Our guests commented on how they were both incredibly
Michelle Getz
Dec 14, 2015
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We are so happy with the results of both our engagement and wedding photos! Steve is such a talented photographer. He has an incredible ability to capture such emotion in his photographs. Each picture is so full of life with such beautiful lighting, angles and style. When we look through the photos it feels like each picture is telling a story about the day. All of the important and unique aspects of our wedding day were captured so brilliantly. In addition to all this, Steve is so easy to work with. He understands his craft very well and helped guide us through the process to ensure everything
Michael B.
Aug 21, 2015
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If we only had three words to describe Steve, we'd pick: nicest, friendliest, and most professional vendor for our entire wedding. Actually, we had Steve for our engagement photos, too. It's really hard to describe what Steve does until you see it in person. Whether it was organizing our families who were out of place in photos, or simply checking in with us intermittently, Steve did it all. You can certainly check out his photos and blog reviews.
As great as those are, nothing can do justice to how exceptional Steve is at his craft. Steve will literally find ways to capture the moments
As great as those are, nothing can do justice to how exceptional Steve is at his craft. Steve will literally find ways to capture the moments
Jamie S.
Jul 12, 2015
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Steve and his assistant, Mari, were amazing to work with. Steve spent the entire day climbing, bending, kneeling, and running (sometimes up a "down" escalator) to capture our moments. While he is very high energy, he has a calming presence and instantly felt like an old friend -- very important for someone you spend so much time with. I had multiple guests come up to me and comment on how awesome he was. I would absolutely book again. Cannot wait to see the finished product!
Hana Y.
Jun 10, 2014
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Steve Koo doesn't just give you photos...he gives you a priceless and irreplaceable gift. Our wedding photos are breathtaking, and are so valuable to us, our family, and our wedding guests. He captured every moment as vividly as I remember it. The colors are bold, the action is exciting, and I can look at any photo and remember exactly what was happening and what I was thinking when the moment was captured.
Steve Koo and his team are brilliant. As many have mentioned, he is very kind, calm, and makes everyone feel incredibly comfortable. He was FUN to take photos with.
I wouldn't consider
Steve Koo and his team are brilliant. As many have mentioned, he is very kind, calm, and makes everyone feel incredibly comfortable. He was FUN to take photos with.
I wouldn't consider
