Patken Photographer

I used Patken for my November wedding after 3 other couples referred us to them. I could not be happier with my pictures. I haven’t received my album yet but I’ve gone through the digital proofs and am in LOVE with them! Our photographer Vinnie was awesome. He was super playful and my whole family loved him. He took great shots and made us feel really at ease the whole time. I would recommend this group to any bride without hesitation. Truly a 5 star company.

We hired Patken photographer in August 2015 for our wedding. I wasn’t very satisfied with our photos. We saw some samples and Nadira said that we would meet with the photographer and get to know them and pick someone who was suitable for us. We were also offered engagement photos.
The engagement photos were nothing special. I could easily have had anyone stand behind the camera and just shoot. We wanted outdoor photos but it would’ve cost a lot more.
We did not get to meet various photographers that would suit our needs. We had to request some that were recommended to us. We finally met with one and told him exactly what we wanted for our wedding. We liked artsy, modern and some traditional photos. We were given sample photos and we discussed exactly what we wanted. Unfortunately we only took photos with the wedding party and immediate family in one spot before the ceremony. We hired 2 photographers and 1 videographer. Not one of them were able to get a close-​up of us during the ceremony placing the rings on each others fingers. I felt like that was pretty basic. We also had a traditional Chinese wedding and it is customary to take photos with every guest with the bride and groom. We completely missed this. However, this may not be completely Patken’s fault.
I did not like that 90% of our photos were SQUARE as opposed to Rectangular. It was hard to print the photos or frame them in a square shape. We also did not get our photos until 5 months after the wedding. I was very unhappy with that. 6 months later we still have not received our video and have not heard from them. Everything just seems to take a very long time.
Overall, the photos were very basic and not impressive at all. I wish I spent a little more money and hired someone who would have given us more variety in style like we wanted. The staff was nice enough, though.

I wasn’t thrilled with my results from my wedding. I felt our pictures were very staged and our photographer didn’t really do a good job getting to know us. Our pictures came out very nice but not very much to our style. I had told the company about a few of the shots I wanted done at my house, where my husband was getting ready, all outside of my house and I don’t know if he just didn’t have time due to circumstances beyond any of our control or nobody notified him about the specifics, but none were done. I felt like they also left in a big hurry and didn’t get some of the shots during the reception that I wanted. It was really hard to pick out pictures for our thank you cards and albums, even though there were a lot but we wanted more candids and there were few to none outside of our ceremony. I do love the pics we chose, but would have liked a little more variety.

I am nearly two and a half years late writing this review as we hired Patken for our wedding yet I’m adopting the «better late than never» philosophy if I can prevent a couple from going through what we did.
The staff was friendly and courteous while listening to our wants as far as our wedding photos for our big day and I had no fears once the day began as my sister in law used them a few months before, along with the same photographer that we had, Steve. Watching them operate on her wedding day, I was glad that I was clear in communicating that we didn’t want the fake «poses» that they were asking her to do: touch noses, look deep into each others eyes, kiss kiss kiss. I let them know before her wedding that that wasn’t at all what we were looking for-​we preferred natural photos as opposed to the fake poses. I was warned by a friend that Patken likes the staged poses but they assured me my photos would come out just as I wanted: natural, fun and beautiful.
Unfortunately for us, it POURED on our wedding day in May. We were able to make it into the church without incident and shortly after the Heavens opened up and rained so much the streets flooded. As a result, I didn’t get any of my bridal party photos done at Crest Hollow which was most unfortunate but of course, NOT the fault of Patken. Luckily, the church was decorated beautifully and the photos came out great-​with our families and bridal party.
As far as the photos with my husband, they were ALL staged. Touch your noses, tilt your head, look at me, kiss, kiss again… we didn’t end up with ONE SINGLE PHOTO that I asked for! I wanted to be captured in a beautiful, natural moment with him at some point during the evening and there wasn’t a single one to be had.
When it came time to choose the photo for our thank you cards, I had a very hard time. The last thing a bride wants to see are photos of her and her husband on her wedding day that she doesn’t like and that’s all I was left with. I made my complaint known but at that point, what could they do? I ended up choosing the wrong photo for the thank you cards, I was so upset, and once they came, I had to reprint new ones which Patken did at no cost. I was thankful for that but still extremely disappointed and I wanted to create our video and be done with the place for once and for all.
Now, it’s video time and I have to submit the old photos as well as songs. The man who was helping me was very nice (Danny, I believe) and he left me with paperwork and stepped out for a moment to get my album. I open the folder to fill out the music portion and in HUGE letters on the inside of the folder it read, «PROBLEM BRIDE!!!» with my first and last name. Can you even believe that? This is a professional photographer that I trusted to handle the biggest day of my life. Because I told them I wasn’t satisfied with my wedding photos and I messed up the thank you card order, that makes me a PROBLEM BRIDE? I never raised my voice, yelled, screamed or otherwise-​why was I a problem? I was flabbergasted and so embarrassed. I wanted to point it out to the video guy as soon as he came back in but my husband didn’t want a scene and he knew I would end up getting very mad. I’m pretty sure it was the girl who handled the thank you card portion for me who wrote it, maybe her name was Jen. I should have paid more attention to the names of everyone there but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the video guy who wrote it as I’m also sure that’s why he was being so nice and accommodating; I was a PROBLEM BRIDE. In retrospect, I wish I had snapped a photo of it but I was overwhelmed.
The video came out very nice (that and the bridal party photos are the only reason the review gets 2 stars otherwise it would be a 1) and I was so relieved to be done with the entire process. Brides and grooms: BEWARE. They are going to do what’s easiest for them at the end of the day. If 95% of people are happy with poses, that works out great for the photographer and the couple they’re working with but I was clear from the beginning that it wasn’t what I wanted. To spend thousands of dollars on the package we did, end up disappointed and then be categorized as a PROBLEM it ended up being a horrible experience on what I should have remembered as the best day ever. I should have listened to my friend!

BRIDES BEWARE!
Patken Photographers acted unprofessionally, paid no attention to detail, were very amateurish, and extremely rude.
Now that I have finished working with Patken, I can finally say share some things about my experience with them. We went with Patken based on the suggestion of one of my friends. From the moment we started working with them we immediately regretted our decision.
It began with our engagement photoshoot. That photographer’s name was Jared. When we got the proofs back we immediately realized we had made a mistake going with Patken. While some of the photos were OK, the photographer had what can only be described as a strong desire to shoot with the camera at a 45° angle. Because of this, many of the photos had parts of my or my husband’s face cropped out. These were posed photographs and they couldn’t even get us in frame! How would they possibly handle a wedding?!
Unfortunately, we were under contract to use them for the wedding as well. We went through the contract and saw that they had no stipulation against hiring a second photographer at the wedding so we hired one. The owner of Patken (Doug Gordon) agreed to work alongside the photojournalist that we hired. We also asked them to add to the contract that they would not take any pictures at that 45° angle and they agreed to that as well.
Fast forward to the wedding. The Patken photographers (Jared and Kevin) were upset that we had hired the photojournalist and made it very clear to everyone. They tried to intimidate the photojournalist and seemed to take their anger out on me and my family.
Jared entered the bridal suite looking for my mother. He grabbed her by the arm and proceed to berate her about the other photographer. This was not only incredibly rude but very odd considering that we got approval from the owner in advance and were allowed to have that second photographer at the wedding.
When he realized that my Mom wasn’t going to entertain his little tantrum, he finally began taking photos of me and my bridesmaids getting ready. He took the typical photos of me getting my makeup and hair done. That’s all well and good but because he paid no attention to detail, there’s a seam in the mirror going directly through me.
Prior to the wedding we had asked them specifically to take certain pictures. The venue had a grand staircase that we had the florist decorate. We wanted photos on that staircase but those never happened. There were specific family photos I wanted done that were either left off the list or skipped entirely.
We then proceeded to take some photos near the chuppah. We were assured that Patken was experienced shooting Jewish weddings. Absolutely they knew about everything involved with Jewish weddings. Why did they have me kneel in front of the chuppah? Why is there no photo of my husband smashing the glass? That is one of if not the most important part of the wedding ceremony and these «experienced» photographers didn’t even take a single picture of it.
During the actual ceremony, it was as if he could not get in front of me. Most of the pictures are from behind me while I walked down the aisle. He couldn’t even get a full length shot of me in my gown and veil! Again, these guys passed themselves off as professionals but time and time again missed the mark.
They didn’t get photos of the rings or the vail. I had to go back a year later for them to get those shots. On top of all of this, they left the party almost an hour before it ended. There are no photos from Patken of me having a great time with my closest friends who stayed until the very end.
When I finally got my proofs, my fears were confirmed. There was no creativity, the photos were bland and had no depth. Worst of all they took a ton of those awful 45° photos! They were so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to put together the photo album.
I decided to speak to Doug (the owner) who had previously been helpful but suddenly became very angry that someone would even consider complaining about his company’s photos. He told me there was nothing wrong with the pictures and yelled at me to stop complaining. When I asked why they left almost an hour early, he said it doesn’t say anything about staying until the end of the party in the contract. When you hire someone to photograph the party, isn’t it assumed you mean from beginning to end?
The only positive I can take away from Patken is that Rachel was incredibly helpful in fixing the mistakes of everyone else at Patken as best as she could. She pushed to allow me to use shots from the wonderful photojournalist in the photo album. If not for her, I still would not have an album.
The excellent photojournalist is named Christopher Lane. I highly recommend him as his work was fantastic.

Everything was going well, until we started to discuss prices. Nadira’s attitude totally changed for the worse when I told her I was quoted a certain price when I met them at the wedding expo. She basically told me I was lying and was very rude and unprofessional. I am not surprised to see that the other negative comments on here are about her. Wedding photography is a big investment and her sour attitude made the company lose a client.

From their kindness to their communication to their professionalism, Patken went above and beyond our expectations. Luckily for us, we had the warmest and sunniest day in January for our wedding. Speaking to them about the large families we both have, Steve got pictures of everyone. We were even able to enjoy our cocktail hour! We also got our pictures within a couple of weeks, which was a lovely surprise! Thank you for everything — you made our special day that much better!:)

Initially dealt with Nadira and it was terrible. I felt she had an attitude and a negative vibe. Communication was poor throughout the process. Pics and video very disappointing.

Big fan of Dougs worskhops and Patken Photography. We first hired Patken Photography for our wedding and the attention to detail by both photographers we had was superb. Most importantly was the quality of the images — each shot was a unique, frame-​worthy piece of artwork in itself. We ended up using their services again for our newborn baby photos, and were equally impressed with the results.
Afterwards, my wife was becoming a photo-​bug herself, so we took a workshop that was taught by Doug and his staff. Such a great teacher, really inspires creativity.
All in all our experience with Patken Photographers was a phenomenal one each time from start to finish.

Love Doug and his staff. Some of the most loving people to work with. We have had a few shoots with Doug and Vinnie and they are such a joy to work with. Also they are rather hilarious and make the whole shoot fun!!!

Awesome photographers! Used them at my Disney Wedding after recommendation of another Disney bride who used them. I chose them because they were based in NY (where Iive) and do Disney Weddings in FL. It was nice when I got home to visit their studios and create our wedding album rather than working via phone/​email with photographer in FL. Very professional staff, very responsive and my pics are beautiful! Looking forward to working with them on my 5 year vow renewal!

Searching for a photographer and came across this company at an expo a few months ago. First off, we spoke to a photographer at the expo and were quoted $ 3,800 for what we wanted. Then when we met with «Nadira» (the owner’s sister in law) recently and we were quoted a different price of $ 600 more than the original quote.
We all know how expensive it is to have a wedding. We’re not expecting to have a six figure wedding for half the price. However, we do have a budget and we need to stick to it. We are also willing to cut some things out that aren’t feasible for our budget, like the parent albums they charge for, at $ 500 each. We know that you pay for what you want and because it is a wedding you get charged double, if not triple for everything. We’re not oblivious.
There was a comment I did not like that «Nadira» made as we were leaving. Luckily my fiancé didn’t hear it and I kept my cool because I am a lady and I do not stoop to low levels. She said «You have champagne taste with a beer budget.»
That was unprofessional and rude on her end and is unacceptable. You do not criticize someone on anything that you know nothing about and especially when WE would be paying YOU. You are not doing us a favor, we’re doing you a favor to give you our business.
With that said, they have been crossed off our list of possible photography and video services just because of her stupid comment. And that’s too bad because they were actually a top contender for us because the price was still good for what we wanted. We’ll take our money elsewhere where we will be treated with respect.
P. S. I hope someone from the company reads this!

If I could give them no stars, I would. They did my wedding photography and I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy. I’m writing this review to help any would be brides avoid them at all costs and avoid the pain and heartache that I have gone through regarding my wedding pictures.
I could write pages about how horrible the experience was, but just to summarize. I have no pictures of me with my grandparents, no pictures with me with my daugther, no pictures of the ceremony set up. I was told this could all be photoshopped in and «fixed». Sorry, but this isn’t acceptable from a «professional» wedding photographer. Doug also told my husband he wouldn’t give money back to a «derrogatory word for a latina and derrogatory word for a jew». So in addition to horrible wedding photos, we had to be insulted with degrogatory comments as well.
Please, reconsider using them and spare yourself the aggravation and stress.