Daniel Doke Photography

My wife and I used Dan Doke’s studio for our wedding. To clarify, Dan did not shoot our wedding. One of his associates and her partner did. They were actually decent and we’re not too invasive during our wedding.
The problems started after our wedding. After selecting our photos several months later we had massive communication issues with their studio. The secretary would frequently ignore my email correspondence with her and it would take several calls to Dan himself to receive any type of reply. At one point (about 8 months after our wedding) Dan and I ended up in a very unpleasant conversation where he thought I was being unreasonable (I’d argue a little defensive) and that his contract states that it can take this long to receive our album. I tried to explain that my frustration had to do with poor communication above all else and I had no problems waiting for great work, but huge ones with being ignored.
In the end, we got married the end of November and didn’t receive our album until the following August. Around 9 (!) months. As far as the quality goes, I’d call it mediocre. Not bad, not great. Part of the problem I think was that Dan edited the photos himself but he wasn’t the person who actually took the photographs.
I wish I had better things to say, but good and professional communication are big things for me. Not sure I’d recommend.

After almost finding a photographer we were recommended by Dan by the venue we were getting married at. Dan took the time to explain the differences of what he offers vs other photographers especially since we did not know anything about choosing a photographer. We were very happy we chose Dan, he was on time and kept the day moving with his experience. He made sure to get the shots that we wanted but also the shots that he knows would work. He was very attentive to us while asking how we were doing, if he was missing anything etc. We would highly recommend Dan to anyone looking for a true professional.

Horrible customer service! When i first met with Dan i was excited and couldn’t wait to work with him. My wedding then changed gears and became a smaller thing (meaning smaller photography package) i tried to get in contact with them several times over the course of a month only to be ignored and sent «sorry we are really busy right now» emails. I repeatedly asked if the job was too small to just be told the truth so i could work on looking for another more suitable vendor for my needs i was never answered. I tried for over a month to get my dream photographer for my wedding but i still to this very moment have not got a phone call back. I am so disappointed. Dan Doke was highly recommended by multiple fiends and family and when i personally met him he seemed like such a nice guy. Good luck to future brides!!!
UPDATE–
the day after i post this review and one on their Facebook page, i finally get a reply with rates and the information i had been looking for, along with excuses of personal staffing problems they are experiencing. Its sad it took a negative review to get any attention at. i have no intention of working with a business who doesn’t put their clients first. just a follow up to how horrible this experience has been.

Dan Doke Photographed my son’s wedding. Amazing Job!!! Absolutely the best. Period.

i had Dan photograph our wedding — i thought he did a great job. he has a great personality– his portfolio is impressive–
office staff responds to communications well via email and phone.
my wedding pictures were beautiful– its hard to compare to all the pictures on his website because those are amazing! i did have some amazing shots too– i guess i was expecting all of them to be like that LOL
my wedding album is gorgeous– amazing quality

I met with Daniel Doke on the recommendation of a friend who used him for her wedding. She went with Curtis — one of Daniel’s «employees,» as he was more within her price range. Daniel was out of our range as well, so we set up a meeting with Daniel.
A few days before our appointment, I told another friend that we were meeting him and she immediately started telling me horror stories about her cousin’s wedding, when Curtis was the photographer. She said he took photos she didn’t want, didn’t take photos she did want, held them too long so they missed part of the party, etc.
I figured everyone’s experience is difference and despite our hesitation from this review, my fiancé & I met with Curtis anyway. When we showed up, we were very impressed with the studio. It’s a guest house off Daniel’s real house and is very warm and inviting — nice couch, fireplace, framed pictures all over — very neat and clean. Daniel and Curtis were both there and left us for a few minutes to peruse their albums.
Once they came back to chat with us, we found it a bit weird that Daniel did 98% of the talking. Yes, it’s his business, but they both knew we were there to meet with Curtis, as he was the one we were interested in hiring. Curtis said one or two things, but we were not able to really get a feel for him, except to see that he wasn’t very «forward» — which is something I feel a photographer needs to be. They need to feel comfortable jumping in at any moment to get a shot, but not ruin that moment.
This was the main reason we didn’t go with them. Yes, I had my friend’s horror stories in the back of my mind, but if we had been able to chat with him — with Daniel jumping in every so often, instead of the other way around — we might have hired him. I think it’s good that Daniel was there to support his employee and try to sell his business, but I think he should have let the photographer we were there to meet with do the talking.

My husband and I were married on 10÷3÷08 and used Curtis Caldwell of Dan Doke Photography. I chose not to meet Curtis prior to the wedding as I was so bogged down with other details. I sent a list of must take photos to the office a few weeks before the big day. Any questions I had were answered by the wonderful staff (Pam) within a few short days of my sending an email.
Curtis arrived about 10 minutes prior to the requested time in order to get set up. He took one beautiful photo after another. I did not have many «ideas» as to what I liked, other than candids, but Curtis came up with several for me. Shots of my dress, a long shot of the bouquets, our wedding rings on the flowers, etc. I was amazed!
Curtis was also very outgoing and friendly, putting everyone at ease. My grandmother is rather elderly and had a hard time focusing at what was going on, so he would say «grandma» and snap his fingers– it might sound crude but my brother and I still think it is hysterical. He did it in a very «nice» and very funny way.
I chose my photos for my wedding album on December 8^th and was told by Pam that editing time would take about 4 months– well my photos were on-​line as of today! I only want to make a few minor changes and should probably have my album by the spring.
I would recommend this photography studio to anyone that asked. If you’d like to see my album or photos, please let me know.
***Update 3÷10÷09: I received my wedding album on Saturday March 7^th. It is unbelievable. The layout is beautiful, perfect, and exactly what I was looking for. I do not know how anyone could be disappointed with this studio. I’m not the easiest person to please and this was a great experience from start to finish.

I hate to say negative things about this place, since Zac, our photographer, was such a good guy… but of the 800 photos we got back of our wedding, 200 were of inanimate objects and of the remaining 600, over half of the usable photos had a smudge across someone’s face. I called and talked to them about it. They said that we didn’t pay for photos without smudges, essentially. Very disappointed. They come highly recommended by Promises to Keep, and we had a fine time with PTK, but they were way off base with this recommendation. In fairness, they said that they had both negative and positive feedback, but that is to be expected since it is such an emotional subject. Nothing emotional about having the bride’s face obscured by a black spot. We are both pretty disappointed. I would advise you to avoid this studio, with so many alternatives around. From what I hear, if you pay for Dan himself you are in safe hands. Still, I doubt that a place without standards is a safe bet at all.
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Update 113 007
Dan would not respond to either me or my wife via phone, but I guess he saw this and finally returned an email. He offered to redo all the photos. Indeed, he had something in the mail to us the very next day (why didn’t they do this in the first place?)
What we got was a subset of the original photos. Where there were spots, Dan applied Sepia or made some photos black and white. This isn’t what I had in mind by «fixing» — and although he did, in fairness, remove spots from quite a few pictures, the few that were any good from the original DVD were conspicuously absent from this «fixed» DVD.
Now he is not responding, again.
It was funny to me that we paid 1000 to his studio and 1000 to Promises to Keep, despite the fact that there was no package deal involved. It makes me wonder if they don’t have some kind of deal (which would explain a few things).
Dan’s emails were almost combative, and I invite you to email me if you would like to see them.

I will post the photos online and put a link here, just to show people what they have in store for them if they go with Dan’s basic package. My Mother actually cried when she saw the pictures the second time. Not because she was happy. It’s almost personally insulting at this point.