Melissa Ferrara Photography

My husband and I cannot say enough wonderful things about Melissa and her assistant Floyd! Starting with the planning process, Melissa was very responsive and helpful in answering any questions I had. That’s the thing about Melissa and Floyd; you can tell right away that they are good, kind people that you would want to be your friends. My husband and I didn’t realize that we would spend more time with Melissa and Floyd than we did our own friends and family on our wedding day, and honestly you could not ask for two better people to shadow you for the day. Both Melissa and Floyd made us feel so comfortable helped direct us in a way that felt natural and carefree. One look at Melissa’s portfolio and you can see her eye for capturing beauty and making it seem as if it came from a high fashion magazine. So many portfolios I looked at had photos that I dub “background photos when you buy a picture frame”. I wanted our photos to have life and not just take a picture but capture and create a moment. When I found Melissa, I could see the warmth in her photos; it almost felt like the photos were transcending the camera and freezing the moment in time. I cannot wait to see the moments that Melissa and Floyd captured of our special day, and I would encourage and recommend Melissa to anyone for their photography needs.

Melissa was awesome to work with! She helped us feel so comfortable from our engagement session to our wedding day itself, it was exactly what we envisioned and it was all a dream. She handled all the ins and outs and let us just enjoy ourselves. We recommend her 100%!

I was originally referred to Melissa by another vendor and fell in love with her work from the moment I clicked on her Instagram profile! Her moodier color scheme/editing drew me in right away and I knew it would be perfect for my NYE wedding. My husband and I are definitely not naturals in front of the camera, but Melissa made us feel way more at ease from our engagement shoot through our wedding day. She is incredibly organized and detail oriented, but also very go with the flow, which made for a stress free process leading up to and through our wedding. We had given her a small shot list of what we wanted captured, but gave her a lot of creative control and she completely exceeded our expectations! She captured our personalities and who we are as a couple beautifully as well as the whole day and night. It truly felt like we were working with a friend (who also loves emo music as much as us!). Her and her 2nd shooter Floyd went above and beyond, worked so well with the other vendors, and I couldn’t recommend her enough! I cannot wait to cherish these photos forever, I have too many favorites to count!

I originally found Melissa through a train of other Chicago photographers on Instagram. Immediately, we fell in love with her editorial/documentary style of photos— nothing felt forced or overposed, it all just felt so real. The selling point for us on her portfolio was how she can make ordinary places like an alley or a run-down building in the city look extraordinary in a photo. The day itself ran so smoothly, Melissa was the most professional and offered words of wisdom where she could. But most importantly, she was a fierce advocate for my husband and I and what we wanted out of the day. She was flexible and listened when we wanted to go off what we planned, and we loved giving her the freedom to explore and find the best shots for us throughout the day. What stands out the most about our wedding photos is that you can look at them and feel the emotions of the day through the photos. We love being able to look at a photo and know exactly what we were feeling at that time. We are going to cherish these photos for so many years to come, and couldn’t be more thankful that we chose Melissa to capture our day!

Melissa is awesome! We genuinely had fun working with Melissa, especially with our engagement pictures. We were not sure if pictures would feel overly staged, but Melissa's calm demeanor and smart ideas made the experience feel so fun and natural. Melissa's pictures capture the beauty and the emotions of the day. We loved that Melissa listened so closely to what we wanted and produces absolutely stunning pictures.