Steve Canning Photography

My wife and I picked Steve (and his colleague Dustin Lilley) as the photographers for our wedding in DC in November. Steve was among a couple vendors recommended by our wedding planner. We had planned to meet all the recommended photographers but stopped after meeting Steve because we had a sense that he was the right choice. Steve is very easy to work with, friendly and calm. I wouldn’t have thought that calm would matter that much but the wedding day is hectic and Steve’s style was reassuring throughout.
Since our event required two photographers Steve brought his colleague Dustin as well. To be clear, the 5 stars is for both of them since they both did equally excellent work. Steve has a more traditional style and Dustin is more artsy for lack of the proper terms. Having the combination of their shots left us with a fun and balanced selection of shots from the wedding. We are so glad to have them.
We also hired Steve for our engagement pics and the rehearsal dinner. Everything was great.
At the end of the day Steve and Dustin provide an excellent service, are talented photographers and all around good guys. Steve’s wife Nicole helps with the business too and though we didn’t meet her she seemed great too. My wife and I recommend Steve Canning Photography without hesitation.

I selected Steve Canning Photography based on multiple positive reviews. Our venue catering manager, wedding planner and bridal magazines all recommended him. The pricing was really straightforward and competitive with other quotes. I liked that the price was for unlimited hours and included a photo album and 6 prints as well as an engagement photo session.
Steve was actually busy on the day of our wedding so we had 2 other photographers who were FANTASTIC! We knew this in advance and were fine with it. We were very pleased with the alternate photographers. They definitely took more of a photo journalistic approach than I think Steve would have, which resulted in some very creative shots. We deliberately made a short photo list because we didn’t want to spend the wedding taking photos and I felt the photographers (Dustin and Aaron) were very respectful of this request. I can’t say enough good things about these two.
It took multiple follow up requests to get the online gallery of our wedding photos 4 weeks after the wedding. I never imagined it would take that long and we were dying to see the photos! It’s been 2 months and we still don’t have our album or the 6 prints which were included in the contract. I provided the photo numbers I wanted immediately upon receiving them as well as prompt payments, so the delay is not on our end. Steve said the album could take 2 – 4 months but I’m not sure what’s taking so long on the prints because it’s hard to get a response from Steve.
Overall, I would recommend Steve Canning because of the quality of the work and the price but I would want the bride & groom to know it will take a long time to get your photos and album. Maybe I’ll be really impressed when the album does arrive and update this review!

Thanks to my sister-in-law’s experience with and quality of the photography by Steve, my now-​husband and I decided to work with him for our engagement and wedding photos. Steve is a perfectionist and very thorough, and gets totally wrapped up in making your photography perfect. He helped us to feel comfortable during our engagement photo session, and we liked how friendly and genuine he was.
For our wedding, he and his assistant arrived right on time, and were there to capture every important moment, both candid and posed, before and during the wedding. He was quick to post the online gallery for us to share with friends and family — it came about a month after our wedding.
His services are not inexpensive, but we did also opt for a photo album and a package of prints of re-​touched photos in various sizes. There are a ton of «photographers» out there, but we appreciated that Steve used the proper equipment and came equipped with several different kinds of flashes, and that his assistant was also a skilled photographer.
My absolute favorite part of working with Steve and his assistant was how beautifully they captured the «first look» between my groom and me, and really encapsulated our sheer joy and excitement at that very moment. Reliving those photos makes me so happy.
My only recommendation with Steve is that you cannot rely on email alone as correspondence, as he’s not an avid emailer. Although I prefer email, I found that calling him at his studio or on his mobile number was a better way to get a hold of him.
I will update my review once we’ve selected and received our wedding photo album!

Steve Canning was recommended by our Wedding Planner. His reviews were good and what he had to say seemed good. But that is where it ended. It took over a year to receive the pictures we ordered including the wedding album. At one point he became very unresponsive to my wife and it required her mother to get involved. His response was he had gotten busy which is totally unacceptable. When we had the initial meeting with him my wife requested some of the traditional black and white photographs as well as some other non traditional photo effects. When we finally did get the photos to look at, every photo was just plain, no effects, nothing we have talked about previously. His totally lack of responsiveness after being paid is inexcusable, especially for something as special as a wedding. We did not even receive an apology for the delay. I would definitely not recommend him.
**Edit** After my wife contacted him, he did end up apologizing and sending us some extra large size photos at no cost.