Our overall review: We would give them negative stars if we could - they are TERRIBLE at communicating with their customers.
Our experience with Optikool Illusions was great until about 7.5 weeks ago. My fiancé and I were scheduled to meet with Darryl for our engagement shoot on October 16, 2023, which was agreed upon during the latter part of August 2023. At about 1.5 weeks out from the scheduled shoot, we realized that we hadn't been contacted by Darryl, so we tried reaching out. For 6 days we literally tried to reach him in every way possible - calling and leaving voicemails, texting, emailing, sending direct messages via Wedding Wire, Facebook, and Instagram....and of course, no response (ironically, during this entire period, their social media accounts were still being updated with content). During the late evening of the 6th day, we finally received a response to the email sent 6 days prior (by this point, we had only agreed on a date - times and locations had not yet been solidified). We responded to Darryl within an hour and five minutes, and suggested locations and times for our shoot, and unfortunately didn't hear back until 8:30PM the DAY BEFORE our scheduled shoot (October 15, 2023), which is completely UNACCEPTABLE. Since Darryl had failed to respond within a reasonable amount of time, my fiancé and I made the decision days prior to cancel our appointments (hair, nails, haircut, etc.) because we were at risk of losing our deposits for the services. The lack of communication made us very uneasy, so we decided to cut all ties with the company; we didn't want to risk something similar happening on our wedding day. At the end of the day, business is business, and communication is key. Regardless of how busy you are, your customers are your top priority.
While a lot of our time was wasted and we were forced to start back over at square one (to locate another photographer after locking in Optikool about 8 months prior), we were thankfully able to get our non-refundable deposit back, after our initial request was refused (it took us proving to them that they had breached their own contract).
Our suggestion to others who are considering Optikool Illusions is to use them at your own risk because we would honestly hate for someone else to have the same terrible experience that we did. Your wedding day and all the special moments leading up to it only happen once, so it's important that you hire reliable vendors who have your best interest at heart. Maybe this is just a one-off situation, but it's something to take into consideration.