Wedding :: Courtney + Mike [St. Simons; Royal Melbourne Country Club]

Courtney and Mike met at Winona State freshman year [brrrrr]. They became friends, but didn't start really dating until after college. At that point, Courtney and Mike's relationship took the test of distance from IL to AZ. Seven years later, that is all but a memory. After prep at the Hyatt in Deerfield, we traveled to St Simons Episcopal Church for the ceremony, where amazing stained glass and warm wooden beams create a beautiful backdrop for the ceremony. The church keeps the ceremony of weddings sacred and thus requests no photos during the ceremony. After a few family photos post-ceremony, the wedding party headed to downtown Long Grove for photos. 

Portraits :: Haedt Family [Montrose Beach, Chicago]

Portraits :: Haedt Family [Montrose Beach, Chicago]

I love family portraits when they're in their natural element. Forget anything too scripted. Some of my favorite portraits of all time are in the moment, real shots of families being the themselves.  

So, a few of my most favorite people and I went over to Montrose Beach on a chilly September Sunday to set up shop. Footballs were thrown, tag was played, picnics were had, and overall a ton of fun ensued.  

 

Wedding :: Tawni + Sam [Architectural Artifacts, Chicago]

Wedding :: Tawni + Sam [Architectural Artifacts, Chicago]

The picture perfect classic bride and groom. Timeless.  

Tawni and Sam got married in late September. After prep at the Palmer House Hilton, the couple exchanged vows in Ravenswood's Architectural Artifacts. Have you ever been into Architectural Artifacts? Seriously one of the coolest places to visit, let alone have your wedding there. So many old antiques and fossils. You walk in and the warehouse just opens up to several massive floors of history. It's like walking into an antique museum. A very cool antique museum.

Wedding :: Brittany + Rick [Backyard Wedding, West Chicago, IL]

Wedding :: Brittany + Rick [Backyard Wedding, West Chicago, IL]

I met Brittany and Rick last year at Stephanie and Richard's wedding.  They are two wonderfully athletic, motivated and overall awesome people. As a past gymnast, Brittany was super detailed oriented. I endearingly call this, the Pinterest wedding. Brittany and her family and friends did SUCH an amazing job prepping her parent's backyard for the wedding.  

Wedding :: Mindy + Brian [Midwest Buddhist Temple, Vivo; Chicago]

I met Mindy and Brian through Meghan and Nate Bargar last year. And once we sat together to chat about wedding details, they revealed that the wedding ceremony would be at Midwest Buddhist Temple in Old Town. Having grown up Buddhist myself, I thought what a coincidence to meet Mindy and Brian. Turns out, the coincidence goes even further. Brian's mom went to Senn High School, where my parents also attended. After digging through a ton of 'do you know this persons', we got down to details for the wedding.

Proposal :: Becky + Nicole

Well. About 2 hours before Becky was scheduled to propose to Nicole, I found out I would get to capture this great moment for them. My friend, and colleague, had an awful family emergency that morning and couldn't shoot.​ It was a feeling of mixed emotion of concern for my friend and also excitement for Becky and Nicole.​