Crystal and Michael Engagement Session

In October I will be driving to Peoria to photograph this lovely couple's wedding.  I am so happy they were able to make it to Chicago for an engagement shoot.  I love having the pre-wedding photo session to be able to meet the couple and get to know them a bit before immediately snapping away on wedding day.  We met at the Naperville River Walk, which was my first time there.  Definitely worth it!  One of the telling features of this location is the historic wooden bridge over the river.

Everyone else seemed to love the location too.  Even with kids running in front of the camera I think we got some great shots!

Thanks Crystal and Michael!  I look forward to your wedding in October!

And the Clouds Parted...

This summer I have had the opportunity to photograph a few weddings, and this particular one was so magical to me. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was just outside Madison, WI, city of my alma mater. Or maybe that the park, with it's towering trees and dense vegetation felt like a scene from a fairy tale.


Oh yes, let me mention that the ceremony was to take place on the park overlook of Lake Mendota.


I say this hesitantly because do you notice the slick ground in this photo? The outdoor, lake overlook part almost didn't happen. The morning of the wedding I drove through thunderstorms so treacherous, that I was unable to see the car 50 feet in front of me. While the shelter next to the overlook had a natural beauty to it that would have provided cozy quarters for the ceremony/reception combo, I know that everyone had a glimmer of hope that the rain would leave us for the early afternoon nuptials. I parked my car as close as I could to the ceremony location and started plastic bagging my equipment to keep it dry until I got to the shelter. No sooner was all my equipment covered than the clouds had parted and the sun was shining with blue sky. Ahhhh!!! (said with a high pitched singing voice). Here are a few more images from the beautiful, sunny afternoon.

Beautiful Day at the Arboretum

I just finished editing photos for this fun family. We couldn't have asked for better weather the day of our session. I met this lovely family at the Morton Arboretum, and we had a relaxing stroll around the beautiful trees and flowers, snapping fun moments along the way. I had a really hard time narrowing down all the great shots, but here are a few that I believe capture the feeling of the morning. The first image has a cork tree as the backdrop- expanding branches that are deceptively light weight. Thank you for a wonderful morning K-F family!