I think Kathleen and Jim’s wedding is proof enough to us all that even if it rains on the day of your outdoor vineyard wedding ceremony, the day can still be perfect as long as you stay calm. There’s really nothing a bride can do except soak up all of the love from family and friends surrounding her. And Kathleen did just that. Even as the storm clouds rolled in and dumped buckets of rain on us right before the start of their ceremony, Kathleen kept a smile on her face. She truly was the most relaxed person there and Matt and I are so thankful for Kathleen and Jim’s adventurous spirit as we plunged through the soggy vineyard for photos. Aren’t Kathleen’s wellies so cute?! We had an absolute blast and loved every minute of our day trip out of the city for their lovely celebration. And a huge high five to Kathleen for being her own florist for her wedding. She’s amazingly talented and brave for taking on the job! The flowers were perfect.

Ceremony/Reception Venue: Willow Harbor Vineyard  |  Florist: Kathleen Boyle Farnan  |  DJ: Jena of Toast & Jam  |  Cake Artist: Froehlick  |  Jewelry: BHLDN  |  Dress: Saja 

Excited to post images from Caily and Paul’s New Year’s Eve wedding at the Blackstone Hotel next week! Stay tuned…

Next weekend Matt and I will be headed off to Vegas for the annual WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) convention.  It’s the time of year where we take a few days to catch up with our photographer buddies and network with some of the vendors that we use on a daily basis such as Pictage, ShootQ, Cypress Albums, Think Tank, Nikon and many more.  As a photographer, it’s super important to stay on top of the new services, products, gear, etc. that is available to us to help keep our businesses running smoothly and efficiently.  We will spend an afternoon walking the trade show floor, making sure we hit up a few of our favorite booths as well as scope out what’s new.  This is only our third year to attend and if you’re coming along for the first time ever we know exactly how you feel.  It’s horrifying and overwhelming and exciting all at the same time.  But trust me it gets much easier.  If you are a first timer and haven’t checked out these great tips from the Youngrens yet then you should definitely do so now.  They’re really helpful.

Though we usually don’t make much of a schedule for ourselves ahead of time, there are a few places throughout the week that you can for sure find us.  During the day on Monday we will be joining our wonderful album company, Cypress, at their booth (#1229) to help answer questions and let photographers know how amazing they are and that we couldn’t live without them. : )  Because we really couldn’t. We love them dearly.

We will also be at AIRPLANES & BLAZERS!! on Monday night.  Yep, we wouldn’t miss it and we are excited to help out as sponsors this year.  It’s going to be the talk of the show and if you know what’s best for you then you’d be heading over to the website now to get your tickets.  They are starting to sell out fast and there won’t be any tickets available at the door.  We’ll be there dressed to the nines dancing all night long with good friends and the Flashdance crew and hitting up the Smilebooth in between.  Be there or be square.

And finally, our wonderful friends at Pictage and ShootQ are hosting their annual celebration at Studio 54 on Tuesday night.  Last year was quite the production and I have no doubts this year will be the same. Get your ticket here.

As all of this pertains to clients we will be out of the office between Feb. 20th – Mar. 7th. After WPPI we will be keeping the office closed for an additional week to process everything we bring back from the convention and prepare for our upcoming wedding season (i.e. sending off all our gear to be cleaned and tweaked, updating software and workflows, and just plain getting organized). We can’t wait! We’ll be checking email and messages periodically but won’t be guaranteeing any responses until Monday, March 7th.

For now, we are headed out of the office until Monday.  Tonight we are excited to be bringing the Smilebooth to an extremely awesome James Bond themed open house party at The Ivy Room!  Then early tomorrow morning we are darting off to NYC for an engagement session with one of our 2011 couples.  Hard to believe wedding season is already just around the corner for us.  Thank you to all of our clients who have given us so much to look forward to this year!

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than with one of your best girlfriends and a little pup? We unfortunately don’t have a dog but would like to adopt this one of Kathryn’s named Baily… he was so cute! This was part two of our shoot in the East Village of New York City. You can view part one here. We had this idea of going to the dog park in Tompkins Park so Kathryn had her husband bring Baily down and it made the shoot even more fun. Shirley and Kathryn are literally best friends and it shows, they have so much energy and chemistry with one another. This is key when shooting fun lifestyle work; that your subjects are completely care free and up for just having fun. It also helps that they are extremely talented at their jobs. We wanted to keep things fun so I shot almost all of our shoot at a true 35mm so you feel like you are right there with them.
Thanks to Ford Models, Courtney Rust for wardrobe styling, Kerry Crawford for makeup and Julius Toussaint for hair.

Matt and I have been photographing weddings for about five years now, but it wasn’t until only a year ago that we truly realized the importance of sharing ideas, knowledge and our passion for photography with other photographer friends around us. We didn’t quite grasp what the photo community was all about and didn’t even know it existed until our trip to WPPI in February of 2009. Since then we have been blown away by the amazing friends and colleagues that we now have to grow with and lean on for support. The industry is full of passionate leaders who are eager to share what they know and help others along. One of the best things that we have done for ourselves and our business is to surround ourselves with photographers that love what they do and are continually challenging themselves to be more creative and innovative. Though there are many that I would love to list here, there is one that I just have to mention. Kenny Kim from Kenny Kim Photography is someone who is constantly inspiring us and has truly invested time into helping us grow our ideas and broaden our horizon. He challenges us to be more confident in our brand and to look at every experience as a way to learn and grow.

Kenny recently teamed up with Ray Santana to host what they call the Portfolio Plus Workshop. It is chalked full of valuable lessons and tips that they have each learned through their journey in being a wedding photographer. Jim Garner and Dave Cross also attended as guest speakers and packed in a mountain full of solid information about efficient workflow in photoshop, business philosophies, and much more. The workshop was held at The Biltmore Hotel in Miami and it was the perfect spot to get away and just soak up all of the goodness and included a group shoot out with models wearing beautiful gowns from Ines di Santo. Below are some of my favorite shots with Kenny & Thalita. You can find more on my facebook page. Also a huge thanks to Barbie and Lucy who also came out to model for us. For a more thorough review of the workshop visit Kenny Nakai’s blog! Matt says he will post his images soon.

All of this being said, Matt and I leave in one week from today for an inspiration trip to Italy with the Kenny Kim Photoventure crew. We are excited to bring back new ideas and stunning portfolio images and can’t wait to travel with our friends, old and new!

Contact | Website | Chicago Wedding Photographer | Chicago Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photography

Chicago has had a pretty good amount of snow this year, although we have been spared the last few weeks. Here are a few pics that Matt shot around our apartment that I think are really interesting. Check them out!

Here is little collage of some snapshots we took during our gift exchange with our dear friend Jaclyn Simpson. Check out her brand new killer photo website HERE if you haven’t already!

Winter in Chicago is brutal! We were able to steal away, though, for about a week and a half over Christmas and headed down to Virginia and Tennessee to visit my family. We felt so refreshed after having such a great time with them all. We ate four Christmas dinners, played lots of games, ice skated twice, saw the light show at Bristol Motor Speedway and best of all, we were able to celebrate our neice, Olivia’s, 3rd birthday with her! Also, my dad and stepmom surprised us with a Wii for Christmas so of course we got hooked. We shot well over 2,000 images while we were home, but here are a few of my personal faves from the trip. 

One of our favorite parts about January was that Matt’s mom, Fran, came to visit us all the way from Amarillo, TX! The last time she was able to make it up was when we were still living in Milwaukee, so we had a great time showing her around Chi. Here are a few shots from that week. 

Right now we are in the middle of booking season for weddings. We are meeting with lots of great brides and hitting up all the great bridal events that boutiques and hotels around the city are hosting. If you are interested in checking out the calendar of bridal events, CS Brides magazine is the place to go. It is a “must have” if you are planning your wedding in Chi with so many awesome features and vendor listings. Though the weddings have been sparse, we have had a great time working with our commercial clients and assisting for our favorite commercial photographers in town, Fred Stein and Stephen Hamilton. One of our commercial clients, Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, is getting ready to launch brand new website that we are stoked to be a part of. They have been working hard to get it just perfect and if everything goes as planned it will be live next week for all of you to see! We will make a post and let you know when that is. For now, enjoy a sneak peek of just a few shots we have done for them over the past few weeks and go find the nearest store near you for some tasty brews!

The above collage is a “cupping” series. Cupping is a technique used for evaluating coffee aromas and the flavor profile of a coffee. It is performed in a small intimate setting and is a really fun and interesting way to really learn about coffee. 

These are some images taken inside the roastery. Everyone at Intelligentsia LOVES their job because they know they are delivering an exceptional product to all of their customers across the world.  

Here are some photos taken at the Broadway store. Don’t they all look so declicious?! Go get some… NOW!

Contact | Website | Chicago Wedding Photographer | Chicago Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photography

Contact | Website | Chicago Wedding Photographer | Chicago Wedding Photographers | Destination Wedding Photography