“Jeff + Chrissie were another awesome couple to work with. ( How do we get so lucky with our couples. ) For these two, we enjoyed meeting up with them on a warm, early June Thursday afternoon, shooting engagement photos, exploring new locations, getting to know each other, and learning about their upcoming destination wedding plans. Because we’re located in the Naperville area, and they are in Peoria we didn’t actually meet until the day of the shoot, except on Facebook.

 

For J+C’s shoot, we first stopped at a VERY unique location – with lots of urban grungy style. When I proposed this abandoned factory shooting location idea, which is just west of our Naperville area home studio to Chrissie, she said her and Jeff loved it. After the decaying building, we then mixed in a few Chicagoland nature locations and a quick stop in town for a fun “fine dining here!” pic. LOL!! One of our nature stops was in front of a picturesque, canyon at Starved Rock State Park. Although the canyon was a little crowded with kids playing in the canyon’s water, we were able to sneak in a few quick shots from a cliff above the waterfall. Next, we grabbed some pics along the river, in the tall grasses, and wow the evening sunset Jeff + Chrissie had on their day was seriously epic. The blazing night sky colors were unreal and unlike anything the four of us had ever seen. Ryan previewed the shots to us in the viewfinder and said nobody is going to believe the sky was really this colorful.

 

Jeff + Chrissie’s love story started a state away… they are originally from central Missouri and they met while Chrissie was in college. At the time Jeff was starting his own business and Chrissie and her twin sister auditioned for a commercial he was creating for the company. After J+C met, the rest is history. Currently they are both currently living in Peoria Illinois. Jeff + Chrissie mentioned they searched for the perfect wedding and engagement photographer that was basically anywhere in between St. Louis and Chicago. And gratefully they found Miller + MIller! We know there are thousands of wedding photographers to search through on the web and we are so glad they found our photo blog + fell in love with our unique photography style. The week of their shoot, J+C planned for an event filled, long weekend mini-vacation planning first a creative engagement session with us! Following our engagement session, they booked a couple of nights downtown Chicago and to close the weekend, skydiving! Chrissie was definitely showing a little hesitation when talking about jumping out of the plane, even with it being three days away from our shoot… I don’t blame her. We’ve talked since the photo session and learned she jumped – And had a great time. Jeff already had jumped previously, but was looking forward to another jump together this time with Chrissie.

 

We had a great time getting to know the two of you Jeff + Chrissie. Ryan and I enjoyed talking about your upcoming Cancun Mexico destination wedding plans, growing up in Missouri, boating, and talking a little about the perks of running a small business. Hope you enjoyed our tour of Starved Rock. As mentioned, we’d suggest heading back sometime on your own…. there are so many beautiful parts of the park to explore! Enjoy the rest of your Mexico destination wedding planning. You’ll have to let us know after you receive your disk of all the photos, how many of the pictures you decide enlarge and put on your new home as wall art. It will be difficult to choose just a few. Talk to you soon!!”

 

 

 

Jeff + Chrissie are planning their January 2011 wedding at the Royal Solaris Marina Resort & Spa all-inclusive in Cancun, Mexico. How exciting! We love destination weddings.

“Congratulations goes out to Robert + the beautiful Lindsey. Their wedding was absolutely gorgeous and everything on their 123 acre estate and grove National historic landmark ground’s in Glenview looked amazing!!

 

When searching for a wedding and reception site, Lindsey said her hunt was for a Chicagoland mansion wedding venue, but in addition to the site having a mansion, it must offer the option for an outside ceremony, and nature if possible. Mission accomplished… Redfield Estate at The Grove is a North Shore gem of a location! And yes it was a beautiful ceremony spot. Located a few miles North of Lindsey’s family’s home town of the Naperville area, the estate’s Glenview location was a short drive for the family and their Pastor Josh Cook from Calvary Church of Naperville. The Redfield Estate is a beautiful historic landmark wedding venue that was built in 1929. Restricted to small weddings, holding up to 100 guests, this distinctive venue offers world-class charm, history and elegance. The venue’s combination of Old World charm and the majesty of the spacious outdoor lawn surrounded by woodlands offered so many photographic options. We could’ve spent hours roaming around this venue taking photos of the couple. We can’t wait for another future event at the estate.

 

Lindsey said, when her and RJ found the Redfield Estate, they fell in love with the location, it’s natural beauty and historic charm. For their spring wedding, Lindsey decorated with earth tones and the colorful Spring shades of greens, with yellow accents. Her bridesmaids wore green dresses and it was fun meeting all of Lindsey’s 6 sisters who rounded out all of her bridesmaids ( she is one of 8 kids in the family… 7 girls and 1 boy who is the youngest brother in the family, and one of RJ’s groomsmen. ) Finishing up the bridal party was RJ’s two brothers. For Lindsey, you can imagine why she didn’t assign a maid-of-honor roll… how could a sister choose between six sisters? : )

 

Taking advantage of the Redfield Estates’s very photographic grounds around the outside of the Mansion, plus looking to provide to Miller+Miller a good amount of time for creative photos, RJ + Lindsey decided upon the decision to see each other before their ceremony. We love capturing this “first glance” time and the moments they turn and see each other for the first time. A special moment… capturing pure smiles, sometimes tears and definitely many emotions of the couple’s pure happiness!! This first meeting moment is memorable and a special private experience many of our couple’s decide to incorporate into their day’s schedule – especially when one single venue hosts both their ceremony + reception at the same location.

 

After RJ + Lindsey’s “first glance”, we ventured around the estate’s exquisitely landscaped yard and snapped a few individual photos of the couple and then pre-ceremony, bridal party group photos with the bridesmaids and groomsmen. At 3:00 PM their beautiful mid-day, outdoor ceremony proceed under a gazebo which was just a short walk beyond the historic Redfield Estate home. Afterwards, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were enjoyed by guests on the lawn and the estate’s terrace. The reception, dinner and dancing continued on indoors in the first floor’s, 3 main rooms and the great room of the historic estate. With guest’s spanning the entire first floor of the estate, their 65 guests enjoyed the close, intimate, dinner party feeling during dinner. The food was amazingly delicious!

 

Closing the wedding festivities at 8:45 in the evening, RJ and Lindsey arrange for a send-off time. Departing their wedding day in style, a vintage, Rolls-Royce getaway car arrived at dusk. Under the venue’s twinkle lights, we snapped the last images of RJ + Lindsey just before leaving to the airport for their California Newport Beach and Catalina Island honeymoon.

 

RJ + Lindsey… thanks for choosing us to capture your memorable wedding day celebration with your closest family and friends! Again, congrats!! Hope you enjoy these sneak peek and favorite images of ours from your beautiful wedding. We can’t wait to show to you the rest of the image proofs which will be ready in a few more weeks. Hope you had a wonderful time on your honeymoon and are now enjoying newly-wedded life… ”

 

 

 

 

Reception + Ceremony Venue: Redfield Estate at The Grove, Glenview, Illinois
Ceremony Officiant: Pastor Josh Cook, Calvary Church, Naperville, Illinois
Wedding Cake: Chocolate Wedding Cake with Buttercream Frosting
Hors d’oeuvres: Meatballs, Tuscan Rice Fritters, Artichoke Parmesan Puffs
Dinner Featured: A Bistro Salad with Berries and Balsamic Vinaigrette, Beef Tenderloin, Roulade of Chicken, Portabella Mushrooms
DJ + Music by: Ken Murphy from AMP DJ Services
Honeymoon: Catalina Island + Newport Beach California

 

Lindsey commented how extreme temperatures both their winter engagement session at close to the teens was and for their wedding, so abnormally warm at about 90 with high humidity. Revisit those photos of Robert + Lindsey’s Winter, downtown Naperville riverwalk engagement photo session in the snow!

“WOW… what a SMOKIN’ HOT COUPLE! Not to mention, the natural love, affection and chemistry Brad + Lauren had for each other during the shoot was astounding + inspiring. B+L photographed like true professional models on their engagement photo session. Wouldn’t you agree?

 

We had an amazing time shooting Brad + Lauren’s Chicago style high-fashion engagement photography session in a contrasting country, small town and nature park setting. ( We loved heading out to the country to shoot — a much needed break for us, after numerous consecutive urban city engagement shoots. ) We loved everything about this photo shoot –- the weather, fun locations, Brad’s smokin’ turbo Mini Cooper, plus the vibrant + trendy clothing style B+L brought… it all came together quite nicely.

 

Brad + Lauren’s relationship started out as high school sweethearts. Brad decided to propose and soon after their wedding planning had begun. And with wedding planning, there comes finding a wedding photographer. We were so happy Brad and Lauren found us on FACEBOOK through mutual friends. When we met B+L for the first time, they came to us with one mission in mind — to create some bad-ass engagement & wedding photos that uniquely represents exactly who they are. Needless to say we gladly accepted this proposal and had a blast getting creative with them. Thanks for letting us put our creativity to the test with the smoking car for this one. B+L you both looked amazing and we can’t wait for your wedding in less than a month. ( Hope we’re lucky to catch some bombs bursting in the air during your Fourth of July weekend wedding! ) Enjoy the photos and thanks again!!”

 

 

 

Brad + Lauren’s Summer July Chicagoland wedding ceremony is planned at America’s Historic Roundhouse (formally known as Walter Payton’s Roundhouse) in Aurora, Illinois. Their outdoor ceremony is set to take place underneath the venue’s outdoor, courtyard gazebo. Following the ceremony is their reception proceeding indoors also at The Roundhouse in their Grand Ballroom. We are looking forward to a fun wedding day celebration with Brad, Lauren, family, friends and bridal party. A number of guests may be familiar faces to Miller + Miller, Brad and Lauren are from our hometown of Oswego, Illinois, so we’re looking forward to seeing a few friends at the celebration as well.

 

“We had a blast shooting Mike + Valerie’s engagement photography in Wheaton at Cantigny Park and in downtown Naperville. The shoot was on another windy, warm Spring day. In fact, it was so windy that a branch at Cantigny park broke and fell to the ground about 100 feet from us. The wind can be a challenge to work with ( Mike + Val’s hair-do’s were blowing everywhere ), however we always love the motion and drama it creates in pictures.

 

We first met Mike + Val in January and as of then, Mike hadn’t technically proposed yet. So when we met up for their shoot, we got to see Val’s amazing engagement ring and learn how the big proposal night went down. Let’s just say Mike’s a romantic who surpised Val with a candle lit, hallway leading to a rose petal decorated bedroom. Hearing the stories of each of our couple’s proposals is great, no two are the same. When discussing ideas and location ideas for M+V’s engagement photo session, we talked about a downtown Chicago shoot in Lincoln Park and @ Second City, where M+V had their first date. But Mike couldn’t resist going to Cantigny and the Tank Park. So we planned a trip to Cantigny’s First Division Tank Museum – we loved using the army tanks as a prop. For the softer and nature side of the shoot, we enjoyed the mix of architecture, gardens, lush landscaped grounds and sprawling, 500-acre park of Cantigny www.cantigny.org. Towards the evening, we captured sunset photos in nearby downtown Naperville and planned for a few “secret shooting spots” and brought a few unique photo ideas to close the night.

 

Mike + Valerie are tying the knot over Fourth of July weekend at St. Patrick’s Church in Lemont and their reception is at the luxury, boutique Renaissance Oak Brook Hotel. As I speak, we are designing M+V’s engagement photo guestbook and have already started talking about their wedding day photo bridal session… M+V are very excited about the big day. We know their wedding is going be a great time! M+V we hope you enjoy the blog preview pictures… it was a lot of fun working with you. We can’t wait to meet each of your families and be there on your wedding day photo documenting the celebration.”

 

“Just before the winter cold set in, our close friends The Green Family, contacted us with one mission in mind… to stay away from the boring photos everyone else seems to have hanging on their refrigerators and shoot some beyond-the-norm and far-from-ordinary family portraits. We eagerly accepted – as we love creating out of the box photos! We set out upon a couple of our favorite Chicago area outdoor photo spots and captured some ultra modern family portraits.

 

Ryan “Dad” is also an artist, so he not only liked our edgy and unique portrait photo style, but also loved our photo wall art products. The Green Family recently moved into a new home so taking their artistic family photos and enlarging them on one of our huge Metal Wall Art Murals ( super mod ) was a perfect decorating solution for their home’s blank walls. They also used the photos for their Christmas cards and enlarged a few shots on Canvas Gallery Wraps for grandparent’s holiday gifts. Enjoy!”

 

 

“Ryan and I hope everyone is enjoying their Holidays and Christmas celebrations this Winter season. Hard to believe 2010 is already upon us! We are extremely grateful looking back at 2009 in how many wonderful people we have met throughout the year. We’re looking forward to the number of new photo opportunities yet to come and the handful of weddings already booked throughout 2010.

 

On Tuesday, we had some outdoor, winter fun shuffling around in the snow for Robert + Lindsey’s Naperville Riverwalk engagement photo session. It was six months ago when R+L first contacted us looking for not only an artistic engagement photographer, but also a unique Chicago wedding photographer for their distinctive estate wedding. When we decided on an outside engagement session in the snow, we imagined it would be a chilly day. And cold, yes that it was, but it was also a fun time!! We were loving Lindsey’s yellow jacket which added a fun punch of color against the monotone, snowy scenery.

 

Robert + Lindsey it was great spending the day with you! We hope you enjoy these blog photos and our favorites from the photo session. Enjoy the rest of your planning for your May wedding at The Redfield Estate at The Grove in Glenview.”

 

Sarah + Ryan Miller:

“When Jorie first contacted us in October, she was anxious to squeeze in an e-session before the cold, Fall weather approached. We picked a great day… the sunny, 70 degree weather in November was definitely a treat!

 

Derek + Jorie found our Chicago wedding photographer blog and fell in love with our unique style of combining nature and modern engagement photo locations for each of our couples.

 

Every photo shoot we go on seems to evolve differently. For Jorie and Derek, all of the elements aligned and we stumbled upon a hidden gem of a location! The first, softer location incorporated a bridge, creek, trees and open field providing a breathtaking, natural setting. Our next stop, provided the perfect edgy, industrial photo op! A chic contrast and ideal for Jorie’s requested modern photo style. Not only did the burned-out, rundown factory mirror exactly Derek’s profession ( being he’s a Fireman for Plainfield and Joliet ), but it also provided a grungy, mix of backdrops for some amazing engagement photos. WOW – - we just might have to return to this awesome location again.

 

Thanks Derek and Jorie in working with us, exploring and letting us get creative. The combination of romantic, modern and edgy images – we can’t say enough about these editorial-style photos! Happy planning Derek and Jorie while you are still narrowing down your plans for a Chicago to Mexico destination wedding. We love locally shooting engagement photos first and then traveling with couples on their destinations. D+J, we hope the e-session shoot and experience was a memorable one for you two. Enjoy!”

 

We are VERY happy to announce a few of Derek + Jorie’s industrial engagement photos are featured on the www.trendsettingwedding.com blog! : )

Sarah + Ryan Miller:

“The months of October + November have been incredibly busy for Miller + Miller! Actually, the busiest we’ve been all year. While balancing a hefty schedule of photographing weddings, commercial photo shoots, engagement photo sessions and Fall family portraits, plus juggling the varying weather forecasts – needless to say our blog has suffered. Therefore, we’re a little behind in blog entries.

 

For this photo session, simply put… Sergio and Kristen are a super cool couple! Very easy going and obviously madly-in-love with each other, they put their trust in us to create some unique engagement photos and memories. For S+K’s engagement photo session, we choose to go out West exploring a few of our favorite spots within the Starved Rock area. We had an incredible Saturday afternoon with some brisk chilly wind, but a crystal-clear, crisp blue Illinois sky. The outcome, dramatic and amazing engagement pictures! The colorful sunset paired with an incredible couple, makes for some vibrant engagement photos. We love these photos!

 

Sergio + Kristen… we had a wonderful time getting to know you during your engagement session. We can’t wait for your 2010 October wedding at Timbercreek Hotel and Lodge. We hope you enjoy your engagement photos – choosing 10 favorite images for your engagement guest book will be a challenge. There are too many options!”

 

Sarah + Ryan Miller:

Selecting our favorite pictures from Joshua + Stacy’s downtown Chicago fashion-based engagement photography session was a tough one. Seriously, what a beautiful couple – we LOVE these photos and enjoyed working with these two amazing people! J+S we can’t wait for your Fall wedding this October.

 

Upon our first meeting, Joshua + Stacy expressed an extreme interest in capturing stunning engagement photos in our contemporary, fashion-based wedding photography style. Always mixing up each couple’s shoot and catering to a style preferred by each client, we had no problem this past Sunday contributing a ton of fashion inspired, dramatic editorial photo ideas and foregoing many of the traditional, typical engagement photo poses. ; )

 

We planned for a venture around the City stopping at some of the best photo locations in Chicago. First was Union Station’s Great Hall featuring historic Beaux Arts styling and soaring Corinthian columns. The five-story, light-filled atrium ceiling and architectural details served as the perfect backdrop for what we’re calling “Joshua + Stacy’s Editorial Spread.” ( Yeah, we think we found two candidate’s for next season’s America’s Next Top Model or Bravo’s Make Me a Supermodel! ) Later we transitioned outdoors, capturing photos at a variety of urban stops including under the ‘Chicago L’, the iconic skyline and the Loop’s Financial District.

 

Our fashion-based engagement photography approach captures both the love, celebration + excitement of your engagement – plus adds the fun, incorporation of glamour, drama and memorable eye-catching beauty elements. No worries… NO modeling experience is ever necessary.

 

View Joshua + Stacy’s Chicago engagement photo session which was featured on Trendsetting Wedding’s blog by visiting www.trendsettingwedding.com.

Sarah + Ryan Miller:

“Beyond family portraiture, engagement and wedding photography, we also provide a plethora of other commercial photography as well. The Oak Brook corporate headshot photos featured above were photographed last Tuesday, on-site at an Oak Brook premier financial services firm. We were lucky enough to be contacted to capture head shot portraits of financial geniuses Bill and Chris for use in their company’s newsletters, marketing, website and advertising materials. Visit the Miller + Miller commercial photography web site for more information about our portraiture and architectural photography services. www.millermillerphotography.com“