“For Greg and Kathleen’s engagement session, weather ( an unexpected cold front and the possibility of rain ) urged us to alter a bit our Spring engagement session’s plans. With several consecutive days of gloomy weather, G+K kept their eye on the forecast, and because they were not able reschedule for another day, Greg quickly worked to improvise finding an indoor shooting location. Greg works for a large property management company located in the Loop, so he’s familiar with the a number of unique spaces and historic high-rise properties in the Downtown area. After he searched and the couple discussed their options, Greg and Kate decided on “The Library” located within the historic 190 S. LaSalle Building. Greg and Kate emailed me excited about creating a library themed session. They said it would be a unique indoor location, they loved the colors, the concept incorporating the books and bar area, and felt it would be perfect especially for them.

 

The Library is located on the 40th floor of the 190 South LaSalle building and is a members-only club and private entry space. The venue is perfect for booking private meetings, wedding oriented events, or unique cocktail parties. Located in the Loop, on the corner of LaSalle Street and Adams Street, it is near the Board of Trade Building at the end of LaSalle Street. Visit www.190southlasalle.com and call Noelle Frost at 312-444-1258 for more information about the space. Greg heard about the space from a friend who had booked the venue for his wedding reception space. We captured some fun pictures near the aisle of book shelves, a few of the couple reading the books, by the bar, and near the social area of the space’s pool table. A beautiful iconic Chicago high rise building, and uniquely designed space… the room incorporates vintage chandelier lighting, tall ceilings, long corridors, and art deco and modern accents of colorful green shelving lighting along the bookcases.

 

Next we decided to venture with Greg + Kathleen outdoors. It took a little bit of courage and fighting the 25 MPH winds while photographing these two along one of our favorite treelined locations near the lakefront. During this part of the day, it was fun watching the way that Greg and Kate interact and seeing how truly madly in love with each other they are. Kate was freezing and it wasn’t long into our time outdoors that Greg came to the rescue providing to her his jacket. He was working nearly the entire shoot to keep her spirits up… it was cute. Greg + Kate thanks to you two in all the smiling and doing a great job hiding the fact that it was chilly. Next, we decided to search for ideally a hidden from the wind, place to shoot in and luckily we found a beautiful and full of blooming color garden. Being outdoors and in nature was a part of Greg’s proposal plans on the big engagement day. So in us discovering the space and capturing photos in the garden, Kathleen said she was thrilled as it was perfect. Kathleen forwarded to me details about Greg’s proposal:

 

“His proposal was super cute and well thought-out. Greg actually put me onto a scavenger hunt – and I visited all the people in our lives that were most important and influencial in our relationship – ultimately I ended up at the Prairie Path in Elmhurst in a gazebo – where we trained for the Chicago Marathon together. Afterwards our closest friends gathered at my mom and dad’s house for champagne toasts and lots of hugs. It was so perfect!”

 

Thanks in hiring us as your photographers – we are looking forward to your upcoming wedding Greg + Kathleen next month! We had a great time getting to know the two of you better… and come the wedding day we will all hopefully be enjoying warmer weather conditions. Looking forward to day of photos plans we have already discussed. Hope you enjoy the photos and memories from our day together.”

 

 

 

♥ Greg and Kathleen are getting married this September at Immaculate Conception Church in Elmhurst with pictures following in nearby Wilder Park. Kathleen says it’s a tradition in her family to capture photos at this park near her parent’s home. Friends and family will be enjoying cocktails, dinner and dancing following the ceremony at the resort-like hotel The Oak Brook Hyatt Lodge at McDonald’s Campus. The Oak Brook hotel is unique to other hotel venues in the area situated amongst nature trails, waterways and acreage of trees.

“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.”