I’ve been waiting for this wedding for a LOONG time! After shooting Krista and Billy’s engagement session (see HERE) I got to know them a little better and realized what a crafty person Krista is! I loved following her facebook posts leading up to the wedding about all the projects she was working on. It was great to see it all come together for the wedding day!
There were sooooo many favorites from this wedding, but I did my best to narrow it down. Congratulations to Krista and Billy!
Ceremony venue: St. Michael’s in Old Town
Reception venue: The Odyssey Club in Tinley Park
Videographer: Jack with Leap Weddings
Flowers: Classy Flowers
Cake: Orland Park Bakery
Getting Ready Hotel : Hotel Palomar
Bridal Gown : Reddington Bridal
Tuxes: Formally Modern Tuxedo
Hair : Cejay Campbell of Kiva Salon and Spa
Makeup : Ana Oviedo of Chanel at Bloomingdales
DJ: Carrie with Toast & Jam
Transportation: Trolley & Bus Company
All invitations, save the dates, programs, golf tee place cards and greens, moss M , table numbers, wineglasses, garter, flowers on the bridesmaids dresses and the flowergirls headpieces where made by Krista…. told you she was crafty!!!
Love this reaction from her parents when they first saw her 🙂
Had to get the Sofia in there! Krista’s favorite beverage!
They wanted to have a moment together before the ceremony without actually seeing each other.
Cutest flower girl and ring bearers ever!
They surprised everyone with a bagpiper to play them out of the ceremony.
We headed back on the trolley for a few photo stops around the city, but first a beer run which just happened to be across the street from Zanie’s where they had their first date! It wasn’t on our list as a photo spot, but it was a great coincidence!
From there we headed to Michigan Avenue for a little fun in the street!
Next stop the Grand Street Bridge!
And then it was off to the couple’s condo which has an amazing 360 degree view of the city!
We had to stop for photo with the guys and the Blackhawks signs – this was a couple weeks before they won the Stanley Cup.
After this it was off to Tinley Park for the reception.
The entire reception was golf themed ! Check out all the amazing details!
I love that for the father/daughter dance they started off slow and then busted out into a fast song!
We snuck outside for a few sunset photos 🙂
And back inside to party the night away!
I’ve never seen this before, but Billy took the garter and put it around a football which he threw to the single guys.
And last but not least, me with the newlyweds!
So this might be the most random and amazing engagement session I’ve ever done. My friend Emily (who I’ve known since I was about 6) moved out to Colorado about two years ago with her fiance Colin and in those two years I’ve been the horrible friend that still hasn’t been out to visit. So when she called me up and said “hey want to fly out here and do our engagement photos?” I jumped at the chance.
I say it was random because she called me and about 10 days later I was on a plane on my way!
I am in awe of Colorado. Everywhere you looked it was more gorgeous than before. They were amazing tour guides and took me to some great places around Denver including Red Rocks and Lookout Mountain ,where I might have eaten my weight in homemade fudge (oops!). Then we headed out to Breckinridge for the weekend to do photos. I’m still having nightmares about driving up Loveland Pass to get there. Let’s just say my fear of heights really kicked in when we were about 10,000 miles up on a windy mountain road with no guard rail! But I survived and the view from the top was amazing and Breckinridge was even better than I could have imagined.
We split the shoot into two days. Day one was downtown Breckinridge which is such a cute area. I’d love to go back in the winter in prime ski time (even though I’ve never been skiing) just to hang out and see all the action.
Day two was time for some hiking to get awesome mountain views. I’m so glad I lugged all my gear up the side of a mountain because the photos we got are unlike anything I’ve done before. So I’ll stop talking and just get to all the gorgeousness that is Colorado…. oh and Emily and Colin are good looking too 😉
If there are any Colorado brides out there I’m just a plane ride away!!!
Meet Rigby 🙂 He of course came along for some photos…. and got quite a bit of attention as we walked around. By the end of my trip we were best buddies :
From there we headed out to Lake Dillion near Buffalo Mountain. I personally thought that Buffalo Mountain looked more like someone’s behind so let’s just say I didn’t use the proper name for most of the trip 🙂
All weekend Colin kept asking when we got to do the shot of them jumping in a field of wildflowers….. not sure what engagement photos he’s been looking at, but we comprised on a jumping photo, which I actually ended up loving!
I got a little dirty while shooting haha…
We busted out the self timer to get a shot of all of us since the only other people around were kayaking!
Time for Day 2! Rigby was super pumped because we were going up high enough that there was still snow for him to roll around him. I was super pumped because the views were AMAZING!!! The roads to get to some of them not so amazing haha. We started the day with a hike at Hoosier Pass (obviously). There is no way I’m going to come all the way out and not represent my Hoosiers if I get the chance!
Love this shot of Rigby… he’s smiling yet his eyes are closed haha
From there we headed up a mountain that neither of them had been up before and of course it’s the one that I can’t remember the name of… Boreas maybe?
At the top was a little shack that back country sledders can use and used to be a stop for the railroad. I was terrified going up that thing in a car so I can’t imagine what it was like doing it by train back in the day!
Told you Rigby was excited for snow!
Gotta get some red rocks shots!
What’s a shoot in Colorado without some Aspen trees?!
And lastly we wanted to incorporate their bikes into a few shots. I have a whole new respect for Colin after seeing some of the mountains he rides….
it makes me tired just thinking about it!
A HUGE thank you again to Emily and Colin for having me out! I can’t wait for their wedding back in our hometown in November!
When I first met Gina and David I instantly knew that I like them. They are a fun easy going couple and their wedding day certainly reflected that. They got married at Epiphany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Elmhurst and their reception was at Pinstripes in Oak Brook. At our first meeting they were telling me about the reception and I’d heard of the other Pinstripes locations, but wasn’t familiar with the Oak Brook….. it turns out that’s because it wasn’t even built yet! They booked before the Oak Brook location even opened! I was excited about the fun possibilites for bowling and bocce photos and it didn’t dissapoint!
This June seems to have been the rainiest on record for years and June 1st was no different. Despite some showers in the am we managed to get through the majority of the day rain free. We were dodging sprinkles and dark looming clouds during our photo time. We managed to make it to our second stop when they sky decided to open up and it started pouring rain. It was a mad dash to the cars with all of our gear. I did manage to snap one photo of the couple making a run for it which was one of my favorites of the day…. not posed…. just spur of the moment, running in rain and still smiling from ear to ear!
Congratulations again to Gina & David and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day!
Ceremony: Epiphany Evangelical Lutheran Church – Elmhurst, IL
Reception: Pinstripes – Oakbrook, IL (Thanks to Laura and her team for being amazing!)
Hair Stylist: Jennifer Ward
Flowers: Town and Country Gardens
Cake: La La Li Bakery & Patisserie
Bridal Gown and bridesmaids dresses: The Crystal Bride
Tuxes: Gentleman’s Quarters Formalwear
DJ : Matt with A Posh Production
Photography : Becky Brown Photography
Gina’s half brother and his wife were nice enough to let all the girls get ready at their house that’s just a couple blocks from the church. Even better for me was that their front room was blue which matched the wedding colors!
Gina’s dad and brother stopped by right after she had gotten in her dress…. love these reactions!
We headed out to the gorgeous backyard for some photos with the girls before heading to the church.
In case you haven’t noticed yet Gina is an identical twin 🙂
I headed over to the church to meet the guys for a few shots before the ceremony.
Ceremony time!
From there we headed to downtown Elmhurst for some photos near the York Theatre!
And then we made it to the park for about 5 photos before the downpour came….
RUN FOR IT!!!!!
We arrived at Pinstripes and I was soaked from head to toe haha. After drying off a bit we heading into the bowling alley for a few fun shots during cocktail hour.
Some of the reception details before everyone got in the room.