Jamie and Michael

Jamie and Michael got married on a beautiful late summer day at St. Emily’s in Mount Prospect surrounded by their families. After their church ceremony we stopped at Ryerson Woods Forest Preserve which was conveniently along the way to the reception. Ryerson is a great option for portraits in the Lincolnshire/Wheeling area as it has lots of trails, prairie views, and natural beauty. Their reception was held at the lakeside pavilion at the Lincolnshire Marriott resort. I love this venue because the reception room is all floor to ceiling windows which lets in tons of natural light. Instead of doing their dancing indoors they had music and their first dances outside on the patio which was a great alternative to the traditional dance floor. I had an amazing time capturing Jamie and Michael’s wedding and wish them a heartfelt congratulations! -Jake

Hair and makeup by Hairs2thebride.

Flowers were from Whole Foods.

Nicki and Eric

The other week I did some engagement portraits for Nicki and Eric in Chicago. We started at their home so we could get some photos with their cute pup and their blind cat. Their dog sat and smiled for the camera but, unsurprisingly, their cat did not care so much to have her photo taken! After getting their animals in some shots we went down the street to Humboldt Park to get some outdoor scenery. It was a bit on the warm side but the lagoon offered some shade from the sun and some pretty wild flowers. Here’s a few of my favorites from their session! -Jake

Catherine and Faiz

Catherine and Faiz got married a couple of weekends ago in Catherine’s parents backyard. When I got there I was immediately greeted by their sweet pup named Bear and I knew that it was going to be a great evening. Although it started to rain a bit, the storm blew through quickly and their ceremony started only 30 minutes behind schedule! A huge shout out to Catherine’s dad who made the benches for the ceremony site and cooked the food for the dinner. It was such a perfect evening!

The following day I met up with Catherine and Faiz again downtown Chicago and spent a couple more hours with them doing portraits around the city! Some of the spots we made it to were the Art Institute, Lurie Gardens, Wrigley Building, and the Riverwalk. Thank you to Catherine and Faiz for having me be a part of their wedding weekend! -Jake

Maggie and Patrick

It’s not news that this pandemic has been difficult for everyone and Covid-19 has thrown so many couple’s wedding plans into chaos. Maggie and Patrick were originally planning on having a big party this year but had to reschedule for next June because of this mess. However, I was thrilled when they reached out to me to say they were planning on having an intimate ceremony in their Aunt’s backyard with just their immediate family on their original date. It was so sweet to be there and still be able to capture their wedding in this way and I can’t wait to photograph their larger party next year. Congrats Maggie and Patrick!

I can’t thank Nick Holstein enough for helping me out and photographing with me on this day. So many of these photos were taken by him. He’s such a talented photographer and you can check out his personal work here. -Jake

Ardolino Family

I’ve been photographing the Ardolino family in Frankfort, IL for a couple of years now and it’s so much fun to see their little girl grow up! She’s a little ball of energy and most of the time I was just capturing her running around and playing at the park. Now they’re expecting their second child and I can’t wait to do photos of the four of them together! -Jake