Chicago Illinois Downtown Wedding at the Shedd Aquarium, Amy and Anthony-

It was such a pleasure shooting Amy and Anthony’s wedding. The families were great, the Bridal party fun, and the lovebirds happy, willing, adorable and in love. What else could I ask for? Oh yeah, a first look, plenty of photo time and one of the most amazing venues in the City…check, check and check!

Dress: Vanessa’s Modern Bride in Arlington Heights, IL

Shoes : Benjamin Adams – Catherine.

I LOVE first looks 🙂

I loved these guys, hysterical and great at following directions.

We stopped at the most awesome Bar/Restaurant that the B&G scouted ahead of time. We had time for photos and a little break for drinks.

Love this one!

😉

At the John G. Shedd Aquarium, ceremony time.

Anita Vaughan was the officiant…she’s so great at her job, I always recommend her.

DJ: Your Night Productions.

See more of the Best Man in action here 🙂

This was one of my favorite moments, during the chaos on the dance floor they took a minute to just be with each other….after all that’s what it’s all about isn’t it?

From the Bride…

‘Venue: Shedd Aquarium. Loved, loved, loved Danielle. She was wonderful to work with and made everything run as smoothly as possible. All food/drinks/dessert was through the Shedd.

Bouquets and Boutonnieres: Silk Thumb in Highland Park, IL – Julie (the owner) was outstanding to work with and she put them together for us in a week! The great thing about the flowers is that everyone thought they were real, but we get to keep them forever. She is putting the flowers into arrangements for us and our family so we will have a keepsake for years to come!

Flowers/center pieces/furniture: M & M The Special Events Company. We had the ceremony flowers, centerpieces, and lounge furniture from this company. They were great to work with and had great prices.

DJ: Your Night Productions. Matt Lodding was our DJ and is one of the owners of the company. He was great to work with and helped keep things moving as smoothly as he could for our unique wedding.

Anthony’s suit was bought at Nordstroms and the groomsmen bought their suits from Men’s Warehouse. It was a little risky having them buy and alter their suits, but it turned out amazing and the guys really liked that they now have a great suit!

My shoes! – I loved my shoes – possibly more than my dress haha. They were Benjamin Adams – Catherine. I was actually able to wear them the whole night! I was actually able to wear them the whole night!

I know this may seem odd, but I actually really enjoyed getting Anthony’s Suit and rehearsal dinner outfit. We went to Nordstrom’s downtown and worked with a personal shopper, Larry Smiley. He was great and made the whole process fun. I enjoyed seeing Anthony get excited about our wedding. We always made a day of it when he had a fitting and his dad got his suit from there as well. It was a great experience and it wasn’t about me!

Favorite wedding memory: At the Hubbard Inn before the Ceremony. There was a point when I looked around and all of our close friends were laughing, drinking, and enjoying each others company and the attention wasn’t on us. It was a moment that felt like the calm before the storm. My brother got me a drink and I was able to just sit and watch for a moment. It was wonderful and a great memory from the day.

Looking back I wish that we had the maid of honor and best mans speeches inside. The people in the back couldn’t hear it. They were both great sports about it, but I didn’t realize how loud everyone was going to be when we planned the speeches before dinner. I’m glad that we moved the dads/mom speeches inside. I also wish that I was able to talk to more people. There were some people that I was only able to just say hi to. I know that it happen at every wedding, but I really hoped for ours to be different. It just got larger than I hoped I guess. It truly was an amazing day and unlike anything I would have ever imagined for myself. I feel so blessed that I was able to have our wedding at such a unique location and our family was fine with us not going the traditional route. It was a great weekend that was following by an amazing honeymoon and life together.’