Metropolitan Imageworks

Lani and Michael’s first wedding ceremony and celebration was in Washington D.C. in May – here’s a reminder.

Part Duex took place in Chicago the last weekend of July. Saturday’s celebration at Opera was a kickoff to the weekend of events and friends and family came together to mingle, toast, nibble and dance with the wedding couple. Starting off a wedding weekend with a cocktail reception is a fantastic idea, as it gives everyone a time to relax and enjoy themselves and any venue that allows for another chance to dance gets high ratings in my book!

On Sunday, everyone regrouped at Temple Sholom for a lovely, traditional ceremony. Michael’s family has a rich history with Temple Sholom and it seemed very fitting that this is where Lani and Michael should have the final element of their wedding, led by a rabbi who has known Michael since his teenage years.

In the months leading up to the weekend’s ceremony and celebrations, Lani and Michael spent many hours planning the dessert reception to follow the ceremony. The goal was cake and punch x 1,000! From three types of sparkling beverages – Perrier, Champagne and Sparkling Cider – to cake, cookies, cupcakes, flavored popcorn, licorice, mounds of strawberries, brownies (with mint frosting and my personal favorite), chocolate covered pretzels and candy-coated almonds they really their achieved goal.

It was indeed a sweet celebration!

Wedding Coordinator: Beth Bernstein, SQN Events, Chicago, IL

Cocktail Reception: Opera, Chicago, IL

Ceremony: Temple Sholom, Chicago, IL

Florist: Dilly Lily, Chicago, IL

Cake, Cupcakes, Cookies: Sensational Bites, Chicago, IL

Candy and popcorn: Illinois Nut, Skokie, IL

Love and baseball, that’s all you really need.

Imagine a beautiful summer day complete with blue skies, fluffy white clouds and temps in the 90′s.  Perfect weather for a game at Big Ball Park in Riverside. Add in a big, white tent that provides the right amount of shade and you have the perfect location for a wedding!  Jenny and Lee chose Big Ball Park for their wedding ceremony location for a number of reasons, most important being that Jenny spent many years there playing ball with her dad as coach. For sure he was there in spirit that day.

After a touching ceremony the festivities moved to Montefiori in Lemont complete with cocktails, live music, lawn games and the stunning landscape as a backdrop. Jenny and Lee added baseball touches throughout the day – guests used their “tickets” to find their tables, signed a baseball jersey with the couple’s last name embroidered on it, little baseball hats adorned each place setting and all of the paper items were baseball themed as well.   Reminding all of us that Love and Baseball is what makes the world go ’round.

(And this Cub’s fan has no problem shooting Sox fan weddings.)

Ceremony Location: Big Ball Park, Riverside, IL

Reception Location: Montefiori, Lemont, IL

Florist: Phillips Flowers, Chicago

Band: Deja Vu, Chicago

Videography: Metropolitan Filmworks, Nationwide

As promised, here are some more teasers from Christian’s First Communion Reception!

Natalie and Joe came out to the Metimages Studio in May for Natalie’s Maternity Portrait Session and we had a blast!  Together we chose outfits, made Natalie get up and sit down and get up again (Joe helped a bit), played with different backdrops and backgrounds and overall spent a wonderful afternoon capturing an amazing time in their lives. Can’t wait to meet the little guy soon!

Christian made his First Communion in the middle of May at St. Ferdinand Church in Chicago along with 79 other grade school children. Here’s some teaser images from the Church ceremony. I’ll add some teasers from the reception soon!

Congratulations Christian!

I’ve been photographing Alex since he was a little peanut and now he is over three years old and such a chatty and friendly and inquisitive little boy. This time he brought along his new cousin Jack and demonstrated how to be a gentleman in front of my camera.

Last Sunday kicked off the Metropolitan Imageworks Studio One-Year Anniversary!  I had clients in and out all week and will be posting some of the teasers over the next week too!

Noah brought his little brother, Daniel out for a go and showed him the ropes of how to pose for me. Mom and dad joined in for a few pictures as well.

I originally met Carolyn and Jason last summer. We spent some time in my city office, aka Starbucks, talking about their day in detail and getting to know each other. I loved that the Chicago experience of their wedding and the overall feel of the day was very important to each of them. They also were very interested in classic photography that didn’t feature any goofy tricks or poses but rather showcased their day and the love they feel for each other. I’m positive we got it spot on for the day!

My friend Kelly Moore was my guest photographer for the day. What is a guest photographer? It’s when my clients request a second photographer for the day and the stars and the moon align and I’m able to bring with another professional photographer who is one of my peers in the wedding photography arena. How cool is that? It’s almost like two-for-one!!! Kelly graciously agreed to shoot with me and cover Carolyn and Jason’s wedding day and I am excited about the collaborative and the images we captured throughout the day.

After a full ceremony in the beautiful cathedral-like structure of St. Alphonsus on Chicago’s north side, we trekked to the Financial District for some street pictures with a quick stop by the Chicago River before heading to the Chicago History Museum. I really like traipsing around the city and using various locations as backdrop for the pictures. I almost feel that’s why the city has landmarks, just for pictures I need to take! Plus there’s always the excitement of running into other wedding parties and being ready to rumble as we vie for a particular photo location. I kid, I kid – no punched were thrown during the city picture portion or any other part of Carolyn and Jason’s wedding day.

Ceremony: St. Alphonsus, Chicago

Reception: Chicago History Museum, Chicago

Band: Standing Room Only, Chicago

Florist: Hello Darling, Chicago

Caterer: Food For Thought, Chicago

Blake was just a few weeks old by the time he had his very first professional portrait session with Metropolitan Imageworks! He was a very good newborn baby and posed very well on the bed, in the basket, on the ottoman and on the couch.  We only needed to stop 3 times for feedings during his session which is pretty par for the course.  I included a crying teaser image just because the faces he made to show his dislike were so insanely cute!

How awesome are his checkerboard Vans footies?!?

This little cutie-pie is the three-month old son of Diana and Eric, Metimages wedding clients from 2007.  Diana called me a couple weeks ago to ask about scheduling a portrait session for David and of course I was extremely happy to oblige!  David was a perfect gentleman for the camera and showed no fear.  We spent a glorious hour with David posing and cooing and showing off his outfits.

Can’t wait to work with you all again!