There are times when I really connect with my clients and become more than a photographer, I become a friend and part of their family.  This is just one of those examples.  I have been working with Hilary’s family for the past five years and they have welcomed me to special events and milestones with open arms.  I joke that I am an honorary family member, but really it’s not a joke, it’s true!

Hilary and Wayne are totally a Happily Ever After and it warms my heart to see them together. I was incredibly honored to be the one to capture their day, forever.  I know in my past interactions, both in a professional capacity and in a friend capacity, I have laughed and laughed with the two of them.  I love it when people have a great sense of humor and can laugh at life.  These are also the two crazy kids that I went winter camping with in Illinois two winters ago.  It was a frigid December night in Rockford and the low was 19 degrees.  Yes we can laugh at how nuts we were!  But we survived!

Thankfully their wedding day in October was much more pleasant weather-wise!  In fact the lovely blue skies and comfortable fall temps were ideal for a wedding day in the Midwest, if you want my opinion.  I was the first one to arrive where Hilary and her mom and sis were getting ready and I felt like I had just arrived at home, that’s how comfy I am around them.  And that’s exactly what I did, I made myself at home and began my photographic journey of documenting Hilary and Wayne’s wedding day.

Here are just of a few of my favorite images:

Annnndddd here’s little Gem-Gem as a not so little babe anymore!  She is two and as cute as ever! Chit-chatting and interacting and she LOVES to show off her little tongue.  We got some holiday pics, family pics and of course a ton of Gemma and her little girl antics.  See you again in 6 more months!!!

Somehow we absolutely lucked out last Sunday with some fantastic fall weather.  I am just now, one week later, getting over my annoyance at the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond being closed and locked for the day!  We still made it work with a lot of backgrounds in the area and I had a blast working with Emily and Michael.  We even worked our way around some of the lovely Chicago wind and still got some fantastic engagement shots.  See you guys in April!!!

I love photographing newborns.  They’re so sweet and sleep part of the session and you can pose them pretty easily.  I had previously photographed Mom and Dad’s wedding in 2010 and now I am back to photograph their lovely new addition, Adelyn.  She was indeed a very sweet subject for her very first Metropolitan Imageworks portrait session.

I am in love.  Little Isla had major stranger anxiety when I first arrived, but it doesn’t matter because I am completely and utterly in love with her little self and her little antics and her little snuggles.  I’m positive she spent more time in my lap than in front of my camera and I am a-ok with that!  She is my new bestie!  I’m also sensing a theme here . . . her mom and dad were married in 2008 and :ahem: their wedding was photographed by yours truly!

This little dude is Joseph Peter and the darling son of some of Metimages 2009 wedding clients.  He was definitely what I would call a perfect newborn specimen, both in reality and for photos!  I loved his little faces and little crossed limbs.

Weddings are great with all the emotion, action and detail packed into one day.  They’re even better when you are friends with the bride and groom.  Increase the level of greatness by another million when they have a pretty awesome wedding party.  And on top of that we made it into the city for three photo locations despite the weather and everyone was a trooper!  I admit, I was obsessively checking the weather as the big day got closer and not liking the outcome.  I instructed the bride to make sure the wedding party brought along some golf umbrellas and confirmed we were cruising into the city for photo ops no matter what; that I hadn’t had a bride melt on me yet!

After arriving at the hotel on a muggy morning, I found the Renee getting her hair done and her make-up had already been flawlessly applied by Nikolina with Moya Make-Up.  She was grinning from ear to ear as the day had finally arrived!  I worked the room and met her friends and family and worked on detail shots and joked around with the girls, we all knew we were in for a fun day!  As we all boarded the limo bus, there was absolute delight in realizing it not only had stocked bars, a video screen and a light show but also a nice pole smack dab in the middle.  Good thing Renee’s mom was being chauffeured to the church by family!

Saint’s Cyril and Methodius is stunning on the inside and very well lit (photographers tend to think in different lighting scenarios) and I was very excited!  Just seeing Renee walk down that aisle with yet another huge grin on her face made me realize what a fantastic job I have.  Seeing Jim watch her walk with his eyes lit up and a tight smile as he kept emotions in check made myself and all the guests proud to be there for these two who are so much in love!  One of my favorite parts was during Flowers to Mary when Renee’s Matron of Honor sang Ave Maria, while it’s always a very powerful and moving portion of the ceremony, to have one of your closest friends sing during this tradition is just incredibly heartfelt.

About halfway through the formal family and wedding party photos at the altar after the ceremony, I heard some loud and deep rumbling, which I attributed to someone messing with a mic and the sound system.  It was later mentioned that it was really coming down outside and what I really heard was rolling thunder!  Fortunately the monsoon only delayed our departure from the church by about 10 minutes as the groomsmen had to help the bridesmaids out to the limo bus one by one, and then a crew joined together to help get our lovely bride out without getting her drenched.  I personally had to wring out the hems on my pants after a couple trips out carrying gear.  Many thanks to the kind gentleman whose umbrella I totally borrowed!

Our itinerary consisted of stops at US Cellular, Union Station and the Chicago Board of Trade – and we accomplished it all!  By the time the limo bus rolled into the parking lot at US Cellular it has stopping raining and we were able to do a great number of wedding party portraits with the stadium in the background.  Since Renee and Jim are die-hard White Sox fans it was only appropriate this be the main reason we trekked into the city from Lemont and it was totally worth it.  We also had the beauty of a lightening show just to the South of US Cellular as we were out taking pictures.  Upon finishing up there we all hopped back on the limo bus and headed towards Union Station, the light drizzle started up again so we spent time playing beneath the columns and out of the rain.  Our third and final stop entailed me having Renee and Jim gallivant around the middle of the street in front of the Board of Trade and we got some lovely umbrella shots, which not every bride and groom get to have!  Finally it was back on the bus to head towards the reception venue back in the ‘burbs.  Renee and Jim and their wedding party did a great job stocking the coolers and it was like all the time on the bus between ceremony and reception was another party just for the VIPs. (And the photographer and videographer, of course.)

When we arrived at the Crystal Grand, earlier than expected to boot, the room was completely decked out and one of Jim’s friends even did some elegant up-lighting on every wall giving it a completely different and colorful atmosphere.  My associate photographer had also set up a Photobooth and one of the bridesmaids supplied a bin of hats and other fun accouterments for dressing up.  It was a huge hit with the guests, myself included!

Click here to view the Photobooth pics.

Guests mingled and cocktailed and Renee and Jim were toasted by their closest friends with some of the most heartfelt speeches I have heard.  All around a job well done!  Finally, after a scrumptious dinner and the opening dances it was time to get the party started!  Their DJ rocked the house with dance songs, oldies and some 80′s throwback songs and there was not one single lull in the commotion on the dance floor. That’s the sign of a successful wedding reception!

Once again I had the pleasure of photographing my little friend Zoe.  If you haven’t figured it out, she is the darling daughter of my college friend Kira, also a photography major.  Kira is also happens to be one of the talented Metimages associate photographers.  Zoe is totally a Metimages baby and when I met her as a newborn last October, I did get all choked up and emotional to witness my friend moving into this next chapter in her life.  So amazing.  I love my photo times with Zoe because it’s also time to hang out with Kira and get all caught up on each others lives.  Fortunately, mom has her camera out on Zoe often so she is used to being a subject and she totally rocked this session!

He came, he saw, he smiles, he scooted and of course he cried. Little man Caleb had a very busy schedule the day before our portrait session – his first birthday party, errands with Mom and Dad and an unfortunate allergic reaction that earned him an ER visit.  Going on lots of excitement and little activity is never easy. But I am so pleased with so many of the great moments of him smiling and posing and just being his little self.

Even Gus the Puggle put on his best model face.

I love that he’d rather poke his big fur-brother in the eye than smile for my camera.