These past few days of cool summer nights is making me swoon for fall.  I say it every year:  I miss my jeans, boots and scarves.  I’m ready for campfires, leaves and leaving my windows open all day and night.  As a photographer, fall is also the busiest time of the year so finding joy in little things is sometimes the only way to stay sane!  I’m also still plugging away on blogging some of my sessions from last fall.  Sad but true.  They’ll be making random appearances here and there and hopefully the warm colors will will make you swoon for cooler nights too…..

Which brings us to Joy and Joel!  Yes, their session was indeed last fall but the timing of this post is anything but random.  Tomorrow, Joy will marry Joel on a warm summer day in her hometown of Paulding, Ohio and I’m so looking forward to spending a perfect day with them.

Joy and Joel, I’ll be seeing you soon!  Wishing you many moons of cool evenings and campfires in the years to come!

And now, part two of Erin and Matt’s engagement…this time in downtown Chicago!

After shooting their farm session at my house, it seemed only fitting to meet on their turf!  Their front steps were a perfect place to begin :)

Confession:  I have never been to Chicago before!  I know, I know.  I have driven through but I’m pretty certain that doesn’t count ;)  Matt and Erin wanted a lot of well-known landmarks incorporated into their session so they led the way!  SO GLAD Matt volunteered to take on the traffic!  What’s so fun about shooting in a place you’ve never seen is that while Erin and Matt pointed me to the locations they liked, it was a fun challenge to find the best light in those places…which sometimes meant finding a new location within another!

It’s official.  I’m in love with this city!  Subways, cute bus stops and the L?!!!  Yes, please!

One of my favorites below!  Erin and Matt are such a classic, classy couple:)  It was so enjoyable to tour the city with them.  Matt would give me details about the architecture with bits of history and Hollywood added in.  I’m sure when I wasn’t shooting them, I looked like a stupid tourist ;)

A quick change followed by a stop at Millennium Park.

Erin you are sooo gorgeous!!!

Back on the road, we attempted to get to another area of the city…but traffic was horrible!  We gave up and headed over to Wrigley Field for a few images outside the stadium….or so we thought ;)

What we weren’t expecting was to shoot INSIDE the stadium!!!  Still outside, Matt walked away from Erin and myself to talk to a gentleman selling Cubs tix (he was legit and worked for the stadium!).  Erin and I could not figure out what he was doing!  Erin made a comment that Matt was probably smooth talking his way into something grand….and she was right!  He returned to us grinning like a little boy, holding three tickets to tour the field!

Matt.Was.Giddy.  Being a huge Cubs fan, Matt has been to many games, but never has he sat on the bench in the dugout, stood in the batters box or touched the grass.  We were very limited on where we could go during our tour and the light was not ideal…but we made it work!

One of the best afternoons I’ve ever spent with a couple :)  Erin and Matt, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!  I have so enjoyed our journey thus far and am beyond giddy myself looking forward to your wedding and reception this fall.  I’ll be back in the city before we know it!

I probably sound like a broken record by now….every time I post a session from earlier this year I talk about the rainy weather we all endured!  The rain seriously messed with my life for two months and it always seemed to be a part of each session in some way….especially Nicole and  Troy.

Nicole and I used to work together so when she contacted me to tell me Troy had finally popped the question, I was completely thrilled for her and also honored and excited that I would get to photograph her wedding.  She and Troy were high school sweethearts and are now both finally finished with their schooling and ready to start the next chapter of their lives together :)  We set the date for their engagement session and started shooting with dark clouds overhead.  We had barely finished the first outfit when it started to rain and we postponed the rest of the shoot…..

And it rained again…and we rescheduled again…then it rained.  AGAIN.

Regardless of the rain that first day, the images in the field are some of my favorites of Nicole and Troy.

Which brought us to scheduled session number FOUR.  And the sun was actually shining!!!  So glad the rain made us wait for clear skies which provided a completely different look for the rest of the images :)

Nicole and Troy, I am so excited to shoot your wedding..in the same place that I married my high school sweetheart too :)  And hopefully, we have been granted some grace with the rain gods and your wedding day will be bright blue skies!  I think we’ve earned it!