see that vintage carousel?? MUST. HAVE.

just a couple weeks ago, mindy was drawing pictures of her dream house…and she designed in room to put this carousel in a garden by the pool. so literally, it’s a place to shoot that mindy still dreams about. and we’ve only been able to shoot it twice.

only thing better than finding and shooting this carousel? spending the day with randon and meagan. if people walk away from spending time with mindy and i, and they say even half the nice things we said about randon and meagan after spending the day with them…i’ll take it!

check out this beautiful couple looking darn fine in some of our favorite pics from their session. enjoy!!

wind and photoshoots usually don’t go together….UNLESS WE’RE SHOOTING JOSH + HEIDI!!

remember that time that we were getting shots of josh and heidi while the wind was perfectly blowing heidi’s hair and scarf (work it!!), and then right when we framed the shot we wanted, the wind died. yeah, that was awesome. mindy had me hiding just below the shot, throwing heidi’s scarf in the air to try and make it look like it was still blowing, haha. i got some mad scarf throwing skills…even though we didn’t use any of those shots. hey, it was worth a shot! needless to say, all the shots we ended up going with were the real deal…real hair blowing in real wind, with a really awesome couple!

anyhoo…here’s some of our faves from this windy day (you’d never know it!) in the windy city.

joe is a glass blower. for a living!

seriously….we just went on a field trip to greenfield village last week and i couldn’t stop watching the guys blow glass. but come to find out, this isn’t only something people do at field trip hotspots. his art is AMAZING.

and then becca is a designer.
seriously people…is it possible for us to think you two have any more style?!!

so for this chicago engagement session…we pretty much talked about two things the whole time.

1. how amazing they looked in all of their pictures, and
2. all the fun business ventures we could do together.

joe. becca. we’re you’re biggest fans!!!

let me set the stage.

we’re shooting kevin’s sister’s wedding (aka scott + brittany).
mindy’s shooting the photobooth. and it’s getting kind of crazy.
i’m working the wedding dancefloor. and crazy doesn’t come close to describing it.
i still remember everyone screaming “all aboard” for ozzy’s crazy train.

and then we met kevin and stephanie.
we had talked on the phone. and we’re shooting their wedding next june. but we had never met in person.
i think the screaming conversation went something like this….

“HI…..I’M….STEPHANIE….NICE…MEET….YOU!”
i’m pretty sure i screamed something back, gave her a huge hug…and disappeared back into the party.

i’m pretty sure this was the loudest, most fun way we’ve ever met one of our brides for the first time.
so it’s pretty hard for us to think of anything but crazy fun when we think of kevin and stephanie.
and their engagement session proved that true.

til next june you two!! CAN’T….WAIT….!!!

there are some weddings that we know are going to rock from the first few seconds of the engagement session.
bryan + chrissy had us at hello!

typically, there’s an inner dialogue during engagement sessions that goes something like this:
“can i really say that?”
“will they appreciate my humor? or should i tone it down a bit til we know them better?”

ummm…not so much.
jokes full tilt from the get go.
i love that.

without a doubt, this is one wedding that we’re dying to be at.
and we’re looking forward to shooting it too

bryan + chrissy… can’t wait to see you in october!!

if you haven’t seen us all atweet about it recently, we take one or two weeks a year to shoot families in connecticut. we absolutely LOVE every trip out there! so how random is it that shortly before one of our last trips out there, we’re talking with a chicago bride (aka “leslie”) who just happened to be living in new haven. how cool did i feel when i said, ” oh hey, we’re gonna be in new haven in just a few weeks….wanna meet?!” what are the odds?!

rob and leslie are down to earth. friendly. life doesn’t feel rushed when you’re around them (for example…this was the only session i remember where we stopped to grab a coffee in between locations. now that’s a tradition i could grow to love!!) with them, it’s actually possible to forget that we’re on a photo session and get caught up talking about life. [sigh]. very nice.

couple fun facts about their session. it started out with us getting kicked out of the parking garage that we snagged a few shots from. it’s never a good thing when the security guard is walking toward you on a shoot. good thing we already nailed a few shots and then, we went and took pictures in the woods! it’s not a first. but close

we’re absolutely looking forward to shooting their wedding at the modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago in just a few weeks. rob and leslie…thanks for inviting us to be a part of your day. and we simply love that we’ve been able to hook up on our last two trips out east. see you in a few!!

first time we met brad and erica was in the bar at the hotel we were staying at last november just before flying to florida for our first family trip to disney!! so what exactly do you do when you’ve got the kids with you in the hotel room when you’ve got to get downstairs to meet with a bride and groom? why you bring them with you of course!! we figured it’d just take some ice cream to keep them quiet at the table next to us. little did we know they’d fall asleep at the table. no joke. and way too cute with them curled up on the bench

but i digress… brad and erica are the perfect blend of cool, fun AND smart. and i’m not gonna lie, i’m a HUGE fan of accountants!! but whooda thunk they’d be so much fun! and daring!! all i can remember is the look on poor brad’s face when mindy wanted them to kiss…and kiss…and kiss, smack in the middle of wrigleyville on game day. who says accountants are willing to take risks?!! his trick? closing his eyes so he didn’t have to worry about friends seeing him! smart i tell you. very smart.

after our engagement session, we discovered a sa-weet chinese restaurant in the west loop (which i think we’re due to hit up again soon…hint, hint you two!) in the meantime, here’s some of our faves

yes, mindy did sneak a shot of them kissing through the city bus that parked in front of them!! see ‘em?!

there’s something about the bride’s and grooms that we meet at the starbucks on randolph and morgan in chicago. seriously. it’s like magic. every session that started at that magical starbucks has turned into an introduction to new friends. mindy keeps telling me we should move to chicago. i just think we need to have all of our meetings in the west loop!!

PJ works for the Bulls so mindy and i were sure to hit a game when we were in town. first game either of us had been to since…. umm…. college. and i don’t even want to tell you how many years ago that was and Jackie works for Upshot, the marketing/ad agency with the coolest people in chi-town for sure.

and aside from a darn good time, two main thoughts come to mind when i think back to this session. first, we sucked literally every ounce of light out of the sun that night. mindy just couldn’t stop shooting and pj and jackie were crazy troopers that were totally game for more!! i’m not gonna lie, some of the places we shoot get a little scary once the sun goes down. yikes. and second…there was one darn big mosquito. seriously people. scary huge.

alright you two. here’s a few of our faves! can’t wait to shoot your winter wedding!!!

funny story. after shooting joe + julie’s engagement session, we really wanted to go out to eat with joe and julie, but decided we really needed to get back home to spend some time with the kids. until we changed our minds! so mindy picks up the phone to give them a call to say, “hey, let’s eat!” but then we hung up before it rang. we really needed to get home. until we changed our minds. mindy grabbed her phone ready to make the call. then we changed our minds. and we decided to go home. responsibility won! ugh.

sometimes we just want to have fun!! and bottom line, an evening with joe and julie is a ton of fun!!

now here’s a few of our faves…and we’re not gonna lie they are big time faves…this is one crazy beautiful couple don’t you think?!! [jaw drops].

jason and kayla have a strong connection with grace adventures camp.
mindy and i love grace adventures.

jason and kayla are both very active in youth ministry.
ben’s undergrad was in youth ministry and actually interned as a youth pastor up in cadillac michigan.
and mindy’s a big kid

the list could go on on how many things we have in common with jason and kayla. so naturally, we’re pretty darn excited to be shooting their wedding this august.

and speaking of excited…we were also pretty excited to get our colored doors outside for some field/tree shots. i mean, what else says “the great outdoors” like a bunch of vintage colored doors (that we now have behind our newish 1970′s green velvet couch in our living room, btw). character. color. bold. yet natural. sounds a whole lot like jason and kayla to me

so you two, we can’t wait for your wedding!!! now here’s a handful of our faves from your session.