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].