This past weekend I shot a beautiful wedding in downtown Chicago at St Peters Church, the reception was at Salvatores restaurant, and we did portraits at North Avenue Beach. It was a beautiful day and I think the wedding photos turned out great!
We started the day shooting the brides preparations at the Marriott downtown, I actually took this picture of the bouquet sitting on the toilet while waiting in the bathroom for the bride to change into her dress. Normally I wouldn’t take pictures of a bouquet in the bathroom but I was determined to make the most of my time in there and actually really like the way this picture turned out!
As soon as the bride was mostly covered I came out to photograph the rest of the preparations and ended up with some great details!
One of my favorite shots was this candid portrait of the bride in the bridal suite which was taken using the light from the lamp on a desk. Typically I’ll use a bit of flash in a situation like this but I actually really liked how soft and warm the tungsten light was in the room.
Once we were done taking pictures of the brides preparations with her bridesmaids I headed over to Saint Peters Episcopal Church on Belmont in Lincoln Park. If you aren’t careful you can drive right past this small church which is on your left as you head into the city away from Lake Michigan and in fact I did exactly that or rather the Taxi driver did, but we quickly realized our mistake and I made it with plenty of time to spare!
Once I made it to St Peters and went inside I was surprised by what a beautiful little chapel it is, it’s really quite charming in spite of it’s crazy restrictions on the photographer! Of all of the pictures in the chapel, this shot of the bride being walked down the aisle by her father is my favorite!
I love the way the light outside is spilling into the church around the bride without washing anything out, I made sure to use my 35mm prime lens to minimize lens flare and I think having that on the camera made all the difference!
Finally as the ceremony ended I managed to capture this wonderful candid moment of the bride and groom walking out of the church as husband and wife!Due to some time restrictions and the poor light at the front of the church for portraits we decided to skip doing formal portraits at the alter and took a few quick pictures of the groomsmen in the alley next to Saint Peters before heading to North Avenue Beach for portraits with family, friends, and the wedding party.
After we finished taking pictures of the bridal party, and family with the Chicago skyline at North Avenue Beach I took a few minutes to do a some slightly more artistic photos of the bride and groom before we headed for Salvatores restaurant where the reception was to take place!Salvatores turned out to be a fantastic place for pictures, the staff and service were excellent but the ambiance was what really wowed me. I loved every moment I spent shooting there! This was one of the last photos of the night, it’s the bride and grooms first dance and I thought it summed up the evening perfectly, beautiful!
by Ben
Jessica@Stella Event Design - Beautiful! And I actually love that bouquet shot in the bathroom, there’s just something about it! Just goes to show some flowers can look good anywhere:-)
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Freda Nolan - My daughter would like to get married at your church and have small dinner at salvatores we only have about 25 to 30 guest do you think this is something you could help us with were looking at Aug 31th. Thank you so much.