This past weekend, Ali and I met up with Kayla and Cody for their engagement session in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and meeting them felt like catching up with good friends! We had such a fun time, playing around in all that beautiful golden light! May in Chicago is one of my favorite times of the year to shoot! The bugs aren’t out yet (!!!), everything is just turning green, and there are just enough leaves on the trees to diffuse the light! It can be a struggle to find a good location when you don’t have a ton of blooming flowers and a lot of the trees still look “wintery,” but we found a few gorgeous spots — some of my new favorite locations in the Chicago suburbs!

Kayla and Cody met in college at Southern Illinois University, and they’ve been together ever since! Their relationship made it through two years of long-distance while Cody played minor league baseball (how amazing is that?!), and now they just look at home in each other’s arms! It was so much fun to meet their energetic, hilarious, sweet dog Nellie!! (You won’t believe how big she smiles for the camera!!) Kayla didn’t blink an eye when I asked her to walk through a field in heels because “THE LIGHT IS SO GOOD OVER HERE.’“ BLESS. It was worth it. So much light, so much love!!

Kayla and Cody — what a pleasure it is to be a part of your wedding journey. Your wedding might be postponed for a bit, but it will be here in a BLINK, and I’m so excited to capture the PURE JOY that will be your wedding day! Enjoy your engagement photos!! You are so loved!! (Hug Nellie for me!!)