Most people hear the words “Family Photos!!” at a wedding and cringe. They might think of endless combinations of people, and lots of painful waiting around while the cocktail hour ticks away without them 😉 But wait! Family formal portrait time doesn’t have to take LONG, and it doesn’t have to be painful! Here are […]

Anna wore her sister’s veil, her grandmother’s earrings, and her great-grandmother’s necklace. Her wedding dress was covered in the most intricate needlework of delicate floral vines (she’s getting a PhD in horticulture after all!!). They shared traditional wedding vows, a gentle nod to the millions and millions of marriages that have gone before theirs. Anna […]

I’m not sure if you’re anything like me, but my tendency is to always do what’s most comfortable, to pick the easiest way, and to do whatever is most familiar. I love predictable routines, habits, and lots and lots of lists (!!). But I also know that when I’m living that easy, predictable, smooth-as-vanilla-ice-cream life, […]

Wow, what a year! Maybe it’s a little early for end-of-the-year reflections (we haven’t even hit Christmas yet!), but 2019 was a game-changer in so many ways! There were so many unexpected surprises (and curveballs!), and I’m grateful for the lessons I learned, and the ones I’m still learning. We shot a whole bunch of […]

If you’ve been around here awhile, you’ll remember this post from last year, documenting our first-ever for-real Christmas tree experience. After ten years with an artificial Christmas tree, we’re now solidly on the REAL-X-MAS-TREES-4-LIFE team!! We had planned to make the drive to cut down our tree again this year, but things got busy, the […]

I am such a huge fan of Airbnb! I guess there are a bunch of others home rental options, like VRBO or HomeAway, but we’ve only used Airbnb and we’ve loved it. We’ve used Airbnb to stay in a cozy cabin on the Lake Michigan coastline, a fresh, beautiful townhouse in the suburbs of Minneapolis, […]

Winter came early in Chicago!! And while snow lovers are in heaven (including yours truly), snow, ice, and cold temps definitely make photography more challenging! In my opinion, the hardest part of wintertime portrait photography is capturing relaxed, authentic, genuine images when it’s freezing cold! While shooting indoors is always a great option, outdoor natural […]

Once upon a time, I was barely 21 and a fresh-out-of-college editorial assistant at a publishing company, getting ready to get married to the love of my life, and trying hard to find a photographer who fit both my budget and my style. I loved beautiful photography, but I couldn’t tell you what exactly made […]

(Now that things have slowed down a bit and it’s officially our “off-season” [until January!! Yay!], I’m really excited to spend a bit more time blogging and sharing more of who I am and what I love! I think that when my clients know me better, they trust me more and their photography experience is […]

When Marty and I got engaged and booked our photographer (back in 2008! Holy cow!), she didn’t offer an engagement session as part of her wedding package, and truthfully, we didn’t feel like paying extra cash for a session when duh, we had an awesome point and shoot (they were real big in the late […]