Remember Lauren & Stephen’s beautiful Chicago Engagement photos from last year?  Well, they’ve tied the knot!  They had a modern wedding in the city.  We started in their penthouse on the 60th floor!  What an amazing view of the city from their home.

I really loved how the getting ready was all done in their home, including the first look.  Just makes everything even more meaningful and personal.  See their first look below and you’ll know what I mean… after the cute ring bearer allowed for it.

I absolutely LOVED her Vera Wang dress!  It’s perfect on her!

Lauren went to Northwestern, so it was perfect that they chose the Alice Millar Chapel on campus to exchange vows.  We were lucky enough to take some shots around before guests arrived.

Check out the beautiful stained glass windows!

And then we headed to Millenium Park for some fun at The Bean before heading into their reception at The Art Institute of Chicago.

Chicago’s skyline:

I just love the modern space & furniture here:

How cool are those chairs?

And I love that colorful swirly wall/floor.

You can see the rest of their wedding on Junebug Weddings blog and in their real weddings.

Fun fact:  I brought Cameron with me on this trip.  One of my Chicago couple’s from last year babysat while I shot this wedding!  Big shout out to Eileen & Roland!  Cameron misses you two!  I love my couples.  <3

Photography: Caroline Tran Photography
Ceremony Site:  Alice Millar Chapel
Reception Site: The Modern Wing, The Art Institute of Chicago
Catering: Bon Appetit, at the Art Institute of Chicago
Wedding Cake: Take the Cake
Wedding Favors: Truffles from Take the Cake
Floral Design & Decor: John Hensel of Heffernan Morgan
DJ: Style Matters
Officiant: Rev. Thomas Perrucci
Wedding Favors: Truffles from Take the Cake
Dress Designer: Vera Wang
Wedding Dress Shop: Vera Wang
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jenny Yoo
Hair: Starlight Makeup, Lillian Toma
Rings: Wedding Bands and Co. and New York Jewelers

I’m so excited to share with you this bridal shower I shot that’s currently featured in Bridal Guide magazine.  Pick it up on newsstands now to read the full 3 page article!

Before I go into the amazing shower details, let me just tell you how amazing the bride-to-be, Emily, is.  She’s the most positive person I’ve ever met.  Emily and I had our first baby around the same time, and I remember while shooting her newborn, I was feeling a little blue about how fast Cameron had been growing.  I said something along the lines of feeling sad that one day Cameron is going to meet someone and leave me.  She said, “I hope [my son] finds someone he really loves, and who really loves him too.”  That just put everything back to perspective for me, and there has been several profound moments like that where she just made me feel better.  Someone this amazing deserves to be pampered as you’re about to see.

Emily was getting ready to marry the love of her life in Hawaii, so a tropical feel was the perfect prep for her destination wedding.  The very awesome Carolyn of The Special Day planned this – she wanted everyone to feel like they were at a luxurious spa.

Guests were pampered with manicures and pedicures!  …this is a shower I want to attend!

Gorgeous flowers by Mille Fiori.

DELICIOUS catering by Good Gracious Catering.

And the awesome desserts by none other than Esther Kang of Batch from Scratch and MasterChef season 2 contestant.

Amazing shower, right?  Big thanks to Carolyn for bringing me on this fabulous team!

Nikki loves anything water & Andrew loves anything fish – like fish & water, these two naturally go hand in hand.

Nikki is a (talented) graphic designer, so this session was super fun to plan together.  I gave her the ideas of felted fishes and she took it to a whole other level!  I LOVE that giant fish they made TOGETHER!  Yes, Andrew help cut out each individual scale.

I adore her yellow rain boots.  I even got to wear my rain boots for this shoot!

I love the graphics that Nikki prepared for the shoot:

This was one of the more physically involved shoots I did and it was SO much fun!  I was already super excited to work with Nikki & Andrew, but now given a taste of Nikki’s creativity, I’m really on the edge of my seat for her wedding!  I can’t wait to work with Amorology on their wedding at Pelican Hill!

You can see their full feature on one of my favorite wedding blogs, Green Wedding Shoes!

I am feeling like the luckiest girl right now.  Growing up, I never had any close friends.  I had a gazillion acquaintances, but never any close friends.  I hated how cliquish high school was and chose not to be part of any cliques.  Instead, I hung out with several cliques, but was never truly a part of any.   In college, I learned the value of close friends and decided that I would put my energy into those who are real friends.  In grad school, I met a girl named Hanna.  We instantly clicked and have become close friends since.  We saw each other through so many milestones.  She inspired me in so many more ways than she’ll never know.  Her and her now husband inspired me to start my own business.  And Hanna just launched her new company, lollacup, and I couldn’t be more proud and inspired!

I was so fortunate to have the very amazing Fleuretica not only do the flowers for my shower, but also most of the decor.

I LOVE the custom napkins!  I love geometric patterns.  And I LOVE that they used film canisters as mini vases!!!

Custom silk screened place mats:

Can you believe Euri & Kendra hammered in all those nails?

Love the yarn & ribbon signage!

Hanna’s also an amazing chef.  She made all the savory foods, and sent guests home with homemade jam!

I was also so honored to have Esther from Batch from Scratch make desserts for us.  I love the dessert table!

Euri & Kendra spelled out the menu with gold wiring!  And I love the little cotton candy hot air balloons.  Yummy cotton candy by Nina from Tasty Clouds.

I keep telling people that they have to hire Fleuretica for full event design and not just florals.  Look at the amazing details and how creative/crafty they are!

Esther made some amazing Apple tart & scones!

And my favorite was her banana pudding!  I ate an entire container:

Isnt’ the yarn ladder cute?

I love all the little button adornments.  For those who don’t know, I used to sew most of my own clothes.  Too busy now-a-days, but I want to start again.

And pretty letter pressed cards from Papeterie.  I heart letter press!

And the winning puppet from the puppet decorating contest:

Thank you all for showering me with so much love and support!  In case you’re wondering, one of my favorite gifts were the dinners that people delivered to me during the first month postpartum.  Hanna organized a dinner delivery service where my friends signed up to bring me dinner and it was the best thing ever!  For the first week, the days just blur into one loooong day.  It’s nearly impossible to get out of the house the first 2 weeks, and difficult to get out of bed the first few days!  I can’t believe this was only a few months ago.  Pre-Cameron days seem like a world ago.

Just a quick announcement:  I apologize if you have been trying to call me the past few days.  I lost my cell phone at LAX last week.    We just got back late last night from shooting a (gorgeous!) wedding in Hawaii.  I’m just starting the process to find/replace it, so until then, email is the best way to contact me.   …and now, back to our regularly scheduled program!  I have been blessed to meet so many wonderful couples from all over.  We’ve been traveling on average twice a month, and it has been amazing to see so many different sights and taste so many different foods!

You may recognize Jamie & Simon from their fun San Francisco engagement photos.  They’re now married!  I LOVE her Marc Jacobs shoes!  Their wedding was just as fun as they are.  Check out their wedding logo:

They had the cutest drawings on their invites!

Their ceremony took place in the beautiful Julia Morgan Ballroom, at the Merchants Exchange.

The bridesmaids had the cutest bouquets of roses, accented with succulents and billy balls.  All florals done by the talented Jeeryn of Tanjeeryn Designs.

And I love fun socks on guys!

Amazingly, they flipped the ceremony site for the reception in less than an hour!

The food was amazing!!  Photos of my meal:

The group leader at their church, and MC for the night, wrote them a hilarious song.

cupcakes!  one big one to cut, and a bunch of small ones to share.

all i gotta say is that Simon has balls… it’s rare that I see the bride get caked.  hehe.

Congrats to you two on a fun & elegant wedding day!!