Chicago Engagement Session

Laura and John—fresh from a flight home to Chicago from Istanbul!—spent a day around the West Loop with Julia Franzosa Photography for their casual but hip engagement photos. Navy and green are crisp and vibrant in their images at The Publican and near Fulton Market; monochromatic outfits on abandoned railroad tracks give off an earthy, laid-back vibe. We especially love the cozy, homey feel of the couple sitting on their front steps. Laura and John look so comfortable in these photos, and we just adore their natural smiles and happy faces!

We love the laid-back feel of Angela and Justin’s Chicago engagement session! Gerald Carvalho Photography followed cute couple Angela and Justin to their favorite local haunts and captured them drinking coffee and just having fun together. These two are gorgeous and we adore Justin’s tailored coat and Angela’s fabulous boots! These two look right at home together, whatever they’re doing. Such a beautiful couple!

We have a tasty (pardon the pun) little engagement shoot to share with you today! Mindy and Mark love to cook together so they brought in Amanda from Swoon Over It to capture some of the sweetness. These two are adorable and their food looks delish, so fun!

What better time to do a little love shoot than Valentine’s Day!  Leanne and Gordon are an absolutely precious couple, and this whimsical and quirky Valentine’s engagement session in snowy Chicago suits them to a T.  Their little table for two featured raspberry tarts, blooms in the palette of kisses, romantic ribbon and adorable cross stitch messages of love.  Thanks to my lovely friends Jessie from Simply Jessie Photography and Kelly from Fleur for sharing!

Reasons why I love this Nashville engagement session: the way it tells a story (the couple chose locations of first and other meaningful dates), the gorgeous turquoise wall, a delicious milkshake that I can almost taste, and the adorable couple of Matt and Alison. Enjoy the bliss!

I adore every little thing about Robert and Susan’s Chicago engagement session! From the modern floral, to the rifle prop, it’s perfectly gorgeous and perfectly all-about-them. Robert is the co-owner of fabulous Chicago restaurant Longman and Eagle. Susan is a stylist and co-owns Sparrow Hair Salon. And my lovely friends Jessie of Simply Jessie Photography and Kelly of Fleur really rocked out the images and decor!

Kelly from Spindle Photography is an up and coming photographer who is no stranger to EAD (you can read her about her 2009 nuptials here). She sent over a sweet engagement session in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park. Cassi and Matt are planning a 2011 wedding ceremony.

Choosing the right photographer was very important to both of us. I’m an art director for a publication company, so I work with photographers on a regular basis. I knew the look I wanted our pictures to have, the challenge was just finding someone who matched that style. While the vintage  themed engagement sessions are very trendy right now, we wanted something that would be classic, timeless and fit the rest of our wedding. We wanted to look like ourselves and not use props or set up a fake scene. Our idea was to use locations that are special and meaningful to us. Since Mike trusted me on this, I met with a few photographers on my own. I found a few good ones that might have worked, but I still wasn’t sure. My last meeting was with our former next door neighbor, Merek Davis. He had done a few photoshoots for Mike’s bands and is more well-known for his work with bands (he photographed Frankie Muniz!) and his amazing editing skills, but I figured if he could do that, he could do amazing wedding photography too! When I met with him, he brought over a presentation on his iPad of weddings he has shot and the prints and albums that are included in his wedding packages. After seeing his wedding photography and talking to him about our wedding, I was sure he would do an amazing job! Him and his fiance work together on weddings and we love seeing how excited they get when we tell them details about our wedding and what we are looking for.

Sam and Jessica are college sweethearts marrying in Atlanta next May. My favorite part? The shot of the couple holding signs up. I know it’s becoming standard, but I still love seeing the unique ways couples use this as part of their pre-wedding preparations. They chose Our Labor of Love as their photographer.

Christiana and Brad’s adorable Philadelphia engagement session has a dog, a bike, and some ice cream.  What more could anyone want?  Sofia Negron stopped down to Philadelphia from NYC for the day to capture the sweet “getting to know you” session, which incorporated the couple’s outdoorsy, sporty side and their love of sweets with a visit to The Little Candy Shoppe.

Jennifer and Justin were married in Birmingham, AL but both live and work in Nashville.  They invited Brandon and Stacey from Gresham Photography up to Nashville to shoot these lovely engagement images around town!

Ben and Kelly’s wedding will be in Kentucky, but they met and fell in love in Washington, DC. So it was only fitting that their engagement session, photographed by Megan W Photography, showcased some of DC’s magical landmarks! First stop, Adams Morgan.

Bryce and Coady’s engagement session is special to me for a few reasons. First, I know the groom-to-be Bryce. He is such a smart and fun guy and these photos express his personality so well. Second, Amy from Angela Anderson Photography is just SO talented. And lastly, I just adore how my city is shown off in the places that Bryce and Coady chose for their session.

I’m so excited to share my friend Jessica’s adorable engagement session with Olivia Leigh! Jessica and Jeff are very much a Chicago couple, taking advantage of all the things the city has to offer. Living on the North Side, they spend many afternoons at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Although it was a bit of a gray Chicago day, these images really show off the love that they have for each other! They are such a wonderful couple, and I cannot wait to share images from their beautiful wedding in Minnesota.

You may remember my giddiness at [intlink id=”376″ type=”post”]*these fabulous photos*[/intlink] that Jessica Claire snapped of us in California in December.  Well, she’s done it again!  She happened to be passing through Chicago on Sunday night so we had the opportunity to steal some of her time to take a walk through one of Chicago’s most fabulous neighborhoods, Bucktown, with our most-adorable-puppy-in-the-world, Charlie.

There may be no more appropriate setting for engagement photos than Rome, “the Eternal City”. Zora and Fely wanted to capture the beauty of one of their city at a place that has always fascinated Zora, the Pantheon. Together with Teresa of In Love In Italy Photography, they spent an afternoon strolling from Ara Pacis Augustae across the river Tevere to sit for a cappuccino at Splendor Parthenopes. They then headed to the Pantheon, crossing Ponte Sant’Angelo and watching the sun set behind the castle. Although they arrived at the Pantheon at the most crowded hour of the day, Teresa captured a stunning image of them standing still with people milling all around—Zora says: “It is my absolute favorite, it captures us and our love profoundly.” We love the enchanting city of Rome and these stunning photos from In Love In Italy Photography!

Wes and Olivia’s engagement session is so terribly chic, it’s almost too much to handle! In my next life, I hope to be as stunning as Olivia, who effortlessly rocks a baby blue knit frock, a gold headband, and plum tights. And let’s not forget Wes, whose worn-in ankle boots and skinny striped tie are the perfect laid-back look. Add in absolutely dreamy photos from This Modern Romance at San Juan Capistrano’s Serra Plaza and you have an engagement session that’s pure autumn perfection!

Lisa and Ryan’s date night engagement session is all about their favorite things—first a picnic with their pup and then a dinner date in downtown Wausau, Wisconsin, wandering along the town’s charming cobbstone streets and then visiting one of their favorite patios, the  Back When Cafe!

We are drooling over these heart-stoppingly beautiful Brooklyn Bridge engagement photos from Carmen Santorelli! Chris and Natalie chose a classic NYC theme for their upcoming Central Park wedding and decided that the iconic Brooklyn Bridge would be the perfect backdrop for their engagement session! They strolled the bridge and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade on a gorgeous late-summer day, hand in hand. I just adore how head-over-heels these two are for each other!

We love a casual, fun-loving engagement shoot, and Chris and Cassi’s Coney Island engagement photos by Jen Huang Photography are fabulous! The cute couple spent a day at the Brooklyn boardwalk playing games, trying out carnival rides, and just generally being in love. The result is adorable photos that show off Cassi and Chris’s personalities. We are completely smitten!