I'm ready for this whole winter business to be over. Ok, maybe you're sick of hearing about the weather lately, but indulge me for a moment. I was born in July, mKay? This chick was not MADE to be in the cold. And besides, summer is so much better for being outside with the birds chirping and the trees green and the flowers in colorful bloom... I digress. Not that November through March don't have their own checkmarks in the 'Good to have' category. Layne and Terry's engagements were good to have in February. It wasn't terribly cold (for once) and it made the 'get closer' requests that much more welcome. I'm proud of these and according to Terry - I made them 'look good'. Ohnomyfriend. That was alllllllll you guys. See you in June for your SUMMER WEDDING!

Where would you naturally go to photograph two lovebird law students? Why, the Old Courthouse of course! A bit of warmth before heading out into the snowy downtown landscape. The cold just makes for extra snuggly goodness and they didn't mind the frigid temps, they live in Michigan! See you guys in May for, hopefully, MUCH warmer wedding bliss. :)

You winter wedding folks continue to amaze me. 14 degrees outside with a -2 windchill and you're ALLLL for going outside to get great pictures. Awesome. Never a problem for me. I get to wear pants and a wool coat and gloves and a scarf... :) Not so awesome for short-dressed bridesmaids. You girls are troopers and there never were truer friends to the bride. That being said, Paige and Chris got a super cold wedding day but still managed to rock it without complaint! Paige got beautiful courtesy of the always-fabulous Danielle Erb, not to mention they had a gorgeous ceremony in St. Charles and stunning reception at the Ritz-Carlton. Ah... i love my clients. And their freezing bridesmaids. Thanks for the opportunity to freeze along side.

And thanks to Von for her stellar second eye!

Dear 2009,

Well here we are at the start of a new year and I have to say that you and I had some great times and some not-so-great times. I mean, I had some amazing weddings and portraits to shoot, attended my first workshop, got a new nephew... all fabulous things! The un-awesome ones we won't get into, but I think we both know that its best to leave the past in the past. :)

I won't say I'm sad to see you go, 2009. I see a lot of people are going to miss you and if I'm not one of them, I think you'll be ok. But as for me, myself, personally... I'm looking forward. Looking forward to more balance, more creativity, joy and contentment. Looking forward to making this girl and her ideas better than ever. Onward to new adventures, new goals and a new vision of what this coming year could be for me.

Oh my... don't cry. Its not you, its me. I need to do this for both of us. It'll be hard at first, I'm sure. Lots of uphill battles and learning from them. But I'm so ready. So so so ready. And if you run into 2010 with a smug look on his face, don't be offended. We're just really clicking right now and its a good thing. I really think we'll go far.

Thanks for being a good year, 2009. I'm sure I'll never see you again, but I'll keep our fond memories on my backup hard drive. :) ♥

Love,
Stevie

P.S. and since posts without pictures are boring, I'll leave you with this CA-RAZY beautiful ring from a wedding coming up.. stay tuned for THAT full post!

So here I am cleaning up the last of the 2009 weddings and playing catch-up after the crazy holidays and New Year's out of town (more on that later!) and it occurs to me how little I utilize this blog to let my readers get to know me. I'm surely not one for resolutions of any kind, much less the New Year kind, but I've decided to make a general best-effort in 2010 to find more balance in my life. Work-life balance, Salad-cookies balance, and definitely Wedding-Stevie balance on the blog. I can surely share more of myself here and will be making a conscious effort to blog more often and about more than just the 'workie' stuff. Yeah. :) (Oh and if you want a head-start, go see my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter.)

Onward!! (this is the work part, ha.)

I discovered a new awesome place to shoot at Wendi and Cliff's wedding! They had their reception at the Moonrise Hotel in the Loop and what a cool place it is!  Wendi and Cliff had a small, intimate wedding and reception and the Moonrise did a great job with the food and atmosphere for their gathering. And lets not leave out the Piper Palm House and Sister's Flowers for their lovely part in the day. Beautiful job as always and I think Wendi and Cliff got just the day they dreamed of. So glad I could be there to capture it!