Wow where do I begin with Amanda and Nick, I have spent so much time with them over the last couple months. Its hard to begin their story and even harder to pick photos to show you. They are such a wonderful and beautiful couple I want to pick all the photos. However I tried to narrow it down there will be a lot and I will break it up for you all to try to make it easier to view. But for fun they are not going to be in chronological order, and in each post I will tell you a little bit about Amanda and Nick.

Well this past Saturday Amanda and Nick had their reception in the backyard of Nick’s parents home in Yorkville, the place and the reception was amazing, you would never guess it for a “backyard reception,” and I will post those photos after I show you all the Jamaica pictures. However, I wanted to start with something that was said at the end of the night on Saturday. One of the guests asked Amanda how we knew each other, if we were friends, we looked at each other and said “We are now.” After sharing the Jamaica experience together, two engagement sessions (yes we included a second to get shots of the dogs and better weather), rehearsal dinner photos, full day of wedding photos, an ever after session/trash the dress, and a great reception party back in the Chicago suburbs we know each other quite well. That may have been the most photos or days of photos I ever took for a “client,” and I wish I got to know all of them so well.

Amanda first found me on myspace-yes crazy as it seems. Imagine my surprise when I got a message saying I am getting married in Jamaica, I love your work and want to talk to you about photographing the wedding. -Yeah I didn’t think it was real at first either. But the minute I met Amanda and her mom Kathy for coffee I knew we would get along great and become good friends.

I finally met Nick for the engagement session many months later. It took me a little longer to warm up to him, but every day I spend time with Nick I liked him more and more, and I saw just how much love Amanda and Nick shared. Nick has a great sense of humor, but it took me a day or so until I got it, then I found myself just laughing and laughing. And I am sad that the wedding, the longest wedding as their friends dubbed it since it was 4 days in Jamaica and then 2 weeks later was the reception back in Illinois, is over. I enjoyed meeting their friends and family who welcomed me and my fiance and made us truly feel like part of the family. Jamaica and the reception in Yorkville was a great experience that I was blessed to be a part of and capture on film (well digital film). Thank you Amanda and Nick and to all your family and friends for allowing me to be there with you through it all. Best wishes to you!

And without further ado, I will start the photos with the happy couple’s ceremony barefoot on the beach in Negril Jamaica at Beaches on July 5, 2008.

Despite heavy rain showers all day, the rain stopped (as it always does for them) and the sun peeked through the clouds and Amanda and Nick got the wedding they dreamed of.

The wedding coordinator was all smiles as she held an umbrella and escorted Amanda and the girls from their room to Negril, Jamaica’s famed 7-mile beach.

Nick sees his beautiful bride Amanda for the first time.

Her father gives her away.

Amanda and Nick wrote their own vows which were so sweet and although there was talk of trying to memorize them, I was happy when they decided to read off their sheets.

“Amanda I love you so very much…You are my life, my rock…”

“Nicholas I love you. You are my best friend…my husband, faithful partner in life…I will lift you up, support you…encourage you in all the things you do…….today, and all the days of our life.”

And with this ring…

“Cmon man push,” says the marrying official as Nick places the ring on Amanda’s finger.

Amanda and Nick choose to have a sand ceremony, where they pour two containers of different color sand into one container. The flowing sand and blending of the colors symbolize the bringing together of two lives into one.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss…”

Congratulations Amanda and Nicholas!

Portraits, details, getting ready and reception photos from the wedding along with the other days of photos coming shortly.

I have been in a whirlwind lately, I don’t even know where to begin. My fiance, Jon, and I were talking today about the work I needed to do and I mentioned that I needed to blog more. Then he laughed and asked when the date of my last blog was, I didn’t really know I guessed a little while before we left around June 22 or so. He said that I didn’t need to blog more, I needed to blog period. So here I am beginning to blog (again) [period]

I almost don’t know where to begin, so much has happened. However, I will start with a song, a trip, an experience and a wedding rolled into one.

“Just Another Day in Paradise,” a song by Phil Vassar, was in my head the last two days in Jamaica. (July 6 and 7) It’s kind of an odd song to have in your head when you are actually in Paradise, as in the tropical form, because it really doesn’t have to do with that kind of paradise. But somehow throughout the day I said “another day in paradise” and it came out in the form of the melody. Although for two days I couldn’t remember any other the words other than:

“Well, it’s ok. It’s so nice
It’s just another day in paradise
Well, there’s no place that
I’d rather be”

And so in Jamaica that made sense. I was there for an amazing wedding-more of that in a moment, but running around barefoot in the sand taking photos of two wonderful people exchange their personal vows and sharing the love with their family and friends, there truly was no place I’d rather be. There are moments in your life when you stop and just thank the heavens that you are so blessed to live your life, and although I feel that way every time I photograph a wedding, this wedding was one of those moments and then some. It was one of those times you almost have to pinch yourself to know its real. Even Jon sensed it as he got to watch me work a wedding for the first time as he said, “You officially have the coolest job in the whole world.”

Well I returned home I found the song online and giggled at the funny video along with the other lyrics, as they now had another meaning. To me it was like that feeling that comes rushing back to you when you return from “vacation” or a “business trip” and realize its back to every day life and problems you have to deal with, along with extra ones that always seem to magically happen while you are away.

The song begins like this…
“The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills – overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower…”

Despite all the things that go wrong and all the day to day problems and daily life that you have to deal with, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After photographing two more weddings in Chicagoland this past weekend and get back to my day to day life, I realize how lucky I am, to live every day in Paradise.

So the reason I was in the tropical paradise was because two amazing people, Amanda and Nick got married! I think the deserve their own blog-and maybe a couple since we had a few days of photographs, but here is a preview of their ceremony on the beautiful beach of Negril, Jamaica. Here they are Just Married.

(click on image for larger view)

Wow I just looked at my calendar! I have a busy summer and fall coming up. I will be traveling A LOT. So please be patient with me when it comes to responding to email and phone calls. Please note if you call or email between Friday and Monday, there is a good chance I may be out of town. And I will return your message as soon as I can, but it may be more than the usual 24 hours. Best time to reach me will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Since many of you live in different cities I am posted a list of my travel dates so you know when the next time I will be in a town near you. This will help with scheduling meetings, engagement sessions and portrait sessions-I am now offering all kinds of portrait sessions, baby, family, high school seniors, couples, children and more! Please contact me for further details.

All Dates 2008

I will be in Des Moines, Iowa (and also available to meet at cities along the way from Chicago to Des Moines or nearby) on the following weekends (most weekends I have a wedding scheduled on Saturday, but I am usually free the other days)…
June 27-June 29
Sept. 19-21
Sept. 26-28
Oct. 2-5
Oct 16-19
Nov 26-30 (Thanksgiving)

And possibly July 12 in Lone Tree, Iowa outside of Iowa City (for Camp Euforia check it out! 2 Day Music festival click on link)

I will be in Galena, IL (next to Dubuque, Iowa)
Oct 10-12 (wedding on Saturday)

I will be in Jamaica (Negril area mostly)
July 2-7

And I will be in Florida (Orlando area mostly)
Sept. 5-Sept 10

Wow it may have been easier to say when I will be home.

Well if you are interested in a portrait or engagement session or would like to meet to discuss your upcoming wedding or event and I will be in your area please let me know.

I may also make a trip to Colorado again for some Ever After sessions (4 of my 2008 couples will be living there after August 1). I will keep you all posted on upcoming plans.

I am planning also to travel to the following in 2009… San Diego, California; Melbourne, Florida (winter possibly); Kansas City, Kansas; Tennessee (March); Iowa; Colorado; Hawaii (late 2009/early 2010 to plan our wedding)

I am always willing to travel to more places! So if I have not listed your location and you are interested in me photographing your wedding or having a portrait session please let me know. I have a current passport and I am excited to visit anywhere in the world.

What is a destination wedding and why are they becoming so popular? Well a “destination wedding” isn’t just warm and tropical, although many times this is what we think of. A destination wedding is a wedding held somewhere other than the town you live in. So whether you live in Colorado and get married in Iowa, you live in Chicago and get married Hawaii, you live in Ohio and are getting married in Jamaica, or you live in England and are getting married in the Chicago suburbs, you are planning a destination wedding. These are just a few of the situations I will photograph this year-or plan!

One of the hardest things about a destination wedding is that most of your planning is done away from your home. The biggest things ceremony location and reception location you may not even get a chance to see in person if your location is too far away. But what about your photographer? The question has been brought up may times, do you hire a photographer in the locale that you are going to, or do you hire a photographer, maybe closer to home, and fly them to your destination? As a wedding photographer based in Chicago and planning my wedding in Hawaii on the island of Oahu, this is one of the hardest questions. Its really comes down to personal choice.

I have begun researching photographers in Hawaii and there are a few I would hire but I feel I am closer to the ones here on the mainland, even the ones that live in California. It doesn’t seem quite so far away, and while Hawaii is part of the United States, it almost feels like another country, they have their own culture, language and way of life. It’s that way of life, “the Aloha way” and the culture that Jon and I fell in love with and one of the main reasons we choose to get married there. From the time we stepped foot on the island of Oahu in late November 2007 to the time we got on the Aloha airlines flight (it is sad Aloha Air went out of business less than four months later) from Maui to head home, I knew this was a place that would always hold a special place in my heart and before we were even engaged I knew this was where I wanted to get married and share Hawaii and the Aloha (the way of life not the airline) spirit with my friends and family! Four months later Jon purposed to me on the beach in San Diego. [click here for the full story]

We decided right away that we were in fact going to have a destination wedding in Hawaii on 11-11-11. Yes we know it is a long time to wait, but we want to allow time for everyone to plan and save, so more of our friends and family could come. We also know that planning a wedding so far away on an island is going to take extra time, planning and research. Already it has not been easy. Within a week of our engagement we had a very close family member plead with us to consider another location for fear that not all of their extended family could go. While I was not surprised at the objection, I was surprised at the timing and the pressure put on me, a huge guilt trip. Even now a month later many family members still are not excited by the location, and seem very negative and against the idea. And its very hard, you want to have the full support of your family and friends. And although we are not asking for any help with the wedding, knowing that we will pay for the wedding ourselves and that the decisions are ours, its still difficult to not have our closest family and friends excited to go to Hawaii. I wonder if all couples planning a destination wedding go through this and one point or another. Although, we also had a friend tell us that a destination wedding is “so us” and we think so too, our engagement was a destination, and when we think of our wedding, we both think of warm, tropical and along the beach. So despite some people’s opinions Jon and I are sticking to our dream of a Hawaiian wedding. We know that not everyone will be able to come, and it’s a hard thing to realize. But in the end, the day is about the love that we have for each other, its about the two of us and beginning our lives together and we hope to be surrounded by as much as our family and friends as we can to celebrate the day.

So now that you know how we came to the decision of a destination wedding and the difficulties we have faced already, back to the original question, how do you choose a destination wedding photographer? Well to me it’s important to know the photographer before they join us on our special day, no matter where the wedding is. I want to meet him or her a few times and have an engagement session where I get to learn their style and their personality. To me the photographer becomes a close friend by the end of our wedding day. (Maybe this is why I make sure that the couples I photograph get to know me a little and we have an engagement session)

I will keep you all updated as Jon and I continue to plan our wedding and the decisions that we have to make. I finally understand what my clients go through when they decide to pick me to photograph their day. I hope with this planning and being a bride-to-be myself I can help other brides and grooms in their process, both in photography and with the other planning.

Currently I offer destination weddings anywhere around the world. If you are bride/groom (especially in the Midwest) planning a destination wedding and you are looking for a photographer, let me know we can have coffee and talk about it. I love traveling for weddings, whether its down the street or half way around the world, every wedding is a destination, its the beginning of a new place and life together!